Most adult Americans regard the world of mathematics with a sort of baffled awe. James R. Newman, 49, a Washington lawyer with a lively interest in tennis, chess and atomic energy and an academic background including graduate work in mathematics at Columbia University, is not one of these. He is fascinated by numbers. "I don't consider myself a mathematician," he says, "at least not an original, creative mathematician." But few professionals would quibble with Lawyer Newman's credentials as a gifted interpreter in their little-traveled land.
Last week Publishers Simon & Schuster were...