Significant Figures

The Lives and Work of Great Mathematicians

By: Ian Stewart

Narrated by: Roger Clark

Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

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

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)

Painful To Listen To

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.

Research pronunciations before you perform!

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".

narration grating, often difficult to understand

Although essentially another defense of the outdated undergraduate math curriculum, it has some interesting insights and is worth the read.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

excellent, but tough listen

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.

Great stories, math made accessible to the novice

Where does Significant Figures rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I like this audiobook most, because I think it is inspiring to people who like mathematics. Several other nonfiction audiobooks in similar areas are interesting, but many of the mathematical ones stop short of detail that illustrates how ingenious or special some of the mathematical thinkers were. I like that the ideas are here, they are accessible, but they aren't too watered down.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Significant Figures?

I learned a lot about integrable tops. It was fascinating to me how Kovalevskaya came into the picture.

Which character – as performed by Roger Clark – was your favorite?

I think Ramanujan's story is my favorite.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, for sure, although I had to pause it occasionally to look up great mathematicians or mathematical ideas to get more detail (Poincare and topology especially).

Boring

It is a shame, I have listened to many physics and mathematics audiobooks. The issue with this one is that is boring. The narrative is not engaging.

Inspiring

This is hands down a new favorite for me. Very beautifully written and inspiring book on the history of many great mathematicians from different backgrounds. 100/10

Mostly entertaining while touching some deeper mathematical concepts

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?

Narrator Roger Clark's accent legit

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

Lack of bridge to lesser Math

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.