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The Simpsons And Their Mathematical Secrets (2013)

by Simon Singh(Favorite Author)

3.82 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1620402777 (ISBN13: 9781620402771)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Bloomsbury USA

review 1: After "Fermat's Last Theorem" and "Code Book", this comes across as a tepid effort from Singh. It's significance lies in making the lay viewers aware of the tremendous amount of hidden math references in The Simpsons and Futurama. I would assume that a die hard fan of the series would find this really interesting. But if you are like me and have merely watched a few dozen episodes, this book may not be a great read. Singh picks up various references from various episodes in the series, which is more than 25 years old now and offers a detailed explanation of the mathematicians behind and the significance of the reference. His narrative is not very different from the one he employs in "Fermat's..." and it makes for interesting reading. In fact, the links to The Simpsons is q... moreuickly forgotten as the math narrative begins. So essentially this becomes a reading of the arbitrary math trivia and condensed biographies of mathematicians, the only thing linking them all being their references in The Simpsons. Not bad. Not mind-blowing either.
review 2: A love letter to so many levels of geekdom - the Simpsons, Futurama, math, and a little physics thrown in for good measure. Very readable description of some of the numerous mathematical jokes and "freeze-frame gags," that have been embedded in the Simpsons over the years. Although I knew the writing staff for the show is an unusual collection of folks, I had not known how many are highly accomplished (and published!) mathematicians. It's really quite astonishing. Some of the math is a bit over my head (and some of it was *way* over my head), but mostly you can just go with the flow and enjoy learning some of the in-jokes you may have missed over the years, as well as wandering down some of the byways of math that you sort of vaguely remember (or maybe never knew) to appreciate all over again how really smart The Simpsons is. less

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