More fallacies, flaws and flimflam (Q2862489)

Mathematicians seem to have an unusual interest in how to get their subject wrong. While chemists and biologists may spoof their disciplines in the pages of the \textit{Annals of Improbable Research}, they do not seem to get any particular delight out of deadpan arguments purporting to show that nitric acid is really a base, or that squirrels are, taxonomically, a fungus. Physicists seem to enjoy paradoxes only if they are very deep indeed: Schrödinger's Cat, the twin paradox, or the infamous relativistic wheel (can the rim shrink if the spokes do not?)NEWLINENEWLINEIn mathematics, in contrast, the howler is a recognized art form. From the famous chapter on ``Cross-purposes, unconscious assumptions, howlers, misprints, etc'' in \textit{J. E. Littlewood}'s [A mathematician's miscellany. London: Methuen \& Co. VII (1953; Zbl 0051.00101)] to the questions, common in some elementary school textbooks, asking a student to critique a certain error made by an imaginary classmate, these fragments of mangled math seem to have a wide appeal.NEWLINENEWLINEFor many years the author has curated a feature in The College Mathematics Journal entitled ``Fallacies, flaws, and flimflam''. He published one collection of these [Mathematical fallacies, flaws, and flimflam. Washington, DC: The Mathematical Association of America (2000; Zbl 0937.00001)]; the book under review is the sequel. Over the years, it is my impression that the column has drifted somewhat away from accidental innumeracies in the popular media (also ably collected by the British Mathematical Gazette) and towards deliberately obfuscated arguments of some sophistication; the book reflects this. However, the shift is quantitative, not absolute; there are still some fine media gleanings here.NEWLINENEWLINEMost of the examples are simple enough to be followed by an undergraduate mathematics student; most are interesting enough to engage a professor's interest. This book should be in all university and high school libraries, and is priced to make an affordable prize or gift.NEWLINENEWLINEOne stylistic feature distinguishes this book from other collections of its type. Usually the editor takes the role of a sober Virgil guiding the reader through the \textit{bizarreries} to be found there. Barbeau, however, occasionally adopts the persona of a teller of tall tales, a trickster, who will, wearing his best poker face, assist the reader right into the depths of the swamp! Personally I find this delightful; those with a more straitlaced sense of humor have been warned.