Wikipedia

Alex Bellos

Alexander Bellos(born 1969)[1]is aBritishwriter, broadcaster and mathematics communicator.[3][4][5][6]He is the author of books aboutBrazilandmathematics,as well as having a column inThe Guardiannewspaper.[2][7]

Alex Bellos
Alex Bellos in 2011
Born
Alexander Bellos

1969 (age 54–55)[1]
Oxford
EducationHampton Park Comprehensive School
Richard Taunton Sixth Form College
Alma materUniversity of Oxford(BA, MA)
Employers
AwardsBritish Book Awards[when?]
Websitealexbellos.com

Education and early life

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Alex Bellos was born inOxfordand grew up inEdinburghandSouthampton.He was educated atHampton Park Comprehensive SchoolandRichard Taunton Sixth Form Collegein Southampton.[1]He went on to study mathematics and philosophy atCorpus Christi College, Oxford,[1]where he was the editor of the student paperCherwell.[citation needed]

Career

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Bellos's first job was working forThe Argus[1]inBrightonbefore moving toThe Guardianin London in 1994. From 1998 to 2003 he was South America correspondent ofThe Guardian,[2][8]and wroteFutebol: the Brazilian Way of Life.[9]The book was well received in the UK, where it was nominated for sports book of the year at theBritish Book Awards.In the US, it was included as one ofPublishers Weekly'sbooks of the year. They wrote: “Compelling...Alternately funny and dark...Bellos offers a cast of characters as colorful as a Carnival parade”. In 2006, heghostwrotePelé: The Autobiography,about the soccer playerPelé,which was a number one best-seller in the UK.[10][11]

Returning to live in the UK, Bellos decided to write about mathematics. The bookAlex's Adventures in Numberlandwas published in 2010 and spent four months inThe Sunday Times'top ten best-sellers' list.The Daily Telegraphdescribed the book as a "mathematical wonder that will leave you hooked on numbers." The book was shortlisted for three awards in the UK, including theBBCSamuel Johnson Prizefor Non-Fiction 2010.[12]The Guardianreported that Bellos's book was narrowly beaten into second place. Chairman of the judgesEvan Davisbroke with protocol to discuss their deliberations: "[Bellos's] was a book everyone thought would be nice if it won, because it would be good for people to read a maths book. Some of us wished we'd read it when we were 14 years old. If we'd taken the view that this is a book everyone ought to read, then it might have gone that way."[13]

Several translations of the book have been published. The Italian version,Il meraviglioso mondo dei numeri,won both the €10,000 Galileo Prize for science books[14][15][16]and the 2011 Peano Prize[17]for mathematics books. In the United States, the book was given the titleHere's Looking at Euclid.[18]

Alex Through The Looking-Glass: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Lifewas published in 2014 and received positive reviews.The Daily Telegraphwrote: “If anything, Looking Glass is a better work than Numberland – it feels more immediate, more relevant and more fun.”[19] Its US title wasThe Grapes of Math,about whichThe New York Timessaid Bellos was: “a charming and eloquent guide to math’s mysteries…There’s an interesting fact or mathematical obsessive on almost every page. And for its witty flourishes, it’s never shallow. Bellos doesn’t shrink from delving into equations, which should delight aficionados who relish those kinds of details.”

Bellos presented the BBC TV seriesInside Out Brazil(2003),[20]and also authored the documentaryEt Dieu créa…le foot,about football in theAmazon rainforest,which was shown on theNational Geographic Channel.[21]His short films on the Amazon have appeared onBBC,More4andAl Jazeera.[4][22]He also appears frequently on theBBCtalking about mathematics. HisRadio 4documentaryNirvana by Numberswas shortlisted for best radio programme in the 2014 Association of British Science Writers Awards.

Bellos appeared in the 2023Christmas University Challengeseries as team captain of Oxford's Corpus Christi team, reaching the final, only to be beaten by the Middlesex team.

