Arthur Benjamin is a professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif., and a professional magician. He performs worldwide as a mathemagician; together, his TED talks on mathemagic and the magic of Fibonacci numbers have been viewed more than 10 million times. His new book is The Magic of Math: Solving for x and Figuring out Why (Basic Books on September 8, 2015.
On your nightstand now:
Single Digits: In Praise of Small Numbers by Marc Chamberland. This book contains nine chapters, on the subjects 1 through 9, respectively. It is filled with facts that will entertain math enthusiasts of all education levels.
Favorite book when you were a child:
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. This is the book that introduces a character called The Mathemagician.
Your top five authors:
My favorite author is Martin Gardner, who has done more to popularize mathematics than anyone in history. Gardner teaches mathematics through games, puzzles, magic and extremely clear writing. He has also written books on philosophy, science, magic and poetry. I enjoy many of the authors who have followed in Gardner's footsteps, including Alex Bellos, William Dunham, Ivars Peterson and Ian Stewart. Dave Barry makes me laugh. I am also a connoisseur of the musicals (and especially the lyrics) written by Stephen Sondheim, who can express complex human emotions through beautiful music and intricate rhymes.
Book you've faked reading:
Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. It combines the works of a great mathematician, artist and composer, all of whom I admire, but I just couldn't finish it.
Book you're an evangelist for:
Journey Through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics by William Dunham. The mathematically inclined reader will learn a lot about history and the historically inclined reader will learn some beautiful mathematics.
Book you've bought for the cover:
The Human Face of Big Data by Rick Smolan and Jennifer Erwitt. This book can be thought of as a day in the life of the Internet, put together by award-winning photographers. It is my current coffee-table book.
Book that changed your life:
Mathematical Carnival by Martin Gardner. I read this book at the end of high school and was disappointed to see a mathematical formula that I thought I had discovered a few years earlier (which had actually been known for centuries). But it also showed me a fun side of mathematics, which I have aspired to learn and communicate ever since.
Favorite line from a book:
"A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas." --G.H. Hardy, from A Mathematician's Apology
Which character you most relate to:
Lincoln Rhyme, the quadriplegic detective in Jeffrey Deaver's novels, who solves crimes through the power of pure logic.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll was fun to read as a kid, but should be even more enjoyable with the additional mathematical education.