Street Mathematics vs School Mathematics

I love what I know of the mathematician Keith Devlin -- aka The Math Guy on NPR's Weekend Edition -- who is a researcher at as well as the executive director of Stanford University's Center for the Study of Language and Information. Here are two good reasons for my adoration:

1. His October 2007 "Devlin's Angle" at MAA Online wherein he adds fuel to my qualms about school math in

   Kinds of Math

2. Mathematics, the Science of Patterns The Search for Order in Life, Mind, and the Universe. New York: Henry Holt, 2003.

By the way, yesterday I finally saw Danica McKellar's Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle-School Math without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail which I only wish also came out with a boy-cover....maybe I'll design one to print up so I can try using it w/J. Check out a review at MAA Online.

Serendipitous unblinking

Despite the fact that I'm the owner of two books about knots and keeping trying out various cross-platform geometry visualization software, I still am wowed by this book's title:

The Shoelace Book: A Mathematical Guide to the Best (And Worst) Ways to Lace Your Shoes

But, then again who am I to be surprised; it's only been a few weeks since I bought a book about a topological object The Mobius Strip: Dr. August Mobius's Marvelous Band in Mathematics, Games, Literature, Art, Technology, and Cosmology.

While I'm fascinated by math, it's not my forte. And, in case you're wondering, I discovered this title after entering a similarly authored book QED about the beauty of proofs at Goodreads.com.