The Joy of X. A Guided Tour of Mathematics, from One to Infinity; Atlantic, 2014

Award-winning Steven Strogatz, one of the foremost popularisers of maths, has written a witty and fascinating account of maths’ most compelling ideas and how, so often, they are an integral part of everyday life.

Maths is everywhere, often where we don’t even realise. Award-winning professor Steven Strogatz acts as our guide as he takes us on a tour of numbers that – unbeknownst to the unitiated – connect pop culture, literature, art, philosophy, current affairs, business and even every day life. In The Joy of X, Strogatz explains the great ideas of maths – from negative numbers to calculus, fat tails to infinity – with clarity, wit and insight. He is the maths teacher you never had and this book is perfect for the smart and curious, the expert and the beginner.