Monday, September 17, 2007

The Arithmetic of Life and Death

I bought a delightful little book the other day called "The Arithmetic of Life & Death" written by mathematician George Shaffner. Its a book which approaches arithmetic the way 'Freakonomics' approached economics (although this book came about much before Freakonomics). Its simple, meant for lay-men, and seeks to explain the world & its ways through math. Well, I thought most of the arguments in the book were too simplistic, but I didnt mind reading them because they were quite interesting.

What I did love about the book was the wit & humour. This is the opening line of the book..."Since six billion people now occupy the planet earth, one could conclude that human life is as common as dirt in Denmark".

10 comments:

KAD said...

Haha!! That was a good one. I think I must lay my hands on this one.

Radha said...

Kanishka,
As I said, I found the 'maths' part of the book overly simplistic. But the witty lines make the book worth a read.

Chica, Cienna, and Cali said...

haha......dirt in Denmark......i like that !!!!

Happy Reader said...

Fantastic opening line!! I love books based on Math and guess I will find it interesting!

Lotus Reads said...

Ohhh, I so do love the opening lines of this book they make a wonderful first impression!

Unknown said...

hhmm ... reading about what you read interests me more haha

dirt in denmark .. ?? Am i missing any pun here

Radha said...

Moi,
I hope you're not going to complain anymore about lack of enthusiasm in my blogging of late! :-)

Happy Reader, Lotus,
Hi there! Well, its a short interesting book. Dont expect a lot from it, except that it'll keep your interest!

666,
Where have you been all this while? Umm, the sentence struck me as funny because its such a mathematical way of looking at value of human life!

diyadear said...

hmmm that comment sure sounds true.. :(

Radha said...

Diya,
I hope its not true :-)
and that human life continues to be as valuable!

Keshi said...

that sounds like a great book Radha.

and that last line rocks LOL!

Keshi.