• Humble Pi

  • A Comedy of Maths Errors
  • By: Matt Parker
  • Narrated by: Matt Parker
  • Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (311 ratings)

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Humble Pi  By  cover art

Humble Pi

By: Matt Parker
Narrated by: Matt Parker
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Publisher's summary

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Humble Pi written and read by Matt Parker.

What makes a bridge wobble when it's not meant to? Billions of dollars mysteriously vanish into thin air? A building rock when its resonant frequency matches a gym class leaping to Snap's 1990 hit I've Got The Power? The answer is maths. Or, to be precise, what happens when maths goes wrong in the real world.

As Matt Parker shows us, our modern lives are built on maths: computer programmes, finance, engineering. And most of the time this maths works quietly behind the scenes, until...it doesn't. Exploring and explaining a litany of glitches, near-misses and mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, the Roman empire and a hapless Olympic shooting team, Matt Parker shows us the bizarre ways maths trips us up, and what this reveals about its essential place in our world.

Mathematics doesn't have good 'people skills', but we would all be better off, he argues, if we saw it as a practical ally. This book shows how, by making maths our friend, we can learn from its pitfalls. It also contains puzzles, challenges, geometric socks, jokes about binary code and three deliberate mistakes. Getting it wrong has never been more fun.

©2019 Matt Parker (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Matt Parker has pulled off something wonderful...his stories are superb." (Marcus Berkmann)

"Bought it yesterday, enjoying it enormously, well done!" (Dara Ó Briain)

"[Matt Parker] shows off math at its most playful and multifarious." (Jordan Ellenberg, author of How to Not Be Wrong)

What listeners say about Humble Pi

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_

if you've already watched his youtube material you will already have heard most of this.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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The best Mat(t/hs) book this year

Wanted to give it 3, 1 and 4 stars. But it's just too good. So instead I give it 6.28 stars in each category, rounded to the nearest possible star rating. Great job Mat(t/hs)!

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Audiobook is not the best way to read this

Even though my enjoyment of this book was mixed, I gave this a 4 because I feel it simply does not seem targeted at someone like me, and 3 would be unfair. If you're an engineer, or a programmer, you will likely enjoy parts that are about other fields, however ones from your own are dumbed down for a layperson to understand and their explanations may be quite boring. Aside from that, Matt sometimes goes into excruciating amount of numbers as a joke, but it gets old fast since he does it multiple times in the book. If you're reading a paper copy, you can probably skim the joke, but listening to an audiobook you're exposed to the "joke" for far too long. Also, holding many numbers in your head when listening is simply much harder than if you'd be able to cross reference them visually on paper/e-reader.
The research and content was solid, but the book could use a bit more editing.
Matt's reading is good, but his rhythm of speech could be more fluid - he makes a bit too many unnatural pauses when reading, making it painstakingly obvious he is in fact reading. It's not the natural Matt that you hear on his YouTube channel.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very enjoyable !

Very enjoyable book with great story's, both fun and educational. Matt's voice is unmatched.

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Loved it

Great selection of small stories about mistakes being a part of what it means to be a human. I really onjoyed the performance and the math.

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Entertaining

Great content for audiobook. I am curious if it is understandable by someone with no interest in maths.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Entertaining, well read.

Some stories are on youtube already. So not all of it was new to me. Still a very fun listen, well read my Matt himself. Fairly easy to follow, in spite of being math in audio form. Recommend.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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literally better than 98.5% of maths books

literally better than 98.5% of maths books out there and that's an undeniable fact.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent and Varied Examples

Excellent text and fine narration, relevant and meaningful examples that walk a fine balance of overall applicability and prerequisite understanding of field and terms. The only caveat is the missing PDF; there are a few cases that would benefit greatly from a visual appendix.

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Chuckles, chuckles and some serious maths!

Loved it! Full of chuckles, full of serious math!

Gives you a whole another perspective of the importance of getting math right when needed.

A lovely book for all-a horror book for engineers!

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  • euthyphro.
  • 09-04-20

Engaging math geekery

3.1415926 ... out of 5.

These eleven words have been written to fulfil the word count.

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8 people found this helpful

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  • Gustavo Guida
  • 04-02-19

As if maths on its own wasn't funny enough!

Matt does it again! whether you know him from YouTube or not this author can bring a funny twist to everything mathematical, and that means that he can add a fun twist to everything. This eye opening book will make you reflect on the deepest thoughts with a smile on your face and a nice LoL from time to time!
Thoroughly enjoyed it!

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4 people found this helpful

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  • Benjamin baker
  • 12-04-20

Nerdy satisfaction 93% of the time

Only 12% unintelligible to the layman, 60% humour inducing to those within the nerdy front row

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  • G
  • 03-13-19

Fun insight into how maths impacts our lives!

