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"Jokes, paradoxes, riddles, and the art of non-sequitur are revealed with great perception and insight in this illuminating account of the relationship between humor and mathematics."–Joseph Williams, New York Times

Scientist, mathematician, traveler, soldier–and spy–Rene Descartes was one of the founders of the modern world. His life coincided with an extraordinary time in history: the first half of the miraculous seventeenth century, replete with genius in the arts and sciences, and wracked by civil and international conflicts across Europe.

From uncanny movie dinosaurs to the loopy physics of the triple axel, Keith Devlin's vibrantly illustrated book illuminates the mathematics inherent in every human endeavor.

Hailed as "handy and readable" (Nature) and "well worth browsing" (New Scientist), this best-selling dictionary contains 9,200 alphabetically organized entries on all aspects of chemistry, physics, biology (including human biology), earth sciences, and astronomy. In addition to a wealth of reliable, up-to-date entries, users will find useful short biographies of leading scientists, full-page illustrated features on subjects such as the Solar System and Genetically Modified Organisms, and chronologies of specific scientific subjects including plastics, electronics, and cell biology.