Lara Alcock, Reader in Mathematics Education, Loughborough University

Lara Alcock is a Reader in Mathematics Education. She earned a BSc and MSc in Mathematics and a PhD in Mathematics Education at the University of Warwick, then spent four years at Rutgers University and two at Essex before taking up her present post in the Mathematics Education Centre at Loughborough, where she is now Head of Department. She conducts research in mathematical thinking and learning, with a focus on the transition from school to undergraduate mathematics. She won the 2012 Mathematical Association of America Selden Prize for research in undergraduate mathematics education, and she has written two books for undergraduates, How to Study for a Mathematics Degree (OUP, 2012) and How to Think about Analysis (OUP, 2014). She has won numerous Loughborough School of Science teaching awards, and in 2015 was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy.

Lara Alcock: Winner of the 2021 IMA John Blake University Teaching Medal

"Attempting to write a text which introduces a range of ideas that build from arithmetic and go on to encompass number theory and geometry, for a broad and diverse audience, is a bold move. Yet this book does this rather well through an almost conversational style of writing, and one that allows the personal perspectives, experiences and opinions of the author to shine through... Throughout, examples are very well used to make links between the fundamental mathematical ideas and introduce the terminology that is vital to understanding our discipline." - Michael Gove, London Mathematical Society

"With her experience in teaching mathematics and her research in mathematical education, Lara Alcock has composed this book discussing some simple mathematics for the layperson or a fresh university student. As she is not constrained by any curricular prescription, she is freewheeling by association through the mathematical topics. The content pays special attention to those issues that she has experienced as stumbling stones for students." - EMS

"This is an interesting take on the popular math book... I think this book is very well done." - Allen Stenger, MAA Reviews

"A unique, accessible approach... Recommended." - D. Z. Spicer, CHOICE

"This book is a delightful journey through a lot of stimulating mathematics. Throughout the book, the pleasure of doing mathematics comes through powerfully... If this book cannot help to bring a lost soul back to mathematics, then nothing will." - Colin Foster, Mathematics in School