Is Maths Real?

I’ll admit it: I approached *Is Maths Real?* with the weary skepticism of someone who still has nightmares about high school algebra. But within 20 minutes, Eugenia Cheng had me laughing—and, more shockingly, *caring* about the commutative property. Her narration is the star here: she doesn’t just read, she *performs*, with a rhythm that’s part TED Talk, part fireside chat. When she giggles at her own jokes (like comparing math rules to ‘the etiquette of a very posh dinner party’), you can’t help but grin along. The production is clean but lively, with subtle emphasis on key terms that makes it easy to follow even when she’s unpacking something heady, like how category theory connects to social justice. That said, this isn’t a linear ‘Math for Dummies’ crash course. Cheng’s strength—and occasional weakness—is her tangential brilliance. A chapter on multiplication might detour into the philosophy of language or the politics of education, which is thrilling when it lands (her takedown of ‘maths anxiety’ as a cultural construct is *chef’s kiss*) but occasionally disjointed. The pacing in the second half flags slightly during deeper dives into abstract algebra, where even Cheng’s enthusiasm can’t fully mask the density. And while her analogies are usually genius (explaining functions via a *toaster* is a masterstroke), a few stretch too far—do we really need a baking metaphor for *every* concept? But these are quibbles. By the end, I found myself pausing to scribble notes, not out of obligation, but because Cheng had made me *curious*. That’s the real magic here: she doesn’t just teach math—she makes you *want* to play with it.