Significant Figures Audiobook By Ian Stewart cover art

Significant Figures

The Lives and Work of Great Mathematicians

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Significant Figures

By: Ian Stewart
Narrated by: Roger Clark
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In Significant Figures, acclaimed mathematician Ian Stewart introduces the visionaries of mathematics throughout history. Delving into the lives of 25 great mathematicians, Stewart examines the roles they played in creating, inventing, and discovering the mathematics we use today. Through these short biographies, we get acquainted with the history of mathematics from Archimedes to Benoit Mandelbrot, and learn about those too often left out of the cannon, such as Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (c. 780-850), the creator of algebra, and Augusta Ada King (1815-1852), Countess of Lovelace, the world's first computer programmer.

Tracing the evolution of mathematics over the course of two millennia, Significant Figures will educate and delight aspiring mathematicians and experts alike.

©2017 Joat Enterprises (P)2017 Tantor Mathematics Professionals & Academics Science & Technology World Math History

Critic reviews

"By showing how even mathematical geniuses face all-too-human challenges, Stewart offers a riveting chronicle of one of humankind's loftiest endeavors." (Paul Halpern, author of The Quantum Labyrinth)
Interesting Stories • Accessible Mathematics • Inspiring Biographies • Informative Content • Well-written Content
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Listening to the reading of math equations is bad. But the biographical information and the accomplishments of the 25 mathematicians was l,

Reading math equations

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I can't imagine putting my name and voice to an internationally-distributed production without doing some basic research on how to pronounce things. "Euler" is pronounced "Oiler" not "Yooler".

Research pronunciations before you perform!

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Although essentially another defense of the outdated undergraduate math curriculum, it has some interesting insights and is worth the read. But the narration is painfully difficult to listen to. Inconsistent and incorrect pronunciation - e.g., sometimes "Goss" and sometimes "Gas" and ocassionally "Gauss", but always uhler and Kuht Goodle. Never says parentheses. Always says bracket. Never says "of". Instead "eff open bracket ex close bracket". Ruins a serviceable collection of biographies

narration grating, often difficult to understand

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probably the most rewarding history book that I've ever listened to. I need to give the guy who read the audio book a lot of credit, but I can't remember his name. He did a really good job though. Not all of that stuff is easy to talk about and sound excited. I'm not even sure that it's appropriate to sound excited. I liked it anyway. I learned a lot about all of these people some of them I didn't even really know existed and others I knew of but I gained a lot of insight on who they were from this book.

excellent, but tough listen

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While the content is good, the fake accent and mispronunciations are just grating on the nerves. The narrator absolutely butchers the names of even the most commonly known mathematicians, and as another reviewer mentioned, he's from New Jersey and is faking his European accent. It's really hard to get to the content of the book because it's so painful to listen to.

Painful To Listen To

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I have a first year calculus understanding of math. The second half of the book had many subjects that were lost on me. I would have got more out of the book if the author could have explained things in more detail.

The reader sounded to me like Roscoe Lee Browne, and I imagined Roscoe was reading it to me. It was a good job by the reader, as the subject matter was difficult.

It used to be that when I went into Starbucks they had several left wing newspapers to choose from. They did other things that were left wing political as well. I stopped going. I don't want to get pelted with left wing politics when I buy a drink.

I especially don't want it when I read a math book. After reading it I looked up his X profile, sure I would find his pronouns listed. Then I found out he doesn't use X because of the current ownership. I am sure adding his politics added cred to his university colleagues, but to a reader interested in the history of math, it is a turn-off.

Lack of bridge to lesser Math

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Good narrative, most chapters move at a good pace. Nicely gently touches some deeper math. Audio version just not fully convincing: did the narrator fully understand everything?

Mostly entertaining while touching some deeper mathematical concepts

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Roger Clark was born in New Jersey, raised in Ireland and trained in the U.K. He attended University of Glamorgan in Cardiff, Wales and achieved a BA in Theatre, Media and Drama. His professional acting debut was in 2000 with the Wales Actor's company and their production of 'Juno and the Paycock'. Most of his resume lies in theatre, voice over, television and motion capture. He has performed in a total of 45 countries and now lives and works in New York. --IMDB bio

Narrator Roger Clark's accent legit

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Well written and researched exploration of the lives of 20+ significant Mathematical figures across the last 2500 years. As the author acknowledges, some favorites have been left out for sure, but a good and intriguing list. The narration is a bit study though, and imposed an unnecessary formality and inapproachability to this work. Luckily, the English cigar parlor overtone can be overcome, and the book enjoyed in its own right.

Fantastic Mathematical History Journey

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interesting book. However the reader kept pronouncing the name Euler like it rhymed with ruler. It does not.

Euler does not rhyme with Ruler

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