Rating: 
Summary: Not great but also not bad...
Review: "The Joy of Pi" is a short synopsis on the history of pi. Even if you are a math, engineering, life science, or economics major, there are bound to be details in this book that will enlighten you. I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of mathematical jargon in the book though. Also, the book is somewhat difficult to read due to the writing style of the author and the page setup of the book. Text is located in boxes or triangles or circles on nearly every page. It almost appears the author wanted to fill the space and decided to use an irregularly styled page format. Yet, if you are wanting something to read on your next flight or at the swimming pool, this could be a book for you. If the subject matter interests you enough, you might find that there are no references to pursue this information further. This is a drawback to the book. Equations containing pi are included in the book but it is up to you to seek out the proof for these equations.
Rating:
Summary: Not great but also not bad...
Review: "The Joy of Pi" is a short synopsis on the history of pi. Even if you are a math, engineering, life science, or economics major, there are bound to be details in this book that will enlighten you. I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of mathematical jargon in the book though. Also, the book is somewhat difficult to read due to the writing style of the author and the page setup of the book. Text is located in boxes or triangles or circles on nearly every page. It almost appears the author wanted to fill the space and decided to use an irregularly styled page format. Yet, if you are wanting something to read on your next flight or at the swimming pool, this could be a book for you. If the subject matter interests you enough, you might find that there are no references to pursue this information further. This is a drawback to the book. Equations containing pi are included in the book but it is up to you to seek out the proof for these equations.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, if sometimes myopic and puerile
Review: An enjoyable enough romp through the mystery, history, and personalities surrounding the elusive ratio, but after illustrating and celebrating the many paradigm-shifts involving the search for and understanding of pi, e.g., Archimedean or electronic, the author spends several chapters making fun of cyclometers/cyclometricians (circle-squarers), never entertaining that the next leap in pi studies (if there is such a thing) just MIGHT be among them, and never realizing or admitting that those who in retrospect are now called visionaries in mathematics, were at one time considered cranks by the establishmentarians they harried and displaced. Also, it could be difficult for someone not well versed in mathematics to follow the formulas recited in the audio format, but this is kept to a minimum, and you can always "rewind." The audio version does offer a worthwhile musical bonus.
Rating:
Summary: Great content, poor presentation
Review: As mentioned in other reviews, the visual presentation of this book is rather poor and can make it uncomfortable to read at times.
That said, the content is fantastic. Being a fan of both history and mathematics, I thorughly enjoyed this quick, thought-provoking read. One tidbit about an ancient civilization, the Greeks I believe, actually calculated PI as 4, instead of 3 or 3.14, The author marvels at how they were still able to construct buildings that stood at all. This book is a wonderful list of the fascinating culture and history of the only irrational number that exists in nature.
Rating: 
Summary: History of a Mystery
Review: David Blatners book on the history of Pi is inspiring and concise. Going through the history, East and West, where the reader the will discover all the errors in formulating this most mysterious infinite number. Blatner also discusses how to remember the number, if need be, as well as some tidbits of information where pi has shown up, either in movies or books or wherever. The book essentially avoids mathematical equations, although they are displayed to those that understand them, the book is written so anyone can appreciate the the work involved in getting to pi. A fun read and reccomended as an introduction to finding the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter of a circle.
Rating:
Summary: A little too easy
Review: I enjoyed this book immensely. It is neither too long to be ponderous for its subject - a non-technical review of the fascination of the number pi - nor too brief to be trivial. Its graphic nature and content went a long way to maintaining my interest and stimulating my own ideas. Maybe I do have a way to square the circle!Just kidding!!
Rating:
Summary: Great for the coffee table after you've memorized pi.
Review: I thought that this was a great book. It has lots of info on the history behind pi, the formulas used in calculating it, and lots of little facts and wierd occurances. I recommend it. It's definately worth the price.
Rating: 
Summary: Pi 101: A fascinating survey of a mathematical enigma
Review: Probably no number has so fascinated mathematicians and non-mathematicians as much as pi, that enigmatic and unnending number that begins 3.14159265. Pi is simple to define: it is the ratio of the circumference of any circle to the diameter. Beyond that simple definition lies much that is fascinating, as much for the behavior of those who have studied pi as for the number itself. David Blatner's "The Joy of Pi" presents many anecdotes about pi and its history, and these stories span from the inchoate stages of geometry to the recent, computer-assisted explorations (indeed, running through the book is a one-million-digit expansion of pi). For the serious mathematician, "The Joy of Pi" probably contains little new and is too brief in the topics it does cover. But Blatner's apparent aim is not to produce a weighty intellectual tome. Instead, Blatner has written what might aptly be called "Pi 101." As a brief survey of one of the more fascinating mathematical enigmae, "The Joy of Pi" succeeds swimmingly. When Stephen King, John Grisham, or Patricia Cornwell writes a new book, the audience is pre-sold. With a book about mathematics, however, the opposite is probably true. With math phobia (or innumeracy, as another author calls it) all too common, far too many people will pass up this breezy book for fear of being in over their heads or being bored to the point of tears. Anyone with such a fear should do his or her best to overcome it long enough to pick up "The Joy of Pi." The result might very well be a brief glimpse at the beauty and mystery of mathematics--and some of the more interesting and amusing pieces of its history (such as the misguided attempt to legislate pi!).
Rating:
Summary: FUN! But in need of a good editor and designer...
Review: There is a lot of very interesting information presented in David Blatner's The Joy of Pi, but it is well hidden behind a precipitous writing style and the worst graphics and design work ever presented in a general science book. But then why four stars? Well, this one little tidbit alone was worth the price of admission: "The height of an elephant (from foot to shoulder) equals 2 x Pi x the diameter of the elephants foot". This is just one example of how Blatner attempts to show his audience how intrinsic and real and relevant Pi is to the everyday world. And he does it with a type of bombastic style and confident fun oftentimes not seen in general science books. Well, at least it is fun for the first seventy-five pages or so. In the final chapters of the book, Blatner falls into a twenty-plus page flame of cyclometers (i.e. mathematical diletantes who are still trying to square the circle -- if you don't know what this means, then you really need to read the book!). His diatribe includes more than a dozen call-out boxes, 15 quotes, and various other assorted and sundry techniques for trying to make cyclometers look ridiculous (I don't believe that cyclometers will be successful, but it's their kind of energy and passion that put the human race in space). Net/net:
1) Wealth of interesting facts about Pi
2) Design and formatting of text and graphics couldn't be worse
3) Questionable value to the last chapters which include a 20+ page flame on cyclometers
4) Three hour read to learning all the general enthusiast needs to know about Pi
Rating:
Summary: Fun and Interesting
Review: This is quick and interesting read in a fun format with many quotes and graphics. This book presents a history of Pi that would fascinate both the mathematician and lay reader.
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