How the Other Half Thinks: Adventures in Mathematical Reasoning

Review:
In his preface, the author does a good job of explaining what he set out to do in this book; then, in the rest of the book, he does a good job of doing it! Stein has attempted to present examples of real mathematical reasoning that (unlike some of the most beautiful parts of math) DON'T require any math background to understand or appreciate--and in my opinion, he succeeds brilliantly. If you love a well-reasoned, clearly explained argument but never even took algebra or geometry, you will enjoy this book. On the other hand, even mathematically sophisticated readers are likely to find some things here that they hadn't seen before, so they should enjoy the book too.