[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Speaks-Numbers-Reveals-Natur...
The Universe Speaks in Numbers[1] by Graham Farmelo
I found this very motivating and insightful, in terms of developing even more of an appreciation for how much math underpins other branches of science. Not that that is a novel insight by any means... but the details of the incidents where breakthroughs in mathematics allowed further advances in physics, etc. and looking at the "back and forth" between the domains, that was wildly interesting to me. Reading this book definitely helped motivate me to get serious about committing more time / focus to studying mathematics.
I also enjoyed the "counterpoint" book by Sabine Hosenfelder, Lost in Math[2]. I think these two books complement each other nicely.
Then the handful of additional (no pun intended) books that jump to mind would be:
- How Mathematicians Think by William Byers[3]
- How to Think Like a Mathematician by Kevin Houston[4]
- Discrete Mathematics with Applications[5] by Susanna Epp
- How Not To Be Wrong[6] by Jordan Ellenberg
- Introduction to Mathematical Thinking[7] by Keith Devlin
- How to Measure Anything[8] by Douglas Hubbard
[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Speaks-Numbers-Reveals-Natur...
[2]: https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Math-Beauty-Physics-Astray/dp/15...
[3]: https://www.amazon.com/How-Mathematicians-Think-Contradictio...
[4]: https://www.amazon.com/How-Think-Like-Mathematician-Undergra...
[5]: https://www.amazon.com/Susanna-S-Epp-Mathematics-Application...
[6]: https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Be-Wrong-Mathematical/dp/0143...
[7]: https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Mathematical-Thinking-Ke...
[8]: https://www.amazon.com/How-Measure-Anything-Intangibles-Busi...
Lost in Math - Sabine Hossenfelder[2]
The First Three Minutes - Steven Weinberg[3]
Hyperspace - Michio Kaku[4]
Not Even Wrong - Peter Woit[5]
The Trouble With Physics - Lee Smolin[6]
About Time - Paul Davies[7]
Time Reborn - Lee Smolin[8]
The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene[9]
The Hidden Reality - Brian Greene[10]
The Fabric of the Cosmos - Brian Greene[11]
Quantum Space: Loop Quantum Gravity and the Search for the Structure of Space, Time, and the Universe - Jim Baggott[12]
The Universe Speaks in Numbers: How Modern Math Reveals Nature's Deepest Secrets - Graham Farmelo[13]
Three Roads To Quantum Gravity - Lee Smolin[14]
Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes on the Cosmos - Seth Lloyd[15]
Higgs - The invention and discovery of the 'God Particle' - Jim Baggott[16]
[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Something-Deeply-Hidden-Emergence-Spa...
[2]: https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Math-Beauty-Physics-Astray/dp/15...
[3]: https://www.amazon.com/First-Three-Minutes-Modern-Universe/d...
[4]: https://www.amazon.com/Hyperspace-Scientific-Parallel-Univer...
[5]: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Even-Wrong-Failure-Physical/dp/04...
[6]: https://www.amazon.com/Trouble-Physics-String-Theory-Science...
[7]: https://www.amazon.com/About-Time-Einsteins-Unfinished-Revol...
[8]: https://www.amazon.com/Time-Reborn-Lee-Smolin/dp/0544245598/
[9]: https://www.amazon.com/Elegant-Universe-Superstrings-Dimensi...
[10]: https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Reality-Parallel-Universes-Cos...
[11]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375412883/ref=dbs_a_def_r...
[12]: https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Space-Gravity-Structure-Unive...
[13]: https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Speaks-Numbers-Reveals-Natur...
[14]: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Roads-Quantum-Gravity-Smolin/dp...
[15]: https://www.amazon.com/Programming-Universe-Quantum-Computer...
[16]: https://www.amazon.com/Higgs-invention-discovery-God-Particl...
Every since I read The Universe Speaks in Numbers[1] I've been fascinated by those scenarios where there's some hard problem in science, and it turns out that the math needed to solve it was invented years before, to solve some other problem. And the eventual solution to the current problem is merely the serendipitous discovery that this other math exists and applies.
[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Speaks-Numbers-Reveals-Natur...