You Are a Mathematician: A Wise and Witty Introduction to the Joy of Numbers

If you have ever wondered what makes mathematics so fascinating to a mathematician, this may be the book for you. Wells, a British teacher and author of several books of problems and popular mathematics, leads you through topics in geometry, theory of numbers, games, and scientific modeling. In each chapter, the author works upward from simple, specific examples to greater levels of generalization, demonstrating clearly the way new results are actually discovered by mathematicians. He expects only a background in high school algebra and a willingness to put in some effort. Each section contains a number of problems (solutions are found at the end) to challenge the reader, so it is wise to read this book with pencil and paper handy.