Math Reading Challenge discussion

Hi, everyone! I thought it would be nice to have an introductions thread here for new members.
I'm Evelyn Lamb. I started this group. I'm a writer who focuses on math and science. I have pretty broad tastes in reading, but needless to say, I read a lot of math books. I thought it would be fun to adapt a Popsugar-style reading challenge with a math theme.
If you'd like to, please introduce yourself and let us know how you found this group. Welcome!

I'm Colin Beveridge, mathematician and author based in Weymouth, England. I wrote Cracking Mathematics (known as The Mathematics Bible in the US) and The Maths Behind... -- in the spirit of public service, I note that these might be a good fit for door #12.

I've just finished Brian Hayes's Foolproof and am working through Ben Orlin's Math with Bad Drawings, which are both good #12s. I have a biography of Dirac up next (door #3), and Annie Duke's Thinking in Bets (#7) after that.

(edited to add links)

I'm Jessie Oehrlein, an applied math/atmospheric science PhD student in New York City.

I saw the original thread about this on Twitter, and I like reading challenges!

Hi -- I'm Marty Weissman, the author of "An Illustrated Theory of Numbers". I'm honored that my book has been included here! More details posted at the thread about number theory books.

Hello, I'm Sam Hartburn. I'm a freelance maths copy-editor and proofreader, and I read lots of school maths books for my work. I saw Evelyn's thread about this on Twitter and thought it would be a good way to find some inspiration for different things to read this year.

Hi all, I'm Christian. I'm an assistant professor in operations research, mostly researching game theory and optimization. I found the group via Twitter. Evelyn, thanks for the great idea!

Hi all, I'm Angela a physicist who likes reading. I found this challenge on twitter and it sounds enjoyable!

Hi, I'm Aaron. I'm an assistant professor at a small liberal arts college. My research area is complex and functional analysis, but I teach all sorts of undergrad level courses.

Hi. I am Donna. Retired professor (undergrad astronomy courses) and academic administrator. I had already decided to make reading more books a 2020 goal and this one fits!

Hi, I'm Carlos a mechanical engineer student. I found the challenge on Twitter and one of my objectives for the next year is to read more books. I believe this challenge will help me reach my objective since I love math and science.

Hi, I am Jack, maths grad and software tester. I'm new to Goodreads but not to books ;)

Hey ho and happy new year to all! Name's Dimitris and I'm a biologist and aspiring computational scientist. I found the challenge in Scientific American via RSS feed. I considering it one great challenge and a great way to get to learn more and more about the marvelous wold of mathematics, the language of the universe!
So, thanks for this Evelyn!

Hello everyone, my name is Michelle. I am feeling a little out of my league with this challenge but after seeing the link on Denise Gaskin's blog, I decided I am keen to do it. I am a home educating Mum of two boys, though I do have two older girls as well. I found myself doing a general reading challenge here on Goodreads last year and exceeded my goal of 20 books, this year I have a goal of 40. I read myself as well as listen to audiobooks, so am starting to get through quite a number. I'm excited about this challenge as I love math, but have not been able to open the joy of math to my children so I am hoping by discussing the books I am reading with them, my enthusiasm may spark some interest. Thank you for creating this challenge Evelyn, it is wonderful.

Michelle wrote: "Hello everyone, my name is Michelle. I am feeling a little out of my league with this challenge but after seeing the link on Denise Gaskin's blog, I decided I am keen to do it. I am a home educatin..."
So glad you joined, Michelle! There are some suggestions for children's and YA books for several of the prompts in the discussion threads, so if you're looking for books to read with your kids, those might be helpful. I hope it goes well!

Hello everyone! My name is Xinli Wang and I'm a math lecturer in a public university in Canada. I mostly teach entry-level mathematics courses and have a strong interest in math education. I was not able to read as much as I'd like last year and thought this might be a good opportunity to keep up. Thanks Evelyn for starting the challenge.

Hi -- I'm Stacey, and I know Evelyn from shape-note singing. I read a lot, but mostly fiction, and this will be a challenge for me. I've recently been rediscovering the world of math by volunteering as a homework help tutor at my local public library.

Hi, I'm Jeanine from the Netherlands. I studied math and philosophy of math at university and am now a math teacher trainer. My math interests lie mainly in history of math and math education.
Also, I love books and reading, mostly fiction. I co-authored Ik was altijd heel slecht in wiskunde (which would be an option for category 12 if you would read Dutch or German ;-) ) and translated Wortels van de Wiskunde: Een historisch overzicht voor leraren en anderen to Dutch.
I read about this group on Twitter and think this might be a nice way to discover some hidden gems!

