Cakes, Custard and Category Theory

What Hacker News says

1. harry8Jan 2017
   If you genuinely don't know much maths, maybe Eugenia Cheng's "How to Bake Pi" also published as "Cakes, Custard and Category Theory"

   I enjoyed it, it's not a text, there are no exercises. Popular overview of the subject, including a first half that mentions category theory only in passing.

   Brave to even attempt such a book and I thought she pulled it off rather well. I hope we hear more from her and others mathematicians are similarly inspired.

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2. 1001101Apr 2017
   Euginia Cheng, a category theorist, has written Cakes, Custard and Category Theory: Easy Recipes for Understanding Complex Maths, and How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics.
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3. mcguireNov 2015
   Cakes, Custard and Category Theory/How to Bake Pi is very similar to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: it has not much of anything to do with the subjects mentioned in the title. You will find some recipes, sort of, and you'll find some category theory, sort of. But if you're looking to learn anything about either, this is not the book for you.

   As another reviewer said, this is a love letter from the author to mathematics. But, like most love letters, if you are not the sender or the receiver, it won't make a great deal of sense. There are many anecdotes from the life of a mathematician here, and many short vignettes of mathematics. But not enough details about either to make some kind of autobiography or some kind of informative math book. Unfortunately, since I'm neither the author nor Mathematics, I'm left with nothing but the feeling that I've been reading something that was not intended for me.

   Here's one example of the former: "I once went to a party and decided to try an experiment: I refused to tell anyone what my job was. Telling people you're a mathematician produces all sorts of odd responses. Some people become afraid, and extract themselves very quickly, but others immediately start trying to demonstrate how 'intelligent' they are. Yet others immediately start trying to belittle me...." Unfortunately, she never tells us what happened in the experiment.

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4. escherplexJun 2015
   If not in any particular rush, you can get a UK copy of 'How to Bake Pi' at http://www.bookdepository.com/ (best price, free shipping, and they take paypal). Plus it turns out that Eugenia Cheng just released another book in UK on June 4 called 'Cakes, Custard and Category Theory: Easy Recipes for Understanding Complex Maths' which seemed interesting so that was ordered as well. Shipping time to US is listed as 5 days.

   Plus if you need a .pdf of Feynman's favorite math book (Calculus for the Practical Man - Thompson (1946)) currently there are copies at KAT and PB.

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5. jonnybgoodJun 2015
   How to bake pi and cakes, custard, and category theory are the same book.
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