Customer Reviews

Math Charmers: Tantalizing Tidbits for the Mind

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I really like this book. It contains a high concentration of nice math demonstrations. It is appropriate for students as young as 11 or 12, although such young students might not understand all of the concepts, and it is great for high school aged students who are looking for interesting little tidbits that are different from their usual course work. It is also a good book for adults who like math.
However, it virtually identical to the author's other book "Math Wonders". It makes absolutely no sense to buy them both - they are the same nearly word for word. Amazon should not be pairing the two together in a package deal.

*Math Charmers* is a nicely done book dealing with various facts about mathematics. I want to emphasize that these facts are presented in a problem-solving format (i.e., a question is posed and the solution is provided). The best way to learn about math is to solve problems, thus Posamentier's format works well in striving toward his stated goal.

Posamentier has written several excellent books on math education that, like this book, emphasizes the problem-solving approach. *Math Charmers* is his foray (I think) into the 'pop-math' genre and I think he did a fine job here.

I wanted to briefly address the one negative review thus far: Yes, it does have some sections that can be found elsewhere, but anyone can say that about any other pop-math book. So that sort of criticism in it of itself is hardly a useful (or original, ironically) observation. The real issue is whether *Math Charmers* provides any new ideas and insights as well as handling the old favorites in a useful manner. This book suceeds on both counts.

Math has never been my strongest subject, but this book makes it absolutely fascinating! Posamentier is engaging and delightfully charms his readers with wonderful math puzzles. This book taught me more about math than I ever expected to learn. Quite the introduction to beauty and excitement of math!

One of the best books on math ever written! Posamentier deserves high praise for creating such an entertaining and illuminating book that made math understandable and fun for me. I know a lot of people who would benefit from this book. I hope he writes more books!

This is an outstanding book for the reader who would like to give himself a chance to really appreciate mathematics for the beauty that may not have been experienced at first encounter. The book is really entertaining and has many topics that left me with a one word reaction: WOW! I would highly recommend this book to anyone willing to appreciate mathematics, especially those who feared it in the past. It has many small but truly delightful topics that really entertained me. Frankly, I didn't want to put the book down once I got into it.

Credit where it's due: Posamentier is entirely right in noting the creativity gap that prevails in standard math teaching, and in insisting that math can (and should) be fun/instructive/fascinating/etc. I agree entirely, and I respect Posamentier for taking the time to assemble the so-called "math charmers" in this volume. Since few of these charmers are explored in any depth, however, I cannot help but feel that the resulting collection is far too light on substance and heavy on "tidbits". As a source book for math teachers (at the elementary or middle school level), MCTTM perhaps has its uses. For readers seriously interested in the 'Queen of the Sciences', MCTTM is pretty shallow stuff. Greatly annoying, moreover, is Posamentier's constant reminder that whatever he's just described/is in the process of describing/will shortly describe is fascinating/informative/wonderful/etc. These refrains add nothing to the exposition, and become very tiresome very fast. In sum, though I have great respect for Posamentier the educator and would-be education-reformer (power to him!), I was completely uninspired by MCTTM. Similar content has been given far more incisive treatment by other authors in other publications.

Here's a good way to write a book on popular mathematics and puzzles--crack open your collection of vintage Martin Gardner puzzles and copy away! That's essentially what Posamentier has done here. His writing style is engaging, to be sure, but is there really anything new here? The answer is no. Stick with Gardner.