Hi all, I’m Dave Ohlman. I read Evelyn’s article in which this group in mentioned on the Scientific American website. The extent of my training in mathematics is failing Calc 3 at university. (I don’t love homework). But I love math and regularly find myself reading books and articles of a mathematical nature so I figured joining would give me a bit of direction with some of my reading this year. Looking forward to the upcoming discussions. Best regards.

Courtney Gibbons here, a math prof at Hamilton College and a commutative algebraist. I found this group because I follow Evelyn on Twitter. I'm a pretty voracious reader, but I don't actually read much math in my leisure time. Looking forward to changing it up a bit!

Hi, I'm a philosophy graduate, but have been getting really into Math outside of formal studies. My goals include generally getting better at Math, and then also being able to translate some of these Math skills into understanding Stats at a deeper level. I'm generally interested in principles of good reasoning. So the plan is: advanced linear algebra -> measure theory -> probability theory -> advanced mathematical statistics -> Bayesian & nonparametric statistics. That should give me lots of books on the Math Challenge shelf! With a few "softer" books like Silver's *The Signal and the Noise* maybe I can make it to 10.

Hi, I'm Huw from Wales. I'm new to all this but I found Evelyn on twitter. Workwise i have nothing to do with maths but I've been a big fan of Martin gardiner, Ian Stewart and others for years. I go through phases were i might read a maths book but then read some science fiction. I'm looking forward to corresponding with like minded people.

I’m Amy. I currently teach eighth grade math but taught seventh grade math for 11 years. I saw a post on Facebook and decided this would make an excellent goal for the year.

Hi, I'm Kim.
I have a BS in mathematics. I fell in love with the history of mathematics when I had the class. I also enjoy Martin Gardner, Ian Stewart, and Theoni Pappas. I'm pretty sure I have at least checked out before from the library,something from every category so I am really excited to be in this group. I heard about Evelyn's challenge on Denise Gaskin's blog.

Hi, I'm Enrique. I am an associate professor of Math at Lake Forest College. I am originally from Mexico and have always loved reading and math (specially number theory). I heard of the challenge on Twitter.

Hi, i'm Fatima, i'm a failed architecture student, i discovered this group through a duckduckgo search "goodreads group for relearning mathematics", math was my favorite subject in primary school but i was shamed out of it and avoided everything that has to do with it for 11 years, but my situation changed and now i think i might enjoy it.

F wrote: "Hi, i'm Fatima, i'm a failed architecture student, i discovered this group through a duckduckgo search "goodreads group for relearning mathematics", math was my favorite subject in primary school b..."

Welcome, Fatima! Hope you enjoy some fun math reads with us.

Hi, I'm from Redmond, Wa, and I thought I'd make a fashionably late appearance to this party. :) I found this group while looking for "math" on GoodReads, and then found Evelyn's original post interesting. I'm enjoying the book recommendations here as I look to read more math both for my own enjoyment, and also to find more topics/approaches for my 10 year old and her friends in our small 5th grade girls Math club.

Daval wrote: "Hi, I'm from Redmond, Wa, and I thought I'd make a fashionably late appearance to this party. :) I found this group while looking for "math" on GoodReads, and then found Evelyn's original post inte..."

Hi, Daval! It's never too late to join. :) I hope you find some good recommendations for both you and your kiddo. Welcome!

Hi, I'm Mark. I stumbled upon this group a few weeks ago and today decided to jump in, even though I'll be getting quite the late start. I've already been on a bit of a math kick this year, so I should be able to fill in a couple of the slots in the challenge with some of the books I've read in the past months. I'm approaching the reading challenge from the perspective of a numerate layperson with a fairly strong general interest and appreciation for math.

Mark wrote: "Hi, I'm Mark. I stumbled upon this group a few weeks ago and today decided to jump in, even though I'll be getting quite the late start. I've already been on a bit of a math kick this year, so I sh..."

Welcome, Mark! It sounds like you have a good start, and I hope you find some more interesting books to read this year.

I'm Courtney Gibbons, assoc prof of math at Hamilton College in upstate NY. Looking forward to reading and reading and reading with all of you!

Welcome, new members! It's been a bit quiet here recently, but I'm glad we're restarting with a new challenge for a new year. I'm having trouble picking what my first math book of the year should be!

Hi, I'm Stephen Penrice. I got a PhD in graph theory almost 30 years ago and now work in industry.

I'm planning on double-dipping on 10 and 11 by reading Le Théorèm du Perroquet (The Parrot's Theorem) in the original French, which I abandoned last year. After a few more months of intermediate-level vocabulary-building I'll try again. Hopefully I won't need to run to a dictionary as much as I did last year.