A winner indeed ... very successful series ... the standards in these volumes are very high indeed. What makes these volumes so well-received? Here are five reasons ... First, the articles are all written in a very lively style ... witty and sophisticated writing ... Readers can enter ... somewhat ... effortlessly, as if they were reading a non-technical magazine. Second, the articles give a balanced treatment of what is indeed happening in the mathematical sciences. [The author] ... faithfully covers his beat ... Third, the primary goal of reaching readers besides professional mathematicians is kept in sight throughout ... Fourth, the articles are short and sharply focused ... Fifth, there is mathematical meat in every article ... the five volumes of What's Happening ... Together ... are remarkable not only for their excellence but also for the consistency of style maintained over a ten-year period.

Reviews of the Previous Volumes:

This lively presentation of an amazingly wide spectrum of happenings in mathematics is impressive ... [this book] should be presented to a wide audience even outside mathematics, which could be fascinated by the ideas, concepts and beauty of the mathematical topics.

The articles are very well written, and usually include quotes from the mathematicians who were involved in the work in question, giving the whole thing a more “human” feel. This book offers professionals a way to keep abreast of what's going on in the field and also gives us a way to share with our students and colleagues some of the excitement of doing mathematics. Don't miss it.

An excellent source of information. Through his writing, diagrams, and sidebars, Cipra offers historical background, mathematical connections, and insight into the world of research mathematics. Throughout the book, he connects modern mathematical ideas to important applications in computer science, physics, biology, security codes, and art. He also presents in each chapter an intriguing blend of historical and contemporary mathematics. An excellent resource for high school mathematics teachers and their students.

The perennial task of bringing mathematics before the general public attracts expositors wielding a diversity of strategies who pursue goals that range from enticing further study and inducing appreciation to merely diminishing fear. Cipra's What's Happening in the Mathematical Sciences surveys late-breaking mathematical news. Though he includes material on such familiar topics as computer chess, chaos, Escher, and cryptosystems, he also discusses less familiar territory such as quantum computers, automated theorem provers, and algorithmic algebraic geometry. Here undergraduates might easily make their first acquaintance with a topic that could shape the course of their future studies and, beyond that, their professional lives. An essential acquisition.

Stylish format ... largely accessible to laymen ... This publication is one of the snappier examples of a growing genre from scientific societies seeking to increase public understanding of their work and its societal value.

The topics chosen and the lively writing fill a notorious gap–to make the ideas, concepts and beauty of mathematics more visible for the general public ... well-illustrated ... Congratulations to Barry Cipra.