I'm a British writer, (though I now live and work in California) and a Stanford professor who is passionate about helping everyone know they have endless potential and that math is a subject of creativity, connections, and beautiful ideas. I spend time battling against math elitism, systemic racism, and the other barriers that have stopped women and people of color from going forward in STEM. I am the cofounder of youcubed, a site that inspires millions of educators and their students, with creative mathematics and mindset messages. I've also made a math app, designed to help students feel good about struggling, called Struggly.com. I love to write books that help people develop their mathematical superpowers!
I wrote...
Math-ish: Finding Creativity, Diversity, and Meaning in Mathematics
In Math-Ish, I share new neuroscientific and learning research on how embracing the concept of “math-ish”—a theory of mathematics as it exists in the real world—changes the way we think about mathematics, data, and ourselves. I share principles that can radically reframe our relationship with math and other subjects including: the power of mindset on learning and life; utilizing a visual, physical, connected, and flexible approach to math; and understanding the spread and significance of mathematical ideas in the world.
When mathematics is approached more broadly, inclusively, and with a greater sense of wonder and play—when we value the different ways people see, approach, and understand it—we empower ourselves and gain a beneficial understanding of its value in our lives.
This is one of my absolute favorite works of fiction.
It features the life of Elizabeth Zott, a bad-ass scientist growing up in the 60’s, who experiences sexual violence and abuse from the men who did not want a woman working in science. But Elizabeth never stops, and is unwavering in her love for chemistry, eventually becoming a TV chef who communicates recipes through science.
Elizabeth’s dog, six thirty, narrating part of the story is a lovely addition. Even though Elizabeth is fictional, her handling of the abuse and negative media attention was inspirational to me. Bonnie Gamus is a beautiful writer. This is a book that is gripping, funny, educational, and heartwarming.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • Meet Elizabeth Zott: a “formidable, unapologetic and inspiring” (PARADE) scientist in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show in this novel that is “irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel. It reminds you that change takes time and always requires heat” (The New York Times Book Review).
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Oprah Daily, Newsweek, GoodReads
"A unique heroine ... you'll find yourself wishing she wasn’t fictional." —Seattle Times…
This is a beautiful science memoir, that tells the story of fellow Stanford professor Fei-Fei’s Li’s life.
It gives deep insights into the challenges of life in the United States, growing up as an immigrant from a loving but low-income home, and her rise to becoming one of the most important and influential AI leaders of our time. The interweaving of the story of the genesis of AI as a field and Fei-Fei as a scientist is fascinating and educative.
Fei-Fei’s excitement for science and knowledge, combined with her commitment to family and relationships, makes for a delightful and inspirational read.
Wired called Dr. Fei-Fei Li "one of a tiny group of scientists-a group perhaps small enough to fit around a kitchen table-who are responsible for AI's recent remarkable advances." Known to the world as the creator of ImageNet, a key catalyst of modern artificial intelligence, Dr. Li has spent more than two decades at the forefront of the field. But her career in science was improbable from the start. As immigrants, her family faced a difficult transition from China's middle class to American poverty. And their lives were made all the harder as they struggled to care for her ailing…
I love all of Eugenia’s books, she is a cool mathematician working to educate the public about real mathematics – a subject of deep explorations and connected ideas.
Eugenia shares the creativity in mathematics, and the importance of pushing against boundaries, including the gender boundaries that often stop girls and women going forward in STEM. Her playful use of mathematical ideas to disrupt the myths of narrow and inequitable mathematics and the dominance of men in the field, is so fascinating, especially for those of us perturbed by the inequities in STEM.
This is a great book for those who would like to love mathematics a little more than they do now.
One of the world’s most creative mathematicians offers a new way to look at math—focusing on questions, not answers
Where do we learn math: From rules in a textbook? From logic and deduction? Not really, according to mathematician Eugenia Cheng: we learn it from human curiosity—most importantly, from asking questions. This may come as a surprise to those who think that math is about finding the one right answer, or those who were told that the “dumb” question they asked just proved they were bad at math. But Cheng shows why people who ask questions like “Why does 1 +…
In this eye-opening book Caroline Criado Perez considers what happens when we exclude half of humanity from the production of knowledge.
She shares a number of compelling cases, from the design of roads to the crocheting of hyperbolic space, showing the transformative power that comes about when we combine what is traditionally feminine with what is traditionally masculine.
It turns out that when we include women’s ideas and experiences in the design and creation of knowledge, we produce solutions that are more effective, as well as more equitable.
Winner of the 2019 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award Winner of the 2019 Royal Society Science Book Prize
Data is fundamental to the modern world. From economic development, to healthcare, to education and public policy, we rely on numbers to allocate resources and make crucial decisions. But because so much data fails to take into account gender, because it treats men as the default and women as atypical, bias and discrimination are baked into our systems. And women pay tremendous costs for this bias, in time, money, and often with their lives.
This is a beautiful book filled with glossy color photos, that would be a lovely gift for any girl or woman interested in mathematics, or really, any human.
Inside the book are the “rebel women” who have specialized in mathematics (and yes it seems you still need to be a rebel to succeed in this male-dominated field). I learned so much about the mathematics the women studied and created, as well as the ways they battled for recognition to be able to contribute to mathematics.
The book is filled with powerful and creative mathematics produced by inspirational women.
From rocket scientists to code breakers, discover the incredibly inspiring stories of more than 30 women who fought through the obstacles, shattered the stereotypes, and embraced their STEM passions.
Prepare to be inspired. With more than 200 photos and original interviews with several of the amazing women covered, Power in Numbers: The Rebel Women of Mathematics is a full-color volume that takes aim at the forgotten influence of women on the development of mathematics over the last two millennia.
Each biography reveals the amazing life of a different female mathematician, from her childhood and early influences, to the obstacles she…
I became fascinated with 16th-century and 17th-century Europe after reading Don Quixote many years ago. Since then, every novel or nonfiction book about that era has felt both ancient and contemporary. I’m always struck by how much our environment has changed—transportation, communication, housing, government—but also how little we as people have changed when it comes to ambition, love, grief, and greed. I doubled down my reading on that time period when I researched my novel, Dulcinea. Many people read in the eras of the Renaissance, World War II, or ancient Greece, so I’m hoping to introduce them to the Baroque Age.
Dolça Llull Prat, a wealthy Barcelona woman, is only 15 when she falls in love with an impoverished poet-solder. Theirs is a forbidden relationship, one that overcomes many obstacles until the fledgling writer renders her as the lowly Dulcinea in his bestseller.
By doing so, he unwittingly exposes his muse to gossip. But when Dolça receives his deathbed note asking to see her, she races across Spain with the intention of unburdening herself of an old secret.
On the journey, she encounters bandits, the Inquisition, illness, and the choices she's made. At its heart, Dulcinea is about how we betray the people we love, what happens when we succumb to convention, and why we squander the few chances we get to change our lives.
