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Ben Orlin

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https://mathwithbaddrawings.com

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May 2018

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Average rating: 4.27 · 3,154 ratings · 411 reviews · 5 distinct works • Similar authors

	Math with Bad Drawings 4.22 avg rating — 1,955 ratings — published 2018 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Change is the Only Constant: The Wisdom of Calculus in a Madcap World 4.31 avg rating — 806 ratings — published 2019 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Math Games with Bad Drawings: 75 1/4 Simple, Challenging, Go-Anywhere Games―And Why They Matter 4.58 avg rating — 243 ratings — published 2022 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Math for English Majors 4.24 avg rating — 142 ratings — published 2024 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Nonstandard Notebook: Mathematically Ruled Pages for Unruly Thoughts by Tim Chartier, Amy Langville, Ben Orlin (Goodreads Author) (foreword) 3.57 avg rating — 7 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Ben Orlin is now friends with Anna Claxton
Dec 28, 2025 01:21PM · like
Ben Orlin wants to read The Walls Around Us: The Thinking Person's Guide to How a House Works by David Owen (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Ben Orlin wants to read The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 01, 2025 06:55PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Ben Orlin wants to read A Short Bright Flash: Augustin Fresnel and the Birth of the Modern Lighthouse by Theresa Levitt	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 01, 2025 06:54PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of A Short Bright Flash by Theresa Levitt. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — A Short Bright Flash by Theresa Levitt <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Ben Orlin wants to read A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains by Max Solomon Bennett	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Ben Orlin wants to read Joke Farming: How to Write Comedy and Other Nonsense by Elliott Kalan	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Ben Orlin wants to read Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei: How a Chinese Poem is Translated by Eliot Weinberger	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Quotes by Ben Orlin (?)

“Reality is a lovely starting point, but the coolest destinations lie far beyond it.”
― Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings

tags: cool, destinations, lovely, mathematics-reality

4 likes

“Creativity is what happens when a mind encounters an obstacle. It’s the human process of finding a way through, over, around, or beneath. No obstacle, no creativity.”
― Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings

tags: constraints, creativity, mind, obstacle

4 likes

“Filling a mind with facts is not like filling a vessel with water. For anyone with a worldview—that is, anyone with a pulse—assimilation is an active process.”
― Ben Orlin, Math Games with Bad Drawings: 75 1/4 Simple, Challenging, Go-Anywhere Games―And Why They Matter

tags: active, assimilation, facts, mind, process, pulse, vessel, water, worldview

3 likes

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Reading with Style: WI 19-20 Completed Tasks	987	66	Feb 29, 2020 09:01PM
Crazy Challenge C...: July 2019 Spell Challenge \| Apollo 11	142	85	Jun 10, 2020 03:06PM
WACKY READING CHA...: POI: Gettysburg National Military Park	102	64	Jun 11, 2020 06:52AM
Crazy Challenge C...: 2019 Summer SPELL - Baseball	163	94	Jan 20, 2021 08:57AM
Crazy Challenge C...: Mmmmm, Chocolate!	448	179	Jan 07, 2022 04:49AM

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Ben’s Quotes

“It is a funny paradox of design: utility breeds beauty. There is elegance in efficiency, a visual pleasure in things that just barely work.”
― Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings

tags: beauty, design, efficiency, elegance, funny, mathematics, paradox, pleasure, utility, visual

3 likes

“Reality is a lovely starting point, but the coolest destinations lie far beyond it.”
― Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings

tags: cool, destinations, lovely, mathematics-reality

4 likes

“If you ditch the rulebook, you lose the grace. Even the wacky, avant-garde, convention-defying arts—experimental film, expressionist painting, professional wrestling—draw their power from playing against the limitations of the chosen medium.”
― Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings

tags: constraints, creativity, grace, limitations, rules

1 likes

tags: constraints, creativity, mind, obstacle

4 likes

“The secret to solving big problems, I learned, is knowing which little problems to ignore.”
― David Litt, Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years

28 likes

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Ben Orlin’s Followers (236)

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