Math (Re)imagined

How math was always meant to feel

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So many people say, “I’m not a math person!” Believe me, I heard this over and over while traveling through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland performing short math comedy skits (also called science slams). And honestly, that always makes me a little sad. I truly believe that most people who think they’re “bad at math” aren’t incapable, they were just never introduced to math in a way that actually makes sense to them. Meanwhile, I get immense joy, wonder, and excitement from math, and I want everyone to feel that same spark.

That’s exactly why I wrote Math (Re)Imagined, a book for anyone who wants to learn math with confidence and curiosity. In it, I challenge the negative stereotypes around math, share my own struggles, and show how math has enriched my life. I also offer practical strategies for learning math, designed to suit different personality types, all packed with humor, fascinating math examples, and captivating stories from math history.

If you’re ready to stop seeing math as a source of anxiety and start seeing it as a source of joy, wonder, and confidence, Math (Re)Imagined is for you. Let’s take this journey together and rediscover math in a way that not just makes sense but actually feels fun!

3 Free reading samples

Math and me: Read a personal story about the beginnings of my own math journey.
Tearing a hole in a net: Get a glimpse on how math is treated in this book by answering the question “Why do I end up with fewer holes when I tear a hole in a net?”
7 bridges of Königsberg: No popular math book would be complete without tackling one of the most famous stories in math history.

What my readers Say:

I wish I could gift this book to my younger self, struggling to find even an ounce of fun in math. Math Re(Imagined) is the teacher you wish you had—playful, engaging, and full of surprises. With its creative storytelling, colorful diagrams, and humor, this book makes math accessible by exploring the “why” of simple concepts and easing you into more challenging ones. And who knew that ‘90s kids’ shows hid the key to algebra? This book proves that math can meet you where you are—and who knows, along the way, you and math may even become life-long friends.

I studied a lot of math for my engineering degree, but it was always a means to an end and I never really took the time to appreciate it. This book helped me do just that. Dr. Zeilinger builds things up from the basics in a way that makes things really easy to understand, filling in gaps in my education. A great read!

I was a beta reader for an early draft of this book, and I read it several times because I loved it so much. I wasn't asked to leave a review, but I wanted to leave one because I wish I'd had this book when I was in high school or college. I loved math, and getting to read a book by a female mathematician would have totally changed my perception of the field and would have made it so much easier for me to pursue it in college. This book makes math come alive in a way you almost never see. There are really interesting, well-explained math problems, but much more than that. This book talks about math as a language, it gets into personality types and how to learn math based on yours, and it goes into the author's personal experiences as she navigated choosing what to study and where to take her career. I found it super touching and relatable reading about how getting into math made the author feel understood, and really refreshing hearing about some early struggles she had with the subject. This book was so personable, relatable, and fascinating. I'd recommend it for any high schoolers or college students (especially women) considering going into math, as well as anyone who ever wanted to learn about math but felt excluded or put off by the rote memorization way it's taught sometimes.

Judy Zeilinger's soul burns with a fiery passion for, of all things, math. Yes, math! But how can stodgy old math with all its excruciatingly boring rules inspire passion? In Math (Re)Imagined Judy describes the struggles and successes she experienced on her path to blossoming as a mathematician, and at the same time demonstrates that a simple change of perspective can reveal the dazzling beauty behind all those numbers and triangles and dodeca-whatever-gons. It's a pretty nifty magic trick if you ask me. And who knows? Maybe it will help you (re)kindle your own passion for a subject you might have hated in school, and give you the confidence to become a mathemetician in your own right.