* Disclosure: I was sent a copy of Hello World to review.We are now three books into the JMP Women in STEM book club and are happy to see growing global interest. * You should buy it with The Maths Behind, an Octopus book that’s £14.94 as I write. * Hello World is published by Doubleday and is currently £13.79 in hardback at Amazon. I loved it, and it made a long journey fly by I only wonder if a better coach-routing algorithm could have got me there quicker (or at least found me a bus without a screaming infant). All the same, it passes my “teach me something new” test (I’d often wondered what random forests were, and *Hello World* has saved me rooting out the enormous PDFs I downloaded with the best intentions some years ago) there are nice sections on the various types of error and Bayesian inference. I use the word ‘peppered’ advisedly: this is a book largely about the effects of maths, rather than the detail the underlying techniques are the spice rather than the substance. It’s divided into broad sections ((much like The Maths Behind, which is available etc and so on)) such as Justice, Health, Cars And Medicine, in each case discussing the triumphs and disasters of letting computers make decisions - without letting humans off the hook for being inconsistent and illogical.Īnd it’s peppered with maths.

From there, the reader is taken on a tour of how computers - and specifically algorithms - bring their strengths and weaknesses to life in the 21st century.

You can immediately hook a geek of a certain age ((around 40, to be specific)) with a well-placed reference to the ZX Spectrum in this case, it’s the first paragraph of the book, explaining the title. Finding the perfect balance between enthusiasm, expertise and clarity is a really tough trick, and - I note with a tinge of professional jealousy - she makes it look easy. I have never (yet) sat down for a coffee with Hannah Fry, but, having read Hello World, I can imagine I have.

The best science writers (as far as I’m concerned, at least) are the ones who make you feel like you’re sitting down for a coffee with a smart friend, excited about a thing they know about, a thing they’ve found out, or a thing they’ve just put together.

Hello world hannah fry