Is Maths Real?

‘A generous tour of mathematics for anyone whose instincts tend less towards “Just tell me the answer” and more towards “Wait, but why?”’ - Jordan Ellenberg, author‘A brilliant rebuttal to those who see math as only about right answers, rather than about creative discovery. [Cheng] masterfully uncovers what’s simply profound in the profoundly simple’ - Francis Su, author‘Intriguing … Celebrates the dizziness and disorientation engendered by childlike questions that hint at the deep mysteries beneath’ - Anil Ananthaswamy‘Discover what it feels like to be a real mathematician … This is a human pursuit, depicted here from the inside’ - Simon Ings‘An entertaining foray into the more philosophical realms of mathematics … for the budding mathematician in the house, to say nothing of lovers of puzzles and enigmas’ - Kirkus

Eugenia Cheng is Scientist in Residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Honorary Visiting Fellow of Pure Mathematics at City, University of London. A Cambridge graduate, she previously taught at the Universities of Cambridge, Chicago and Nice. She is also a concert pianist, fluent in French, and the author of several bestsellers, including How to Bake Pi and x + y. In 2024, Is Maths Real? won the LA Times Science & Technology Book Prize.