Coming soon:
Huge Numbers

Basic Books, April 2026

“Humanity has always been entranced by big numbers — the bigger the better. This fascinating exploration of the giants of the mathematical world is clear, informative, and immensely readable. Wonderful!”

– Ian Stewart

“A charming tour through the realm of the very, very, very numerous, from the ancient world through the distant future.” 

– Jordan Ellenberg

“Elwes provides a phenomenal scenic tour of googology (the study of huge numbers), covering everything from ancient Mayan and Babylonian numeral systems to the scale of the universe to the dizzyingly fast-growing functions of mathematical logic. I wish I had written this book.”

– Scott Aaronson

Dr Richard Elwes is a writer and Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Leeds in the UK.

YouTube playlist of Richard on Numberphile.

Blog Archive

  • Detective Work and P versus NP

    Nightjack was an award-winning blog which ran from 2008-2009, written by an anonymous British police officer. In 2009, in what they claimed to be the public interest – but which struck many observers as…

  • Lawrence Oates

    Like many British people I was brought up on stories of glorious failure, perhaps epitomised by Captain Robert Scott’s exploration of Antarctica. Although the expedition was successful in its primary aim (they made it…

  • John Derrick

    I meant to post something about John Derrick, a long-standing and much loved member of the logic group at Leeds University, who died in December. I only knew John in his later years (some…

  • Me, Elsevier, and the New Scientist

    In my last post I said that I had added my name to the growing anti-Elsevier boycott at The Cost of Knowledge. I need to add something to that, since Yemon Choi has pointed…

  • Let it be known that…

    …I have just signed the Cost of Knowledge petition. I don’t think I need say any more, since the issues have been thoroughly discussed elsewhere.

  • Pick’s Theorem & Ehrhart Polynomials

    Pick’s theorem is a simple, beautiful, and usful fact of elementary geometry. It should be much better known than it is! In fact, I have half a mind that it should be on the…

  • Elwes Elsewhere

    If it’s been quiet around here recently, it’s because I’ve been hanging around in various places other than my own blog recently… 1. I’m on Google+ a lot these days. It’s now definitely my…

  • Ultimate L

    I have a feature article in this week’s New Scientist magazine, about the Continuum Hypothesis, set theory, and Hugh Woodin’s Ultimate L. It’s in the shops, or here. [£]

  • Russell on Thought

    “Men fear thought more than they fear anything else on earth – more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible; thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions,…