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Nature 454, 580-581 (31 July 2008) | doi:10.1038/454580a; Published online 30 July 2008

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Maths and mad hatters

Jascha Hoffman1

BOOK REVIEWEDLewis Carroll in Numberland: His Fantastical Mathematical Logical Life

by Robin Wilson

Allen Lane/Norton: 2008. 237 pp./208 pp. £16.99/$24.95

Legend has it that Queen Victoria was so enchanted by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that she insisted on Lewis Carroll's next work being sent to her. One can imagine her expression as she opened the book that arrived, entitled An Elementary Treatise on Determinants.