This page contains a list of some of my writing and speaking, not including my technical publications and talks. You can read what other people have said about me here.
• Maths 1001, Quercus, October 2010. “Absolutely everything you need to know about mathematics in 1001 bite-sized explanations.”
• How to Build a Brain and 34 other really interesting uses of mathematics (a.k.a. Mathematics without the boring bits), Quercus, 31 March 2011.
• The Math Handbook (a.k.a. The Math Handbook), Quercus, November 2011
• I contributed to 30 Seconds Maths, edited by Richard Brown, published by Ivy Press, May 2012
My books are managed by The Science Factory.
• Ultimate Logic (a cover feature about set theory and the continuum hypothesis), New Scientist magazine, 30 July 2011. (This article is to be included in The Best Writing on Mathematics 2012, ed. Mircea Pitici)
• Large cardinals: maths shaken by the ‘unprovable’, Daily Telegraph, 9 November 2010
• Something doesn’t add up (a cover feature about arithmetical incompleteness and large cardinals), New Scientist magazine, 16 August 2010.
• Knot or Not? (a feature article about knot theory and categorification), New Scientist magazine, 18 October 2008 (available in Mandarin here).
• From e to eternity (a feature article about about e, transcendental numbers, and Schanuel’s Conjecture), New Scientist magazine, 21 July 2007.
• An Enormous Theorem: the classification of finite simple groups (Winner, Plus Magazine New Writers Competition, December 2006)
• Cantor and Cohen: Infinite Investigators, Part 1: the axiom of choice – Plus magazine, June 2008 (Also available in Arabic)
• Cantor and Cohen: Infinite Investigators, Part 2: the continuum hypothesis – Plus magazine, June 2008 (Also available in Arabic)
• Exotic spheres, or why 4-dimensional space is a crazy place – Plus magazine, January 2010
(and in Arabic)
• In March 2011, along with Ian Stewart and Brian Cox, I was featured in a Maths Special edition of The Guardian’s Science Weekly podcast, hosted by Alok Jha. (MP3 here.)
• In December 2010, I was interviewed by Neil Denny on Little Atoms on Resonance FM. (MP3 here.)
• On 10th November 2010, I was interviewed by Dan Damon on World Update on the BBC World Service, about unprovability and set theory. (MP3 here.)
• In November 2011, I was invited to talk at the West Yorkshire Astronomical Society, about Infinity and Hugh Woodin’s Ultimate L. The slides are here [pdf].
• In September 2011, I spoke at PhilSoc in Manchester, to an audience of students from three Manchester schools. The slides from my talk “Infinity and the Limits of Mathematics” are available here [pdf].
• In May 2011, I gave a webinar on “Some families of polyhedra” at Mathfuture, hosted by Maria Droujkova. If you don’t know your tetrahemihexahedron from your tridiminished rhombicosidodecahedronfrom, you can watch it online here.
• In February 2011 & Feb 2012 I gave a workshop on “Knot Maths” to school-children aged 13-14 as part of the Royal Institution Mathematics Masterclasses in Leeds. (Handout here [pdf].)
• In February 2012, I gave a Maths Excursion talk at Leeds Univeristy on the topic of Pick’s Theorem and Ehrhart Polynomials. (Slides here [pdf]).
• In October 2010, I gave the Logic Seminar at the University of Leeds, on the topic of Concrete Incompleteness. (Slides and blog-based discussion here.)
• With Matt Daws, I have developed a 2 hour workshop on Knot Theory for sixth-formers, which we have given several times to date, including as part of Leeds Festival of Science. Handouts and other details here.
• I have given talks and masterclasses on various aspects of mathematics (including prime numbers, tessellations, infinity, knot theory, waves) at schools around Yorkshire.
• In February 2007, I appeared on Channel 4′s radio show The Tube, discussing Goldbach’s Conjecture with Alex James (of Blur fame) in front of an audience of screaming teenage rock fans. (Write-up here.)
• October 2007, I gave a talk about e and transcendental numbers at Café Scientifique in Chapel Allerton, Leeds, in front of a less screaming, less teenage audience. See photos here.
• I’ve given several more technical or formal talks, see my Mathematical Talks page.
• See also my commendations page.