Reviews (10)

Marvelous
This is a really great little book, a work of art.I like the way John Martineau leaves it to you, the reader, to make up your own mind over what these amazing coincidences mean.The pictures are beautiful.What an incredible place our solar system is.Why dont teachers teach us these things in school??

very disappointing
I was looking for a book that provides an alternative, "esoteric" point of view on the solar system. Unfortunately i was completely misled by the table of contents which looked very appealing. In fact the actual contents of each chapter are very small, and sometimes have nothing to do with the title of the chapter! Page after page the author keeps looking for coincidences in ratios between sizes, periods and orbits of the planets. But after 5 pages it becomes very repetitive and boring.

My final impression is that the author has not found an efficient approach to the object he is trying to study. Astrology is probably the efficient approach to better understand our solar system.

Reviews (6)

Explores the relationships in a "lay-person friendly" way
Provides more than just "pure scientific data" on the heavenly bodies, this volume explores the interesting relationships between them. For instance, the question is posed: why is the moon in just the correct position with just the correct size to cause the "eclipse effect"?

This book gives plenty of mathmatical support, but you can read it through even if you have just a cursory exposure to the math and still be fascinated by the findings.

Really fun to read but some of the math doesn't check out?
I was just checking the math on page 3 on the "Great Pyramid, Earth/Moon" geometry and found much of it to check out ok but there is one statement that the perimeter of a square with one side equal to the diameter of the Earth (4 x 7920 miles = 31680) equals the perimeter of a circle with a radius of the combined radii of the Earth and the Moon (3960 + 1080 = 5040 miles)and using 2xPIxr I get 38453 miles which really isn't equal at all. I found that you had to define the radius of the Earth as unity (1) and then using the Earth/Moon ratios that fall out from that would give a result where the circle is squared and the numbers do add up. That should have been explained more clearly.

Then when I compute 11!-7! I get 399170 on my calculator and when I ask Google to compute it for me they return that same answer. But on page 3 the author somehow gets 7920, which is amazingly, the diameter of the earth in miles. 11x10x9x8 does = 7920 which is amazing enough. Maybe it is the difference between (11!-7!) versus (11!) - (7!). I can't find any online factorial math tutorials to explain to me whether there is a difference. I wish the book was more clear on this. (update: I think it is a typo... if he meant to say 11!/7! all is well and good).


The book is filled with all sorts of little drawings and interesting tidbits and I am pretty sure that I am going to have all kinds of fun double checking this and verifying that....

Well worth the 8 bucks or so that Amazon is asking.

Reviews (7)

Fascinating Mathematics....
This is a delightful little book.If you have any interest in Geometry,Math,Design,Shapes,Tile patterns,Puzzles,etc.you'll really enjoy this book.Surprisingly ,you can grasp most of this book knowing high school math,;while at the same time those with more math knowledge will also enjoy it as well.I guess it falls right in the realm of Mathematical Recreations.I am amazed that the author has put together a beautifully writen book,including 168 drawings,figures,diagrams and on top of that shows how most are constructed.All this has been accomplished in 64 pages ,including an introduction.

I just loved this book
This book is a treasure.I was given it as a present and I find myself turning to it for all sorts of ideas and also give it as a present quite regularly.She has managed to pull together a huge amount of wonderful information into a relatively small space.This is an inspiring, beautiful, thought provoking and even useful book.I am a graphic and fabrics designer and I had not come across some of these things before so I am very grateful for them.

I also really like the way the book is put together, lush textured paper (recycled I note) and quality illustrations.The way the subject is built up stage by stage until we reach the more complex set pieces at the back is very good.It helps you understand the basics of good design, and the use of geometry in this process.

I think the new-age overtones work very well too.She manages to convey some of the real mystery and magic of the field while never losing sight of the practical purpose of it all.

Highly recommended.

Looks nice, but the content is weak
This is a very attractive-looking book, and I am very happy if it can make some people more appreciative about mathematicas. But if you are looking for correct info about mathematics or its role in art and culture, then this is not the place to look.

Most of the claims you read about the golden ratio in art and architecture are not valid. The best source of info is the paper "Misconceptions about the golden ratio" by George Markowsky from the College Mathematics Journal v. 23 (1992), 2-19.

If you are interested in the pyramids, please read "The shape of the great pyramid" by Roger Herz-Fischler. Just do it! You will thank me for it!

She claims that there are 14 "demi-regular tilings" of the plane. She defines demiregular to be a tiling (edge-to-edge of regular polygons) with two or three different types of vertices. According to "Tilingss and Patterns" by Grunbaum and Shephard, there are 20 2-uniform tilings and 61 3-uniform tilings.

