Some References

There are thousands of books and articles that capture the spirit of mathematics and provide an unimaginable amount of wonderful material. I mention a few of my favorites. There are probably newer editions of all of these.

• All of the books by Martin Gardner on recreational mathematics and related subjects. Most of this material was first published in the Mathematical Recreations column of Scientific American. I grew up on this material starting in elementary school.
• H. Steinhaus, Mathematical Snapshots, Oxford University Press. A gallery of fascinating mathematical snippets.
• G. Polya, How to Solve it, Princeton University Press. My high school teacher showed us a movie by Polya on problem solving that made a deep and long-lasting impression on me.
• W.W. Rouse Ball and H.S.M. Coxeter, Mathematical Recreations and Essays, University of Toronto Press, 1974. I read and reread this book as a high school student.