This is the best math book I have ever read. I normally don't write reviews on here, but this book was so good I had to. In this book, Ellenberg answers the question that everyone hears a million times in school, and that math teachers hate: 'When am I going to use this?' Ellenberg gives example after example of the importance of mathematical thinking, and how easy it is to be wrong in everyday life, to sometimes disastrous effect. He shows us that there is so much more to mathematics than the rote rule-following and computation we learn in K-12, and he argues that math teachers have generally done a poor job of answering the question their students annoyingly, yet reasonably, ask. Mathematics is a rich field of study with applications everywhere if we have the vision to see them. Mathematics, as Ellenberg says, is the extension of common sense by other means - when our common sense fails us.

Ellenberg gives a glimpse of the beauty and utility of mathematics and covers fairly advanced mathematics in a way anyone can understand. He gives an account of the famous mathematicians of the past, but rejects the notion that mathematics is a game for geniuses only. He also dismisses the stereotype of the eccentric, anti-social mathematician, and writes in an engaging, entertaining, witty style (think XKCD or The Oatmeal) that I loved. He's just a normal (brilliant) dude writing about how awesome math is. Math has a bad reputation in our culture, and Ellenberg does a wonderful job working to reverse it. Highly recommended reading.