For nonspecialists, Szpiro uses 50 stories to explain math problems that have recently been solved, recently published research, and mathematical observations about contemporary life, as well as anecdotal stories about the lives of mathematicians and famous old problems. These include anecdotes about proofs, prime numbers, fractals, real-life problems like wobbly tables and exact change, people like Bella Abramovna Subbotovskaya and Jacob Bernouilli, and problems relating to traveling, planes, the brain, language, Rubik's cubes, Tic-Tac-Toe, money, and cell phones. Some of the stories were previously published. There is no index. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)