Publications

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On football

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  • Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life(2002)[23][ISBN missing]
  • Pelé, The Autobiography(2006) (as ghostwriter)[ISBN missing]
  • Football School Season 1with Ben Lyttleton and illustrated by Spike Gerrell (2016)[ISBN missing]
  • Football School Season 2with Ben Lyttleton and illustrated by Spike Gerrell (2017)[ISBN missing]

On mathematics

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  • (2010)Alex's Adventures in Numberland/Here's Looking at EuclidISBN1526623994[24]
  • (2014)Alex Through the Looking-Glass: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect LifeISBN1408817772
  • (2015)Snowflake Seashell Star: Colouring Adventures in Numberlandwith Edmund HarrisISBN1782117881
  • (2016)Can You Solve My Problems?: Ingenious, Perplexing, and Totally Satisfying Math and Logic PuzzlesISBN1783351144
  • (2016)Visions of Numberland/Patterns of the UniversewithEdmund HarrissISBN9781408888988
  • (2017)Puzzle Ninja: Pit Your Wits Against the Japanese Puzzle MastersISBN145217105X
  • (2019)So You Think You've Got Problems?: Puzzles to flex, stretch and sharpen your mindISBN178335190X
  • (2020)The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book: Lexical perplexities and cracking conundrums from across the globeISBN1783352183

Awards and honours

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Personal life

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Bellos lives in London[citation needed]and is married with children.[1]His fatherDavid Bellos[1]is a translator and academic[29]and his mother is Hungarian.[30]

References

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  1. ^abcdefghAnon (2017)."Bellos, Alexander".Who's Who(onlineOxford University Pressed.). Oxford: A & C Black.doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.289184.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
  2. ^abc"Alex Bellos at The Guardian".theguardian.com.
  3. ^Alex BellosOfficial website
  4. ^abAlex BellosatIMDb
  5. ^"Publisher's biography of Alex Bellos".bloomsbury.com.Archived fromthe originalon 16 May 2012.Retrieved10 April2012.
  6. ^Bellos, Alex (2012)."Alex Bellos: Writing about numbers".numberphile.com.Brady Haran.Archived fromthe originalon 16 May 2013.Retrieved1 April2013.
  7. ^'Learn to love maths'– article by Alex Bellos inThe Guardian
  8. ^"Biography from Alex Bellos's official website".Retrieved10 April2012.
  9. ^"Guardian review of 'Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life'".London:Bloomsbury Publishing.7 October 2002.Retrieved10 April2012.
  10. ^"Alex Bellos's agency profile – Janklow & Nesbit (UK) Ltd".janklowandnesbit.co.uk.Archived fromthe originalon 14 December 2017.Retrieved11 April2012.
  11. ^"Alex Bellos official website – 'Pele'".Retrieved10 April2012.
  12. ^"Samuel Johnson Award shortlist 2010".Archived fromthe originalon 23 February 2012.
  13. ^Floo, Alison (1 July 2010)."Samuel Johnson Prize reported by The Guardian".London.Retrieved8 June2012.
  14. ^"Galileo prize winner – website".Archived fromthe originalon 15 December 2018.Retrieved17 May2012.
  15. ^"Alex Bellos at the Premio Galileo 2012 Awards Ceremony".Archived fromthe originalon 19 August 2014.Retrieved17 May2012.
  16. ^"PadovaCultura article on Alex Bellos".
  17. ^ab"Premio Peano shortlist 2011".Archived fromthe originalon 18 February 2013.
  18. ^"Here's Looking at Euclid".Simon & Schuster(US).Retrieved11 April2012.
  19. ^"The Daily Telegraph - Alex Through the Looking Glass review".
  20. ^"BBC Brazil Inside Out".Retrieved15 June2014.
  21. ^"'Et Dieu Crea le Foot', National Geographic Channel ".Archived fromthe originalon 6 September 2010.Retrieved11 April2012.
  22. ^Alex Bellos (27 February 2008)."The road to development – Part 1".People & Power.Al Jazeera.Retrieved15 June2014.
  23. ^Futebol: the Brazilian Way of LifeonGoogle Scholar(including citations)
  24. ^Review ofAlex's Adventures in NumberlandinThe Telegraph,2010
  25. ^"Chalkdust Book of the Year 2019".chalkdustmagazine.com.Retrieved15 February2020.
  26. ^"Blue Peter Book Awards 2017".booktrust.org.uk.Archived fromthe originalon 30 June 2017.Retrieved11 June2017.
  27. ^"Premio Letterario Galileo 2012".padovacultura.padovanet.it.
  28. ^Matthews, Robert (15 November 2011)."Telegraph article on the Royal Society Prize for Science Books Prize 2011".The Daily Telegraph.London. Archived fromthe originalon 15 November 2011.
  29. ^Bellos, Alex (2014).The Grapes of Math: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life.p. 324.[ISBN missing]
  30. ^Bells, Alex (2017)."Alex Bellos biography".alexbellos.com.Archived fromthe originalon 15 December 2017.Retrieved14 December2017.
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