Episode · EconTalk · 2025-10-27
Books mentioned on A Mind-Blowing Way of Looking at Math (with David Bessis)
What if math isn't about grinding through equations, but about training your intuition and changing how your brain works? Mathematician and author David Bessis tells EconTalk's Russ Roberts that the secret of mathematics isn't logic--it's the way we learn to see.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Mathematica
Mathematica by David Bessis is a thought-provoking book that explores how our minds work, championing intuition and challenging formal, intimidating approaches to mathematics.
Recommended“It's sort of about math, but that's not what it's really about. There's no formal math in the book. There's nothing intimidating. It's really a book about how our minds work and how we make sense of the world, which are topics that we spend a lot of time here on this program. So listeners, read this book.”
Where to get it
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A Discourse on the Method
Discussed“When you read Decart, Decart in the 17th century is saying, "Hey, you know, I have this crazy method that made me so smart. I was a regular person." That's really, if you read the scores on method, it really starts like that.”
Where to get it
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Thinking, Fast and Slow
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman is a seminal psychology book that explores the dual systems of the human mind: the fast, intuitive system and the slow, logical system.
Discussed“So I have to go back to the canonical example from Kenman about the ball and the bat. uh uh so when um so the central theory of of Kenman and Ferski is that there are basically two kind of modules in the brain to uh reach conclu conclusion one is system one is uh your instinctive answer when you”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (7) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing Mathematica
“His book is Mathematica, a secret world of intuition and curiosity.”
Own book Mathematica
“When I was writing the book, I probably Googled all the pop math books I could find and they were all starting with the same promise. And every every time I I read the pitch about a new book, I thought my heart was beating. I thought, okay, someone wrote the book already. And then I I I went on”
Own book Mathematica
“This is the topic of the book. What do you do inside your head when you become better at mathematics?”
Own book Mathematica
“And after I I I wrote that in my book, I found like maybe 20 instances of famous mathematician writing the same exact thing. You don't read that book. You should not read that book. They're not made to be read.”
Own book Mathematica
“An example I give in the book is that of a banana cake recipe.”
Own book Mathematica
“And uh the there's um a famous mathematician called Misha Gmoff and I and I quote him in my book because he said something very interesting about Romanu. He said you know it's not the exact sentence but it's really the spirit of the sentence. I'm just inventing the quote but you can find the actual quote in my book.”
Passing Mathematica
“My guest today has been David Bessis. His book is Mathematica.”