Blown Away: What Knot to Do When Sailing
Colin Adams is the Thomas T. Read Professor of Mathematics at Williams College. He is particularly interested in the mathematical theory of knots, their applications and their connections with hyperbolic geometry.
He is the author of The Knot Book (2004), an elementary introduction to the mathematical theory of knots, a mathematical comic book Why Knot?: An Introduction to the Mathematical Theory of Knots with Tangle (2008) and Riot at the Calc Exam and Other Mathematically Bent Stories (2009), a compendium of humorous math stories. His most recent book is Zombies & Calculus (2014).
He is also the co-author of the humorous supplements How to Ace Calculus: The Streetwise Guide (1998) and How to Ace the Rest of Calculus: The Streetwise Guide, Including MultiVariable Calculus (2001) as well as the textbook Introduction to Topology: Pure and Applied (2007).
He also appears with Thomas Garrity in The Great Pi/e Debate (2006), The United States of Mathematics Presidential Debate (2010) and The Derivative vs. the Integral: The Final Smackdown (2012), all DVD’s of humorous debates on mathematical topics. He is also the humor columnist for the Mathematical Intelligencer.
Adams is a recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award from the Mathematical Association of America, a Polya Lecturer, a Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer, and a recipient of the Robert Foster Cherry Teaching Award for Great Teaching.