Humble Pi

by Matt Parker

I watch math videos on YouTube for fun.  For a lot of people that’s probably a strange concept.  Math has always been considered “hard”, and for the really advanced stuff, it is.  I’m not going to pretend that I understand a lot of it, but the idea that really strange things happen with math that we don’t ever notice because we aren’t mathematicians is fascinating to me.  After all, I work in a library: I chose words over numbers for a reason (and the Dewey Decimal System isn’t math).

Matt Parker is one of the best math YouTubers, and he has written several books for the layperson.  Easily accessible with very few equations to throw you off, he just uses regular plain English to show how much fun? Math can be.   

 

How does he pull it off?  He’s not just a math enthusiast and former teacher: he’s also a standup comedian. 

 

Humble Pi is his latest book, and it’s a tale of mathematical misery where math has gone wrong in the real world. Case in point: when Canada switched from Imperial to metric not every industry was prepared.  An Air Canada flight from Montreal intended for Edmonton never made it when the plane ran out of fuel mid-flight.  Fortunately the pilot was a skilled glider pilot as well and managed to find a runway to land on without power, but it was proof that a simple math problem can have potentially huge consequences. 

 

I realize that this doesn’t sound like the most appealing book if you just look at it on the surface, but I promise you that you’ll really look at the world in a new way when you realize how much these simple mistakes can affect you.  The stock markets can swing wildly based on a single typo in a spreadsheet. 

 

Humble Pi is a fun read.  There aren’t any complicated formulas or too many weird symbols.  Parker recognizes that the average reader probably isn’t too interested in a bunch symbols that we have probably never seen and never will see again unless we are doing a doctorate in theoretical physics.  He recognizes that not only do we not know, we don’t need to know to realize that math is more than just numbers: it’s ideas, and most of the time they are actually fairly simple ideas.  His enthusiasm shows, and it’s what makes me recommend Humble Pi  even for people who would rather never look at math again. 

 

I'll Be Your Blue Sky

by Marisa de los Santos

Reading a Marisa de los Santos novel is like listening to the most intricate of melodies, layered with exquisite detail that places you in the centre of the story. I have read every one of her novels and pick up each one in both anticipation and unspoken expectation. I’ll Be Your Blue Sky is the third in an unofficial series, following Love Walked In and Belong to Me. This one is readable on its own or in succession with the other two, and as with De los Santos’ other novels, it does not disappoint.

Clare Hobbes is getting married. She should be the happiest she’s ever been, but all she wants to do is run away. While picture-perfect Zach is everything Clare could ever ask for, she can’t let go of the nagging sense that she is with the wrong person. On her wedding day, an overwhelmed Clare runs from her pre-wedding brunch and meets Edith, an elderly lady who reminds Clare of the importance of carrying a place inside her that feels like home: something Clare has forgotten. This seemingly minor interaction, however, flips Clare’s life upside down when she learns just a few weeks later that Edith has died…and has left her a house. Armed with a jangling set of keys and a pile of indeterminable ledgers, and with her best friend, Dev, by her side, Clare sets out to resolve an endless list of questions. Who was Edith? What happened at Blue Sky House so many decades prior, and how does it relate to the ledgers left behind? And, most pressing and perhaps most impossible, why would Edith leave Clare, a near-stranger, such a mystery to solve?  

Alternating between Clare’s experience and Edith’s, the reader is given almost a sense of dramatic irony, understanding Edith’s story before Clare does while still coming to the same conclusions. Readers who are left with a new understanding not only of Clare, but of all those who have helped to make her who she is (which is particularly satisfying if you have read the other two books in this line). I recommend this book as a camping read for summer or just as an evening wind-down (preferably accompanied by a warm blanket and a bottomless cup of tea). 

The Shoemaker's Wife

by Adriana Trigiani

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani is a love story that spans a lifetime, yet also brings us so much more. Enza’s family lives modestly in the Italian Alps, the family’s meagre income supplemented by Enza’s talented stitchery. Ciro lives with his brother Eduardo in the local convent, having been left there by their mother as young boys. Although they live in neighbouring villages, Enza and Ciro only meet as teenagers. They begin to develop a friendship just as Ciro is forced to leave his mountain home after catching the local priest in a scandal. Ciro is sent to America and begins an apprenticeship as a shoemaker. Shortly afterwards, Enza and her father also travel to America to earn money to build a house for their family.    

While Ciro and Enza both begin to make their way in America, they do not meet up again until a chance encounter just as Ciro is about to leave to fight in World War I. While Ciro is away in the War, Enza’s sewing talents lead her and dear friend Laura, into a glamorous life in the Metropolitan Opera House, sewing for the great Enrico Caruso. Laura and Enza are living a beautiful life and Enza is set to marry when Ciro returns from the War to take up his shoemaking career. Such is the love story of Enza and Ciro, their paths cross and part until finally the title of the book is fulfilled and they leave the bright lights of New York and begin their life together in Minnesota.  

Trigiani’s story does not end with the final uniting of Ciro and Enza as there is so much more to their story than the chance encounters that bring them together. Both characters have made lifelong friendships in their new American life, and maintain their strong family ties; these are an integral part to their story as their journey continues, strengthening the beautiful and historical tapestry that is the story of the shoemaker and his wife.