Reaching for the Extreme
How the Quest for the Biggest, Fewest and Weirdest Makes Maths
- Author: Ian Stewart (England)
- Book type: mathematics book
- Publisher: Profile Books
- To be released: 12 February 2026
- Length: 352 pages
- Format: hardcover / ebook
- Prize: £ 22.00
- Order book from: Amazon / Bol
Ian Stewart Reaching for the Extreme review
- “Britain’s most brilliant and prolific populariser of maths.” (Alex Bellos)
- “A testament to the versatility of maths and how it is shaping our understanding of the world.” (Guardian)
- “Ian Stewart shows us how maths makes the world – and the rest of the universe – go round.” (Professor Steven Strogatz, Cornell University)
Blurb Ian Stewart book about the Biggest, Fewest and Weirdest in Maths
A journey through some of mathematics’ prickliest conundrums – and why they matter.
How much land can you enclose inside a given border? To colour in a map so that no region shares a shade, what is the minimum number of colours you can use? What is the shortest route between two cities? And what’s the best strategy for a prisoner’s dilemma?
These questions have something in common: they are about extremes. Shortest lines, smallest areas, least energy, fewest colours. These issues have given birth to many of the deepest and most important areas of mathematics and are more than mere thought experiments – their applications range from Dido’s founding of the city of Carthage to contemporary satellite navigation systems.
From soap bubbles to the cosmos, Reaching for the Extreme tells the fascinating stories of mathematicians’ quest for extremes – their historical roots, the struggles to solve them, and how the results have changed our lives.
Ian Stewart was born 24 September 1945 in Folkestone, England. He is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the University of Warwick and the author of the bestseller Professor Stewart’s Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities. His recent books include Do Dice Play God?, , Professor Stewart’s Incredible Numbers, Seventeen Equations that Changed the World, Professor Stewart’s Casebook of Mathematical Mysteries and Calculating the Cosmos. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society.