Customer Reviews

It's Alive!: It's Math Like You've Never Known It Before...and May Never Know It Again

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Kleiman and Washington combine the best of three worlds: titillatiing humor, farout science, and solid core mathematics in this useful book. You get your money's worth with this one, including an error-free answer key with clear explanations of the steps involved in answering each problem. Mathematics problems delve into the depths of basic math, with no algebra or beyond needed. Great for gifted and talented younger in need of a challenge or basic older students in need of a jumpstart. This will do it.

You won't find a funnier math book, except maybe the sequel: IT'S ALIVE AND KICKING!! The math is solid, and useful for anyone who needs a little motivation to practice their basic skills (multiplication, division, fractions, percentages, etc.) The book is full of amazing true science facts, like the number of saliva droplets expelled in the average lecture. Not for the squeamish.

I used this book and it's sister, It's Alive and Kicking, as the basis for a 3 day contest for my sixth graders in math. Each day, I paired the students randomly. Three points were given for a correct answer and label on the first try, 2 points for a second try, and 1 point for getting the correct answer after a hint from me.The pair that received the most points, won a blue excellence ribbon which they wore for the rest of the day. The competetion was fierce. My students never worked this hard for a grade. They loved the disgusting math facts about germs, tape worms, sneezes, etc. I worked with 2 other teachers so that 13 math classes a day were involved in the contest. This means 26 ribbons a day for 3 days. There were very few duplicate students from day to day so everyone felt they still had a chance to win a ribbon. Some questions were quite easy and some very, very difficult and tricky. I can't wait to use these 2 books again next year.

I teach a gifted math class and my students love these challenging problems.

I love this book - never have I chuckled out loud so many times reading a math book! "It' Alive!" uses humor that adults will enjoy as well as just enough "gross" that kids will love it too. Have you ever wondered what skin droppings, sneezes, and dirty socks have to do with math? This book will tell you. "It' Alive!" will definitely go into my pile of things to keep the kids busy during the summer. It's so enjoyable, they may not even realize they are learning math. The answer key in the back is great for parents who may have been away from math a little longer than they realize, and need a little help.

I bought this book to engage my daughter who is doing prealgebra. The ideas are interesting but the questions tend to deal more with division and multiplication than requiring any degree of difficulty or intrigue to resolve. The book is rather short and the problems could be finished in a couple of days if the child has any degree of interest.