If you are bothered by statements like "It is nearly impossible to draw a precise heptagon using ruler and compasses alone", then this book is not for you.

Her pictures of the 17 wallpaper groups is wrong. She gives two examples of p1, but misses out on p4g.

Reviews (1)

Isbn: 0802713866
Sales Rank: 34734
Subjects:  1. Children's 12-Up - Mathematics    2. Geometry - General    3. History & Philosophy    4. Mathematics    5. Polyhedra    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Solid geometry    8. Mathematics / Geometry / General   

Reviews (1)

A good introduction to an ancient mystery
The Egyptian pyramids were a monumental tomb;that's simple to understand.No one has yet uncovered the purpose for Stonehenge, which makes speculation about it a fascinating and centuries old pursuit of all possibilities.

Heath isn't a pundit pursuing puzzles;instead, he offers a brief analysis of current knowledge about this 5,000-year-old site.His comments are to the point, obviously meant to introduce teen readers the great science and abiding mystery of Stonehenge.For youth, it is a fair introduction that also offers enough to whet the appetite those who will become interested in further study about one of the enduring mysteries of history.

Unfortunately, his apparent contempt for competent anthropologists weakens the value of his book.Heath doesn't seem to understand the origins of urban culture date to at least Catal Huyuk and Jericho some 7,000 years ago, and probably long before that.The great stones of Stonehenge, which began as a "wood" -henge similar to hundreds of other "woodhenges" throughout England, are rather recent compared to other great ancient works.

The great puzzle of Stonehenge is not its existence, but why it was built of stone when hundreds of others were built of wood.Of course, the reason may be as simple as understanding why the Vatican has artwork by Michaelangelo and my local church has sketches by Joe Sixpack.Sadly, Heath overlooks this fundamental aspect as do most interpreters of the site.

The value of this book is its brevity, its "factoid" format consistently offers interesting snippets of information.The weakness is mixing an unsupported point-of-view with that brevity, it raises the question of whether unsubstantiated speculation is better than open-ended imprecision.It's a minor quibble, certainly not a reason to pass up this book.

Fifty years ago, teachers thought ideas such as "continental drift" were total fantasy.Now, they're accepted orthodoxy.Likewise, current speculation about the use and meaning of Stonehenge may be orthodox in 50 years (or 500 years)--if that happens,it may be the result of some young student inspired by a book such as this.

Reviews (5)

The best geometry textbook in existence, bar none.
A very clear, very entertaining textbook for a high-school course on geometry.

This book introduces logical proofs right at the beginning; you may have some difficulty convincing your kids or yourself that you need to work out all these silly logic puzzles in order to begin studying geometry, but you do.

From there on, the book is a sheer joy to read, full of interesting and tricky problems, clear explanations, and of course those famous B.C. and Peanuts clips.

Worked every problem
I have no experience with other geometry books--although I did use the Schaum book and other "outline" help books early in the school year as a reference. Actually Jacobs was easier to use than the "outline" help books. Many problems skate close to calculus (limits are introduced) and analytic geometry. Some problems are quite nearly elegant. Highly recommended.

Reviews (9)

The Way I Wish I'd Been Taught Algebra!
At the time I started homeschooling my sixth grader last year, I was completely math-phobic. I had forgotten every bit of algebra I ever learned (and any math I did learn in high school, more than 20 years ago, was just barely learned at that). My now seventh grade son and I are learning algebra together with Harold Jacobs's Elementary Algebra book.

This is really an exceptional self-study guide. We will read a chapter, then independently try to solve the problem sets given. We then compare our answers. If our answers don't agree, I will either explain to him how I solved a problem that he got stuck on, or vice versa.

The delightful thing about this book is that I am learning to enjoy a subject I always thought I detested. Harold Jacobs makes everything clear, comprehensible, meaningful and often humorous. I am learning that I am not left-brain impaired, as I've thought I was ever since second grade, and actually look forward to my algebra time with my son! My son, too, has overcome his own math phobia, and become a math lover. I can't recommend it highly enough.

An engaging introduction to elementary algebra.
Harold R. Jacob's text is a lively and clearly written introduction to elementary algebra.Jacobs engages the reader through puzzles, including the number trick with which he starts the book, humor, and references to actual persons and events.He finds intriguing ways to introduce topics, then explains the concepts well.Concepts are introduced incrementally.Often, Jacobs introduces a concept in a particular context so that the student gets the idea before reintroducing it later in a broader context after the student has learned additional material.This reinforces the concepts and contributes to the student's conceptual understanding of the material, as do his problem sets.While Jacobs makes sure that the student can perform the algorithms presented in the text, the problems that he poses are designed to reinforce the concepts by exploring all aspects of the topics that he covers.

