Customer Reviews

Mind over math

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
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I got this book at book fair for about 25 cents and kept saying to myself what can this book actually do for me? Well I discovered the fears that I had with performing math and that a lot of people have those same fears. When told how confront my fears it was like a serious wall had came tumbling down. I have started studying college algebra again which was so difficult for me fifteen years ago and it seems that this subject is no longer taboo. Before with math I always thought that I need a teacher/professor to teach me the subject. However I have discovered that is not true and that self learning college algebra is better for me. This is one of the most liberating experiences of my life and I am grateful to the authors of this book.

This book was recommended to me by a college counselor who has high praise for the authors. If I may paraphrase: The book is eloquently written, the format is very well put together and usable. The authors discuss the aversion to math that has a long history purpetuated in American schools: mathematics and real world rationale continue to be divided by an abyss. One important fact pointed out by the academic counselor is that the book is written by PhD. Mathematicians, which seems to be the only way to get math departments interested in trying new programs. I look forward to using this book.

If you hate/fear math so much it is interfering with your ability to use math, either in school or making change or checking out the restaurant bill, this is the book for you.
Kindergarten and grade one kids don't hate math, and will happily play math games. What happens?
You will begin a journey that takes you back to a time when you learned to fear math. Discover why opening a math book can make you so sleepy you can't proceed, why you freeze for word problems, or vomit in the middle of a math exam. Often the fear of math has absolutely nothing to do with math itself OR your ability! This book can put the anxiety in proper perspective and set you on the road to conquering math DESPITE the fear. Within pages, I began to find the roots of my own math anxiety and math became a minor monster instead of a major monster! I have based Math Anxiety sessions almost entirely on ideas inspired by and information from the book. I still don't love math, but neither do I consider myself hopeless at it, and sometimes actually have fun! I taught Math for many years, but still feared it and did not like going above my level of comfort until I read, really READ, this book. Many students in my Math Anxiety sessions not only conquered math anxiety, but conquered fear of other subjects at the same time. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO STUDENTS WHO HATE/FEAR MATH -- AND IT SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR MATH TEACHERS OF ALL LEVELS RIGHT UP TO UNIVERSITY!

This book helped me when I bought it while in college many years ago. I promise: You *will* get rid of math anxiety if you follow there instructions. One of the things the authors said is to journal your math journey. I did this and found the source of my math anxiety in a place I never expected: my anti-math (translated as math anxiety) was associated with anti-women! So I'm now happy to report that I found the source of sexism (which I do not want) and the source my math anxiety at the same time.

Now because of this book, I don't see math as some kind of "sacred" thing (like an idol of stone) that must be worshipped or the "math god" will be very angry if you don't know the math word problem! HaHa! No, math is a skill like any other: music, reading, critical thinking, etc. etc. Since I see math as a skill and not a god, life as become much easier!

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BTW, I like women! And when I have my own business and hire women, I'm going to insist that females get paid the same as guys for doing the same thing!