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:
Haha!! That was a good one. I think I must lay my hands on this one.
Kanishka,
As I said, I found the 'maths' part of the book overly simplistic. But the witty lines make the book worth a read.
haha......dirt in Denmark......i like that !!!!
Fantastic opening line!! I love books based on Math and guess I will find it interesting!
Ohhh, I so do love the opening lines of this book they make a wonderful first impression!
hhmm ... reading about what you read interests me more haha
dirt in denmark .. ?? Am i missing any pun here
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!
hmmm that comment sure sounds true.. :(
Diya,
I hope its not true :-)
and that human life continues to be as valuable!
that sounds like a great book Radha.
and that last line rocks LOL!
Keshi.
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