Each section concludes with four problem sets.The first set is a brief review of earlier topics (aside from the first five sections of the first chapter).The second covers the topics in the section.Jacobs provides answers to the problems in the second set in the back of the text, making the book suitable for self study.The third set is a variation on the second.The fourth set consists a puzzle or a problem that extends the concepts learned in the section.I particularly enjoyed these problems, often turning to them to see what Jacobs was asking before I finished the other problems. Each chapter concludes with a chapter summary and two sets of review problems.

Jacobs begins the text with a review of arithmetic, including the order of operations and properties of integers and rational numbers. He introduces algebraic concepts gradually as he does this.This leads to a discussion of functions, linear equations, lines, systems of linear equations, and exponents.Jacobs pauses for a midterm review.Then he covers polynomial, rational, and radicalexpressions and equations.He also discusses the properties of the real numbers, inequalities, and number sequences before finishing his text with a final review.

If you enjoy this text, and I think you will, you may also want to explore Jacobs' other texts.They include Geometry:Seeing, Doing, Understanding and Mathematics:A Human Endeavor.

Reviews (4)

Math as science, art and life
What's so truly impressive about Jacobs' book is the way in which hedemonstrates that math is all around.His choice of subjects provides thereader with a broad introduction to the mathematical sciences, includinggeometry, probability, combinatorics, statistics, topology and more.Moreimportantly, his examples and explanations make it relevant andfun.

Jacobs' writing is clear (which cannot be said for many books onmath at any level) and his organization sweeps the reader right along.Though technically a textbook, this is excellent reading for anyone who'sinterested in learning about math.I read it in junior high school, andhave re-read bits and pieces as I progressed through college and graduateschool.His subjects are complex enough to merit rethinking, yet hisexplanations clear enough to be grasped by the first time reader.

Trulyone of the great introductory math texts -- especially for those who thinkthey don't need to know or can't understand math.

This book fosters true love of math.
I'm a 36-year old homeschooling mother who had done calculus in high school and college, and mechanically got some right answers, but never knew why.I hadn't bothered to slow down and notice the beauty and power of thelanguage of mathematics.In his textbook, Mathematics: A Human Endeavor,Harold Jacobs smashed my lack of confidence into a million pieces.Heshowers the student with so much real-life relevance and humor, that even aslight amount of curiosity about the subject bears delicous fruit.Workingthrough this book will convince any human being, of almost any age, that heor she is a born mathematician.

Reviews (11)

Hello! This was written by a KID.
What the heck is up with some of these reviewers?HELLO!This story was written by a LITTLE GIRL, not a teacher!What is wrong with you people?Shame on you!...Now, for everybody with a conscience, check it out: This story is cute.It's not Hemingway, it's not Shakespeare, but it's cute.If you read it for entertainment's sake, and keep in mind a kid wrote it, you'll like it.(And hey--if you're not reading for entertainment, you won't enjoy it no matter WHAT it is.Some of these kids' reviews sound like they were forced on pain of death to read the thing, sheesh.)It's a story about a girl and a talking zebra-thing who knows math, and a bunch of scientific horses.I repeat: it's cute.

MOST DULL BOOK EVER WRITTEN
I had to read this book for science class and it was HORRIBLE!!! Not only was the plot too simple and childish, but the explanations for the science and math concepts are like textbook excerpts. We needed to take a quiz about the book at the end, and to prove how much it taught us, all of the questions were about things that weren't even mentioned (the teacher probably couldn't find anything)! NEVER READ THIS BOOK EVER, NOT EVEN FOR A LAUGH!!

Reviews (2)

Calculus isn't beyond the reach of the average kid!
This is an outstanding book because it takes the mumbo-jumbo out of traditionally taught calculus and makes the ideas accessible to ANYONE, not just to math whizzes.The technical vocabulary and symbolic notation can always be learned later.This book introduces the important ideas of calculus with simple, natural language and, most helpful of all, illuminating graphics, so the beauty (yes, beauty) and fun of calculus comes through.I would recommend this book to anyone who is teaching children, and also to math phobics.(I am the former, and was the latter for many years.)This book is FUN, and it makes calculus FUN!

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

Science is inextricably linked with mathematics. Statistician David Salsburg examines the development of ever-more-powerful statistical methods for determining scientific truth in The Lady Tasting Tea, a series of historical and biographical sketches that illuminate without alienating the mathematically timid. Salsburg, who has worked in academia and industry and has met many of the major players he writes about, shares his subjects' enthusiasm for problem solving and deep thinking. His sense of excitement drives the prose, but never at the expense of the reader; if anything, the author has taken pains to eliminate esoterica and ephemera from his stories. This might frustrate a few number-head readers, but the abundant notes and references should keep them happy in the library for weeks after reading the book.