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x + y: A Mathematician's Manifesto for Rethinking Gender Audiobook
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A brilliant mathematician examines the complexity of gender and society and forges a path out of inequality.
Why are men in charge? After years in the male-dominated field of mathematics and in the female-dominated field of art, Eugenia Cheng has heard the question many times. In x + y, Cheng argues that her mathematical specialty -- category theory -- reveals why. Category theory deals more with context, relationships, and nuanced versions of equality than with intrinsic characteristics. Category theory also emphasizes dimensionality: much as a cube can cast a square or diamond shadow, depending on your perspective, so too do gender politics appear to change with how we examine them. Because society often rewards traits that it associates with males, such as competitiveness, we treat the problems those traits can create as male. But putting competitive women in charge will leave many unjust relationships in place. If we want real change, we need to transform the contexts in which we all exist, and not simply who we think we are.
Praise for Eugenia Cheng
"[Eugenia Cheng's] tone is clear, clever and friendly . . . she is rigorous and insightful. . . . [She is] a lucid and nimble expositor."
--- Alex Bellos, New York Times Book Review
"Dr. Cheng . . . has a knack for brushing aside conventions and edicts, like so many pie crumbs from a cutting board."
--- Natalie Angier, New York Times
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"On yet another adventure in using the logic of math to address social and emotional issues, author Cheng takes on gender equality...She frames her thinking with relatable examples and anecdotes....Her arguments are both passionate and logical."
— Booklist (starred review)
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A bold and optimistic theory of gender and cooperation, based on the insights of math
— Katy Guest, The Guardian -
A carefully developed argument that urges us to discuss character traits without reference to gender.
— Kirkus -
Eugenia Cheng is on a mission to change the world for the better, using math.... It's another bold and optimistic thought...if we were ever going to imagine a whole new theory of people, now is as good a time as any to start.
— Guardian -
x + y is a book very much designed to change the world.
— Times Higher Education -
This is an important topic and an important time to find better ways to have conversations.
— New York Times
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About Eugenia Cheng
Eugenia Cheng is tenured in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. She has previously been on the mathematics faculty at the University of Chicago and is the Scientist in Residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She lives in Chicago.
About Moira Quirk
Moira Quirk, a British actress and Earphones Award–winning narrator, co-narrated Ben Bova’s Mercury and has narrated other popular audiobooks for which she received Audie Award nominations. She is a successful comedian and can be heard on Nickelodeon’s cartoon My Life as a Teenage Robot as well as in The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd, The Wild Thornberrys Feature, and Serendipity, among others. She has also lent her voice to several video games, including Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction and Haunting Ground.