Customer Reviews

The dot and the line: A romance in lower mathematics

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Chances are that you know the author, Norman Juster, from his outstanding book, "The Phantom Tollbooth." What many people don't realize is that he created this classic book also in 1968, which was turned into an Academy Award winning short film. This book is a delight at many levels, providing the perfect opportunity for adults and children to read and discuss together. For although this book is indicated for the 4-8 year old group, younger children will love it, too, and the ideas in it are fascinating for adults. So, you should probably think of this as a book for "children of all ages."

You can read this book primarily from several different perspectives. It may be easier for you child if you emphasize one at a time when you introduce the book. First, there's the classic love "triangle" involving a line (a rather straight fellow) who falls for a circle, the circle (who's frivolous despite being perfectly identical in all directions -- "You're the beginning and the end, the hub, the core and the quintessence . . . ."), and a messy squiggle of a line who appeals to the dot (who the dot thinks is "gay and free, so uninhibited and full of joy"). This story line is the easiest for everyone to follow.

Although the line is a rather dependable and likeable sort, he's just not interesting to the circle (". . . and you are as stiff as a stick. Dull. Conventional and repressed. Tied and trammeled. Subdued, smothered and stiffled."). So he goes off to "learn new tricks" and creates the ability to make an infinite number of shapes out of his line. She's impressed, and that wins the fair maiden.

The next level at which people can understand the book is to appreciate that lines can form parts of objects (like a tightrope, a lance, the equator, or a tug of war rope). If you create angles in a line, you can create all sorts of wonderful shapes from a triangle on up to very complex geometric solids. These are described by name, so this is a flying start for geometry and trigonometry later on. If you curve the line, you can create magnificent shapes of soaring grandeur. Here's where the vocabulary goes way beyond what a 4-8 year old can handle. But that's where you can be the intelligent adult who helps out. This interpretation would be wonderful for a classroom discussion also.

The third level of the book relates to the mathematical expressions behind how you turn a line into a curve or create an angle. The book has the illustrations present for this interpretation, but not the discussion. If you understand how these shapes can be described mathematically, you can make that connection for your child. A good resource for this is the Logo program that children of this age can use to draw with a turtle. You could have many happy hours together writing programs to create these shapes. If you don't know Seymour Papert's books on learning (he wrote Logo), you should read "Mindstorms" and "The Children's Machine." "The Dot and the Line" would also make excellent reading in a classroom that is using Logo.

The puns themselves are worth the cost of the book. I won't give you any examples because I don't want to spoil them, but some minor ones do show up in the quotes above. The puns take turns aiming in different directions to expand the perspective the reader has on words as sources of character comments, descriptions about physical characteristics, and plastic qualities.

One of the great sections of the book is where the circle begins to appreciate the differences between purposeful shapes and random ones. "And she suddenly realized that what she thought was freedom and joy was nothing but anarchy and sloth." This is an important section because it releases the concept of mathematics as purposeful freedom to the reader. Anyone who "gets" that message is likely to have a much easier and happier time pursuing mathematics as the delightful mental discipline that it is.

If your child takes to this material, I suggest that you might follow up with some more advanced discussions about math. Either "The Birth of the Algorithm" or "Just Six Numbers" could be read by you and then translated into age-level appropriate examples and discussions to connect math to science. This would be a wonderful gift to give to any child.

Appreciate the potential of pure numbers . . . infinitely!

When I was a boy, I remember seeing an animated cartoon version of this book. I think they occasionally stuck it on after "Tom & Jerry" or "The Pink Panther". A few years ago, I found the book itself in the stores, so I bought it. If you are (like me) a math lover, you'll get the couple of math puns and jabs they use (such as the concluding "moral of the story" that I used for the title of this review, and the book's dedication). But you certainly don't need to be a math enthusiast to enjoy the book. You also don't have to be a little kid; in fact they use several "big words" that might need clarification from us "grown-ups".

