Virtual Event: Marcus du Sautoy

Harvard Book Store, the Harvard University Division of Science, and the Harvard Library welcome MARCUS DU SAUTOY—the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford—for a discussion of his latest book, Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut in Math and Life. He will be joined in conversation by MELISSA FRANKLIN, the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics at Harvard University. 

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About Thinking Better

We are often told that hard work is the key to success. But 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. They make us capable of doing great things. 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 how diagramming revolutionized therapy, why calculus is the greatest shortcut ever invented, whether you must really practice for ten thousand hours to become a concert violinist, and why shortcuts give us an advantage over even the most powerful AI. Throughout, we meet artists, scientists, and entrepreneurs who use mathematical shortcuts to change the world.

Delightful, illuminating, and above all practical, Thinking Better is for anyone who has wondered why you should waste time climbing the mountain when you could go around it much faster.

Praise for Thinking Better

“In Thinking Better, Oxford mathematician Marcus du Sautoy pulls back the curtain to show how mathematicians think. The result is an engaging, delightful adventure through a variety of situations where mathematical thinking—in particular, the search for clever shortcuts—illuminates deeper mathematical truths. And it turns out these short cuts are incredibly useful for the rest of us too!” —David Schwartz, author of The Last Man Who Knew Everything

“If mathematics has proved anything, it is that shortcuts can change the world. Marcus du Sautoy has created a smart, well-written and entertaining guide to the connecting tunnels, underpasses and other tricks we can use to traverse the trials of everyday life.” —Roger Highfield, journalist and author of The Dance of Life

“Marcus du Sautoy compellingly answers the age-old plaint 'When am I going to use this?' with a wide-ranging tour of the real uses of mathematically-flavored thinking, in domains from the stock market to psychotherapy to modern sculpture." —Jordan Ellenberg, New York Times bestselling author of Shape