Thoroughly enjoyable and accessible for someone like me who likes thinking about mathematics and contemplating its essential part of our lives in so many ways. I was bemused by analysis of geometry (for example) as tool for analysing choices of government representatives... slightly a stretch but I got it! Personalised and entertaining ..

This book is an eye-opening introduction to the history and applications of geometry. It should be of interest to anyone wanting to gain a greater knowledge of the subject.

Shape gives a fascinating, in-depth but still accessible look into the world of mathematics, focusing on geometry but also showing the varied applications of linear algebra, calculus, algebra, and other branches.

Shape is University of Wisconsin math professor and bestselling author Ellenberg’s far-ranging exploration of the power of geometry, which turns out to help us think better about practically everything. How should a democracy choose its representatives? How can you stop a pandemic from sweeping the world? How do computers learn to play Go, and why is learning Go so much easier for them than learning to read a sentence? If you're like most people, geometry is a sterile and dimly remembered exercise you gladly left behind in the dust of ninth grade, along with your braces and active romantic interest in pop singers. If you recall any of it, it's plodding through a series of miniscule steps only to prove some fact about triangles that was obvious to you in the first place. That's not geometry. Okay, it is geometry, but only a tiny part, which has as much to do with geometry in all its flush modern richness as conjugating a verb has to do with a great novel.

Shape reveals the geometry underneath some of the most important scientific, political, and philosophical problems we face. Geometry asks: Where are things? Which things are near each other? How can you get from one thing to another thing? Those are important questions. The word geometry, from the Greek for measuring the world. If anything, that's an undersell. Geometry doesn't just measure the world--it explains it. Shape shows us how. It's an interesting, informative and accessible exploration of the way geometry touches our everyday lives without us giving it a second thought. I admit, I used to not be that fond of anything relating to maths in school many moons ago, but I found this easily digestible and rather compelling to read. Showing exactly how geometry applies to real-life situations, Ellenberg pens a fascinating book even to those of us who are rather maths-averse, which is quite the feat. Highly recommended.