Looks like I have reading material for the next few years :|

More seriously: From glancing at the recommended list (bottom of the linked page), a few books I heartily recommend: "Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture", "Logicomix", and of course: "Godel Escher Bach".

I would love a list of books that are actual Math books, but for a popular audience. I'm not talking about something like "Fermat's Last Theorem", as it does not actually teach real math.

My best example of such a book is "Journey Through Genius", which is an amazing book - a look at 10 great mathematical theorems, from explaining the basic theory behind them, on through their history, and ending with a full proof of the theory itself. This is how textbooks should be written, if our goal is for people to enjoy mathematics - explaining why mathematicians came up with the theorems they did, including the always-interesting human angle of the history. But still keeping full mathematical rigour.

This is one of the best I have found:

Mathematics: Its Content, Methods and Meaning

A. D. Aleksandrov, A. N. Kolmogorov, M. A. Lavrent'ev

www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Content-Methods-Meaning-Dover/dp/0486409163/

The book gives historical contexts for the problem, prompts you to (try to) solve yourself first, and then gives the complete mathematics.

Have you ever checked out any of Paul Nahin's books? You might like those.

Any specific one you would recommend?

Most of the ones below seem somewhat too basic for me.

http://www.amazon.com/Paul-J.-Nahin/e/B001HCS1XI/

I read An Imaginary Tale and liked it. That being said, I have more enthusiasm than ability when it comes to maths. You might very well be beyond these books.

In university libraries you can sort of pick out narrative/casual books in the math section by working off of the form factor. If you pull out books with a novel-like size and shape and read the backs you might find ones that are the right mix for you.

One last clue is that publishing houses like Springer will put out series of more narrative or casual works from time to time. Best of luck!

I think I started reading one of them, but didn't really connect with his writing style. I should probably give it another go though, I might just have been in a bad mood.

I loved reading "The Secret Number" by Igor Teper:

http://www.strangehorizons.com/2000/20001120/secret_number.s...

It has been submitted to HN a few times too.

Thank you!!! "Ms Fnd in a Lbry" was a story someone gave me to read in 1981 and I lost my copy, forgot the title, forgot the writer, and have been lamenting not being able to re-read it since. Your list reconnected me with it!

Hari Seldon from Asimov's "Foundation" series is my absolute favourite fictional mathematician, and I'm glad to see its in the recommended list! Brilliant database, I'm sure to find some new reading material here.

Not just short stories - Carl Sagan's Contact is there. The book had a terrific payoff idea that the movie didn't acknowledge at all, so if you've only seen the movie then you've missed the important stuff. (Avoid the synopsis at kasmana.people.cofc.edu if you have a low tolerance for spoilers.)

The Faraway: A longer short story, perhaps more focussed on theoretical physics than math (but physics is sexy too).

http://www.amazon.com/The-Faraway-Chance-Rain-ebook/dp/B00AF...

This looks like a wonderful resuorce! I checked the database for The Number Devil [1], one of my favorite math books for middle school age (and anyone who is delighted by imaginative presentations of math!). Sure enough, it's there, highly rated, and the comments from teachers and students are a delight.

[1]: http://kasmana.people.cofc.edu/MATHFICT/mfview.php?callnumbe...