Books like o homem que calculava

The Man Who Counted (original Portuguese title: O Homem que Calculava) is a book on recreational mathematics and curious word problems by Brazilian writer Júlio César de Mello e Souza, published under the pen name Malba Tahan. Since its first publication in 1938, the book has been immensely popular in Brazil and abroad, not only among mathematics teachers but among the general public as well.

The book has been published in many other languages, including Catalan, English (in the UK and in the US), German, Italian, and Spanish, and is recommended as a paradidactic source in many countries. It earned his author a prize by the Brazilian Literary Academy.

First published in Brazil in 1949, O Homem que Calculava is a series of tales in the style of the Arabian Nights, but revolving around mathematical puzzles and curiosities. The book is ostensibly a translation by Brazilian scholar Breno de Alencar Bianco of an original manuscript by Malba Tahan, a thirteenth-century Persian scholar of the Islamic Empire – both equally fictitious.