Alex Bellos

Alex Bellos is a British science writer and mathematics communicator whose books make numbers irresistible. His celebrated title Alex's Adventures in Numberland (retitled Here's Looking at Euclid in the US), followed by Alex Through the Looking-Glass, won major science-writing prizes and a global readership.

Part mathematics, part travelogue — Braille, Sudoku, the Prisoner's Dilemma, the tale of the Shansi temple's abacus — Bellos's books enchant readers who thought they disliked maths. A former foreign correspondent and Guardian columnist, he also explores Brazil, where he wrote Futebol, one of the best history-of-football studies set there.