Number Freak

A book about the first 200 integers sounds like the dullest thing ever, but this is actually a perfect toilet reading book. Did you know that ‘eleven plus two’ is an anagram of ‘twelve plus one’? Or that there are only 17 unique ways to repeat a wallpaper pattern? This is the opposite of a reference book: the answers are listed in order, along with a collection of interesting questions for each one. It’s a hugely entertaining pick-and-mix of history, culture and mathematical puzzles. If you aren’t a number freak already, you soon will be once you start reading this.

Luis Villazon is a Focus Q&A expert