Paul Lockhart

Paul Lockhart is an American mathematician and teacher whose writing about mathematics has challenged how we think about mathematical education. He has taught mathematics at universities including Brown and UC Santa Cruz, as well as at Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn. A Mathematician's Lament is a passionate, provocative argument that the way mathematics is taught in schools destroys children's natural curiosity and joy in mathematical thinking. Lockhart argues that mathematics is an art form — creative, beautiful, and playful — and that conventional maths education reduces it to rote memorisation and formulaic drudgery. The audiobook and book versions offer listeners and readers a powerful, thought-provoking critique of mathematical education. Lockhart's work appeals to teachers, parents, students, and anyone who has ever wondered why maths, which should be fascinating, is so often experienced as tedious and joyless.