Customer Reviews
Great for sceptical pupils - By: Phil, 08 Jun 2007 
"Sir, what's the point of maths?" The question that any maths teacher dreads. This is one of the books that I always recommend to my older pupils (aged 15 plus) who want to see how maths connects to the sort of things they are interested in. There are nuggets of interestin every chapter, with some serious mathematical ideas interspersed with other much lighter stuff. Apart from its sister book How Long is A Piece of String, I know of no other maths book that is pitchedin this sort of fun & accessible tone with such real-world content.
Does ANYONE ask these questions? - By: Andrew Walker, 30 Mar 2007 
This book addresses 18 questions that anyone might ask where a knowledge of mathematics would be helpful. Examples include "Why am I alwaysin traffic jams?", "What's the best bet?" & (of course) "Why do buses comein threes?"
(Personally some of the questions I ask myself include "Why do I never have any money?" & "Why aren't I more attractive to women?" but mathematics doesn't seem to have any insights to offer & indeed, the fact that I purchased this bookin the first place may answer both questions simultaneously.)
Of the previous reviews of this book 8 were very positive & 2 negative. Knowing what I do now, I can tell this was a biased sample with people who liked the book much more likely to register their approval than people who gave up after a few pages. If only I could have found that out more quickly.
The first two chapters hardly help. "Why can't I find a four-leafed clover?" is hardly an everyday question & the answer (because things occurin a Fibonacci series of numbers) is neither interesting or useful. The second chapter "Which way should I go?" is potentially interesting but is fatally flawed by using the illustration of a game allegedly played citizens of Kaliningrad over how to cross the five bridgesin the city without crossing any one twice, or something. In fairness the book picked up a bit after that with interesting chapters on why clever people get things wrong & coincidences. After that it starts to tail away ("What's the best view of Nelson's column?" - who cares! "What's the best way to cut a cake?" - WHAT? Who ever asked that question??? And "How do you keep a secret" on making & breaking codes - haven't thought about it since I was ten years old.)
Some of it is pretty well known (like lottery odds), other bits are common sense ("How do I get the meal ready on time?" - by reading the back of the packet ...), & still other bits are too obscure to remember. One of the other Amazon reviewers says they acquired lots of things to talk about at dinner-parties - wow, how lucky would you have to be to get sat next to THEM for a whole evening? But who am I fooling, I paid money for the book to, so I am just as sad - I wouldn't advise you to do the same. If you really must get a copy from your library but make sure you borrow something else at the same time.
A different kind of maths book - By: Gerry C, 29 Sep 2006 Maths books, even 'popular' ones, generally approach the subject from an abstract point of view. That is partly because mathematics is a beautiful subjectin its own right, regardless of its link with the real world. The problem, however, is that most people don't see it that way. What makes 'Why do buses' different is that it is centred firmly on the world of everyday experiences that most people can relate to, like coincidences & traffic jams, & from that starting point it goes on to explore the mathematical ideas behind those phenomena. The book isn't nearly as mathematical as it could be, but if there was more mathsin it, I'm prepared to bet that far fewer people would ever have read it, which would defeat the point of it.
Disappointing - By: Bruno Espadana, 08 Jun 2006 I just finished reading "Why Do Buses Come In Threes?" & I was disappointed with it. I was expecting something more & the book sure had the potential to be a quite interesting book about the use of mathematics on everyday subjects.
The problem though is that by trying to make it simple for people with no maths background, the authors went too far - they hint on mathematical explanations for some of the topics presented, but they never get to actually present the maths, albeitin a simple form.
It's not enough to have someone telling you that some mundane phenomena is explained by maths, you should take the time to actually explain the maths behind it, & this book failsin doing that.
Common sense maths for the rest of us. - By: red_monkey, 15 Apr 2006 If you have an interestin the reasons for things, a hunch that maths may explain these things, & an inability to grasp mathematical formulae then this may well be the book you're looking for.
After three unsuccessful attempts to read The Magical Maze by Ian Stewart, I found this book on the shop shelves & thought I'd give it a go.
Outstanding. Where The Magical Maze illustrates nature's relationship with maths but fails to explain it, this book succeeds & then some.
This was an absolute pleasure to read & taught me things that my school teachers should have, had they had the imagination & enthusiasm of the authors.
The greatest revelation was how counter-intuitive a lot of fairly simple mathematical problems are.
I now feel cleverer than when I started the book which can only be a good thing!
