Robert Matthews is a Visiting Professor at Aston University, specialising in the mathematics of chance and uncertainty. His research on issues ranging from the prediction of coincidences to methods for turning evidence into insight has been published in many leading journals, including Nature and The Lancet. He is also an award-winning science writer, Science Consultant to BBC Focus and a former specialist correspondent with The Times and Sunday Telegraph. www.robertmatthews.org

It takes an extraordinary writer to animate this driest of subjects for a general audience. That writer is Matthews ... At a time when mathematics needs charismatic ambassadors more than ever, Matthews has written a book of great significance.

Robert Matthews is a Visiting Professor at Aston University, specialising in the mathematics of chance and uncertainty. His research on issues ranging from the prediction of coincidences to methods for turning evidence into insight has been published in many leading journals, including Nature and The Lancet. He is also an award-winning science writer, Science Consultant to BBC Focus and a former specialist correspondent with The Times and Sunday Telegraph. www.robertmatthews.org

It takes an extraordinary writer to animate this driest of subjects for a general audience. That writer is Matthews ... At a time when mathematics needs charismatic ambassadors more than ever, Matthews has written a book of great significance.