The Joy of

by David Blatner

No number has captured the attention and imagination of number fanatics and nerds throughout the ages as much as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter--a.k.a. pi. With incisive historical insight and a refreshing sense of humor, The Joy of Pi brings us the story of pi and humankind's fascination with it, from Archimedes to da Vinci to the modern day Chudnovsky brothers, who holed up in their Manhattan apartment with a homemade supercomputer churning out digits of pi into the billions.

The Joy of Pi is a book of many parts. Breezy narratives tell the history of pi and the quirky stories of those obsessed with it; sidebars recount fascinating pi trivia; dozens of snippets and factoids reveal pi's many facets; mnemonic devices teach how to memorize pi to many hundreds of digits; pi-inspired cartoons, poems, limericks, and jokes offer delightfully "square" pi humor. And, to satisfy even the most exacting of number jocks, the first one million digits of pi are reproduced throughout the book. A tribute to all things pi, The Joy of Pi is sure to foster a newfound affection and respect for that big number with the funny little symbol.

Where to Buy The Joy of Pi

The Joy of Pi is available at all major bookstores or from Amazon.com:

The Joy of Pi is published in the USA by Walker/Bloomsbury. For more information or for corporate sales, contact orders@walkerbooks.com.

The Joy of Pi was published in the UK by Penguin Books, though it is not currently in print. You can find new and used copies at Amazon.co.uk.

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