Is anything truly random? Does infinity actually exist? Could we ever see into other dimensions?

In this delightful journey of discovery, David Darling and extraordinary child prodigy Agnijo Banerjee draw connections between the cutting edge of modern maths and life as we understand it, delving into the strange – would we like alien music? – and venturing out on quests to consider the existence of free will and the fantastical future of quantum computers. Packed with puzzles and paradoxes, mind-bending concepts and surprising solutions, this is for anyone who wants life’s questions answered – even those you never thought to ask.

‘Remarkable.’

‘A glorious trip through some of the wilder regions of the mathematical landscape, explaining why they are important and useful, but mostly revelling in the sheer joy of the unexpected. Highly recommended!’

‘Darling and Banerjee take us on a captivating ride through a vast landscape of mathematics, touching on mesmerising topics that include randomness, higher dimensions, alien music, chess, chaos, prime numbers, cicadas, infinity, and more. Read this book and soar.’

‘In this inspired collaboration, a young maths prodigy teams up with a popular science writer to present a fresh view of the world of mathematics. Together they fearlessly tackle some of the most weird and wonderful topics in mathematics today, rightly believing that “if you can’t explain something in plain language then you don’t properly understand it”. Clearly, they understand it.’

David Darling is a science writer, astronomer and tutor. He is the author of nearly fifty books, including the bestselling Equations of Eternity. He lives in Dundee, Scotland.

Agnijo Banerjee is one of the world’s most outstanding young mathematicians and a former student of Darling’s. At the age of thirteen he attained the highest possible score on Mensa’s IQ test and in 2018 he came joint first in the International Mathematical Olympiad, becoming the first person from the UK to obtain a perfect score in 24 years. He was born in Kolkata, India, but has spent most of his life in Scotland. He is now continuing his studies at Trinity College, Cambridge.