Interesting and well paced subject matter. It is fascinating how many everyday things trace back to numbers and (mis)calculations. Mr Parker is a great narrator, you can tell he's done a lot speaking in his many seconds on this earth.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 10-07-20

Not a mistake

Matt Parker is one of the best maths communicators out there.
And this is a hilarious listen.

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  • Julian Griffin
  • 08-03-20

Ineptitude, idiocy, bad luck. All interestesting.

. I am never ceased to be amazed how the blatantly obvious can so easily be missed. Just because a person is intelligent, doesn't mean they can not be blind on occasions. This book is well written and well read stories, and a stark reminder to us all as to the obviousness of hubris at the centre of mankind.
. Good adages to bear in mind for all programmers & designers are:
. Improbable is not the same as impossible. And:
. if it can be misunderstood, it will be. And finally'
. Just because it make no since to do it that way, does not mean it will not be done that way.
. All of these should be especially born in mind when picking up somebody else's work. And even for your own work, if you have to come back to it after a significant length of time.
🙃👍👌😇🙏

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  • Anonymous User
  • 01-28-22

Die not dice

In the random chapter Matt said dice when describing a singular die. Apart from that great audiobook

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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Mark
  • 02-16-21

Entertaining listen

I had my doubts about how well a book about maths, formulas and so on would work as an audiobook, rest assured that the format is not a problem. There is no need to visualise any equations, all is at a simple level suitable for all.

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  • Tim
  • 12-02-20

Hilarious and informational

Couldn't stop listening, comedy gold and a gigantic reservoir of interesting and thought-provoking real word examples combined into one well-structured book. Learning and enjoying at the same time. Great!

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  • Joseph Cannon
  • 09-05-20

Great Easy Listen!

I listened to this Audio Book whilst carrying out a bathroom renovation. It made the job more enjoyable, for instance when I had to clean the grout, I looked forward to it as I knew I’d be back into the Audio Book.
Matt is easy to listen to and the book isn’t complex. It’s full of interesting mistakes, some which I have heard from before due to my interest in Engineering and Physics.

Highly recommended to make a task more enjoyable.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 11-11-19

awesomeness

I joined audible just to listen to this book, Matt you are awesome. we need more

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  • Sonja
  • 02-26-23

A great listen/read

Really enjoyed the book but May be slightly over simplified for those wanting to explore the maths a few layers deeper.

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  • Edward
  • 02-12-23

A great read! or listen?

Matt Parker has an engaging storytelling style which matches confusing mathematics with simple explanations and funny stories. As this book is read by him for the audiobook we hear how the book was intended to be read.

The reader, or rather listener, does not need any mathematics background as Matt explains things well enough for anyone to understand.

Thanks Matt! And I would like to also thank Bradly Haran for introducing me to your work.

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  • @ajsnook
  • 11-18-22

Great read even for on maths people

This is a great read even if you are not a math wizard! The explanations and stories are real life and interesting even if you can’t do the calculations.

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  • Mr B Sellar
  • 08-22-22

Parker points

How do I get Parker points please I what that photo of you not caring

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  • Benjamin A Eyles
  • 03-12-22

hilarious but tragic

I've been a big fan of Matt's youtube content for a long time now. I was so excited when I started the book and found out Matt was reading it himself. Great sense of humour and interesting stories. The only thing I did find a bit off-putting was the stories that involved a lot of people losing their lives. So much of the book is filled with funny stories where someone loses money or something breaks without serious injury but every now and then you get hit with something like "300 children died". The stories where these things happen are super interesting and I still want to hear about them, I just want to be able to choose when I do it. if the book was in 2 halves or maybe it was 2 separate books, I would still have purchased both.

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  • Chris Pedder
  • 01-29-22

Narrator: Please don’t chuckle as you read out the text.

Great subject & well written but ruined by a narrator who annoyed with his self-satisfied chuckles and unnatural stress on certain words.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 09-07-21

Maths is fun

He makes mathematics sound like more than just numbers and shows how it affects many unexpected things in our lives on a deep level with a focus on human stuff-ups. His sense of humour accompanying it is an acquired taste. Great book overall. Voice acting was also satisfactory.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 01-16-21

Making Maths, and its mistakes, unmistakable

First I'd like to thank the legendary Dr Karl (triple j, sleek geeks, and famousfor his very colourful shirts) for having Matt Parker on his podcast "Shirtloads of Science" and letting us know about this great book and audio book.

Matt Parker has a very dry sense of humour when it comes to explaining the failures of what most would consider a "perfect" field like mathematics.

The examples shown in the book are real time examples, explained in pretty much understandable language, and it has actually tweaked my interest in maths again.... 35 years after leaving school.

who would have thought that there was such a thing as "recreational mathematics"!

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  • Nathan Gibb
  • 12-16-20

Super Enjoyable

Really enjoyed this mix of math and storytelling to engage and learn about interesting situation.

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