Euclid in the Rainforest

Like Douglas Hofstadter’S Gödel Escher Bach And David Berlinski’S A Tour Of The Calculus Euclid In The Rainforest Combines The Literary With The Mathematical To Explorelogic—The One Indispensable Tool In Man’S Quest To Understand The World. Underpinning Both Math And Science It Is The Foundation Of Every Major Advancement In Knowledge Since The Time Of The Ancient Greeks. Through Adventure Stories And Historical Narratives Populated With A Rich And Quirky Cast Of Characters Mazur Artfully Reveals The Less-Than-Airtight Nature Of Logic And The Muddled Relationship Between Math And The Real World. Ultimately Mazur Argues Logical Reasoning Is Not Purely Robotic. At Its Most Basic Level It Is A Creative Process Guided By Our Intuitions And Beliefs About The World.