Thinking Better by Marcus Du Sautoy

A “gifted and tireless mathematical communicator” (Financial Times) shows why math is the ultimate timesaver—and how everyone can make their lives easier with a few simple shortcuts.

Success isn’t about hard work – it’s about shortcuts. Shortcuts allow us to solve one problem quickly so that we can tackle an even bigger one.  And according to Marcus du Sautoy, math is the very art of the shortcut.

Thinking Better is a celebration of how math lets us do more with less. Du Sautoy explores why calculus is the greatest shortcut ever invented, whether mastery of the violin really takes ten thousand hours, and why shortcuts give us an advantage over even the most powerful AI. 

Delightful, illuminating, and above all practical, this book is for anyone who has wondered why you should waste time climbing the mountain when going around it is much faster.

Marcus du Sautoy is Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. He is author of eight books and two plays, including Around the World in Eighty Games. Du Sautoy is a Fellow of the Royal Society and recipient of many awards, including the Berwick Prize and an OBE. He lives in London.