Pujols: More Than The Game By Scott Lamb and Tim Ellsworth

AppId is over the quota
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My husband is a huge baseball fan. I, via osmosis, have come to enjoy the game - mostly. OK so I can keep up and read or do a crossword simultaneously. I read biographies occasionally and found that I would probably enjoy this one. I like to hear about people who proclaim their faith and actually do something with their wealth instead of just spending more on sex, drugs and alcohol or whatever floats their boat. Silly me - when there are people hurting in first world countries and we are obsessed with knowing what celebrities are doing I find that a little obnoxious - let alone other places where hurt is rampant.

Anyway I had high hopes for Albert Pujols. Well, he is a great guy. He gives back specifically to two areas and his entire family is involved. I love hearing about this stuff! This is what makes a difference in so many people's lives. He is really committed to these causes and knows that his gift (of which there is no question) comes from the Lord and that someday he won't be quite as successful. This is lovely stuff - all of it.

Now the problem for me comes with the extent of the details of what seemed like each and every one of Pujols' games. The authors seem to do an almost play by play of every game he has ever played in. Oh man. Now I know that a lot of people will enjoy that but just be forewarned. I had a hard time concentrating when I was reading about who was covering what base, the team the St. Louis Cardinals were playing or his college team back in the day. Now it is not confusing as to the timeline just so detailed about every player and play he makes. I wonder if they put every at bat in the book. OK I'm kidding but it certainly felt like it at times throughout the book. I would have appreciated a more in-depth look at some of the lives the Pujols family foundation has helped. It could have included maybe some more individual stories that focus on the people not just the sport.

He sounds like a great guy and he is really doing his part for the kingdom and maybe they didn't want to name any names as far as the charity is concerned but they could change the names. I loved reading about his wife who is a star (in a Godly sense not Hollywood) and who has helped him along the way as well as probably keeping him grounded. Again not sure how much the family allowed to be 'picked apart' by the authors it would just have made them a little more real.

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Here's Looking at Euclid: A Surprising Excursion Through the Astonishing World of Math - Book Review

If you were to have known before you started this book, that it was written by a genius, who was also a top-flight writer and mathematical theoretician -- albeit with a playful bent -- you probably would have left it right where it was, but still you would have had a playful mathematical "theoretician" doing the research.

Bellos does go over the great Euclidian discoveries and the math theory behind them. It makes sense that if you are going to pun on the name of the master, that you look at his work. Yes, this homage to the Greek mathematician makes it seem as if this will be one of those books you skim and leave on the coffee table to show that you are an intellectual. If that is as far as you get, then you are doing yourself and mathematics a great injustice.

There's far more to Bellos' mathematical journey, not only across mathematical space, than the title would indicate. It is a journey around the globe, following Bellos' journey, that takes you to some surprising places. Bellos can pull this off because he is a snappy writer with a surprising command of the language. Because of these abilities, he pulls you into math, using some real gems that include:

His theory that ants actually count the number of steps in trips to and from their colonies, an interesting construct that anthropromorphizes insects, giving them human-like qualities to them. How else can you explain ant behavior?

His side trip to the Amazon where he meets the only native tribe that uses a base-5 number and counting system because they can only understand numbers up to 5, yet their numbering system works at a highly sophisticated level. They use it to get as any being done anywhere else, which is quite a start to a person schooled in two theories (rote learning with the table cards and "the new math" and "set theory.")

His jump to the zen master of the theoretical math involved in oregami is priceless, as is his proof -- in a way -- that chaos theory is just about chaos and nothing more as he shows that in a chaotic system it is nearly impossible to introduce true randomness into iPod music list building. He theorizes, one cannot get to the absolute randomness as there are too many other distractions in the search for randomness, including the fact that many people like the same musical groups and will inevitably include their music on other music lists.

Bellos' book is so surprising that is also based on our prejudices about math. Just one example reinforces our prejudices. Of course, the teachings of the Buddha are surprising, quickly turning around our prejudices. This lasts until we meet the two New York "mathheads," who would rather build a supercomputer to use to write and argue about their "pi" mania, at a huge number of teraflops per second, rather than put their considerable talents to work on other, more important work.

Yes, Bellos' work is truly dense and takes an understanding -- and rereading of parts -- to make it all understandable, but Bellos, if you stick with him, is a witty, accurate writer who gets his educational point across. That, in itself, makes this a master work.

Roberto Sedycias works as an IT consultant for ecommUS-Book