Everyday Maths for Grown-Ups: Getting to Grips with the Basics by Kjartan Poskitt
| Everyday Maths for Grown-Ups: Getting to Grips with the Basics by Kjartan Poskitt | |
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| Category: Reference | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: A fun (yes - I did say 'fun') read about basic maths. I laughed a lot and learned a lot. Highly recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 176 | Date: March 2015 |
| Publisher: Michael O'Mara Books Ltd | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1782433354 | |
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We all need maths - or so it says on the back of Everyday Maths for Grown Ups and whilst you could exist without a basic knowledge, life is going to be so much easier if you can check receipts, do the calculations for that spot of DIY or work out if the 'bargain' you've been offered really is one. Kjartan Poskitt reckons that very few people are really confident with figures, but hopes that he can offer some help.
At school I liked maths, but I was never any good at doing the exams. I failed my maths 'O' level three times - and gave up feeling that I'd probably already achieved my peak performance. Strangely enough my subsequent careers all required an ability with figures and I realised that I managed well when I didn't have to constantly 'show my workings'. Recently I've wondered if I could revisit the information that came my way when I was at school - but without the teacher who had no patience or the need to pass an exam. So how did the book stack up?
I don't think that I've ever read a maths book and really enjoyed it. We've met Kjartan Poskitt before and we know that he's witty and has a real knack for communicating with children but I laughed out loud several times and the smile was never far from my face. (Speaking about the need to retrieve a shoe that had got stuck in high gutter, he mentions that if you have an eight metre ladder placed at an angle of 72 degrees to the wall, being able to work out the height of the wall will be useful so you know what to tell the ambulance man later.) I relaxed and realised that I was enjoying what I was doing and learning something at the same time.
The subjects covered range from the very basic - adding, subtraction, multiplication and division (long and not-so-long) through to the dreaded logarithms. I can't thing of anything that was covered at school that I didn't brush up on. One or two subjects were left after an initial reading to come back to at a later date, but they were few and far between and for the most part I'm a lot clearer on several subjects than I was before I started reading. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
We've recently also enjoyed I Used to Know That: Maths by Chris Waring. More advanced mathematicians will appreciate anything by Professor Ian Stewart.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Everyday Maths for Grown-Ups: Getting to Grips with the Basics by Kjartan Poskitt at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Everyday Maths for Grown-Ups: Getting to Grips with the Basics by Kjartan Poskitt at Amazon.com.
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