A Mathematician’s Survival Guide

Check out Prof Peter Casazza’s A Mathematician’s Survival Guide (or get it in pdf format here).

An excerpt is given here:

Mathematician’s relationship with the general public most closely resembles “bipolar” disorder – at the same time they admire us and hate us. Almost everyone has had at least one bad experience with mathematics during some part of their education. Get into any taxi and tell the driver you are a mathematician and the response is predictable. First, there is silence while the driver relives his greatest nightmare – taking algebra. Next, you will hear the immortal words: “I was never any good at mathematics.” My response is: “I was never any good at being a taxi driver so I went into mathematics.” You can learn a lot from taxi drivers if you just don’t tell them you are a mathematician. Why get started on the wrong foot?

A must read for any mathematician.