You've heard the story before: Quiet, boring ol' Dick is crazy over the beautiful, bubbly Jane. But Jane is going out with Otto (the tough, joke-cracking "party animal" guy). Dick persists, and eventually finds out what it will take to win Jane's heart while maintaining his dignity. Jane dumps obnoxious Otto, wondering what she ever saw in him, and hooks up with Dick. I suppose it's a classic romance archtype (maybe there's a thin line between "archtype" and "cliche", but I digress).

Anyway, Juster beautifully tells this story by casting the three personalities as a simple straight line, a colorful dot, and a loud scribble. Each page has fun artwork to illustrate the story, ranging from geometrically simple to geometrically complex.

It's not a life-changing story, but I find "The Dot and the Line" to be an aesthetically pleasing, short n' sweet book. I'm glad to see it being reprinted.

I first read this book about thirty years ago and still chuckle when I page through its plum, black and white illustrations that underline an understated love story. A book for all ages -- the twenties, thirties, and forties. As a teacher I've shared this story with fifth graders, college students in creative writing classes, and foreign students learning the English language. However, I don't keep this 1963 edition around for my students. I keep it for the tongue in cheek wordplay and illustrative battle between the line and the squiggle for the deep affection of the dot. An age-old battle.

I memorized this book at age 2 and it continues to be my favorite book. It is visually, mathematically and linguistically unparalleled in the world of small treasures. In 20 years, this book has never failed to make me smile.

We used this book in our math class. It was a wonderful explanation of how simple geometry works.
What the books about:
This book is about a Line, a Dot, and a Sqiggle. It shows you how the three relate, and differnt things you can do with them mathmatically, throgh the medium of a classic love story.
Its a wonderful book and i suggest you read it, even if your not in a math class. I also hear there is a short cartoon bassed off of it.

Plain and simple, this is a very cool book to give someone you love. My wife gave me a copy for Valentine's Day last year and I have kept it on my desk ever since to remind me. Read the other reviews if you have time to waste, but then buy this one. When you get it, carefully read it yourself, THEN wrap it. Then, when you give it, curl up with that special person and read it together. This is less fattening than chocolates, lasts lots longer than roses, and is way cheaper than either.

I just read my copy of this classic to 40 1st and 2nd graders. It was amazing! The fidgetting stopped, a silence descended, and then the oohs and aahs started. They fell in love with line just like dot did. Then 3 little girls asked their school librarian if the library had it. This is a classic worth passing on to the next generation.

I first came across the title last year watching the TCM channel early one morning. Suddenly it appeared in the middle of some end of the movie features. It was absolutely delightful. I bought the book for my nephews, but could not find it on video. For almost a year now, I've been trying to get anyone's attention, including the author's, TCM and some animators. It was supposed to be shown Feb. 14 on TCM, but I didn't become aware of until Feb. 20th, and was supposed to shown again March 6th. It wasn't. However, supposedly it will be released as a short on the Doris Day "Glass Bottom Boat" DVD scheduled for April 26, 2005. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Too bad Amazon doesn't provide some other mechanism for me to note this to others than as a review.

I experienced the "joys of emergency surgery" a while ago, and a dear friend knew just what I needed during recovery: two grocery sacks full of books. A falling-apart-at-the-seams copy of "The Dot and the Line" was in the first sack.

It was SO wonderful and even funny -- at a time when it hurt to laugh! The book is short ("little kid's book length") and you really feel for the line (and get rather disgusted with the self-centered squiggle) in those few pages. The two-color, full-bleed illustrations are perfect and really add to the book's impact.

I recommend the book for intelligent adults... and perhaps 10- to 14-year-old kids, if they are bright and independent (or if you want to encourage them to think critically about what it means to be "cool").

Norton Juster wove more than puns and visual gags into this short book. Not to take an ounce away from those fantastic double entendres ("drawn and on edge").

There are references to social commentary "they all look the same anyhow," "freedom is not a license for anarchy," "why don't you find a nice line and settle down." There is amazing (for kids) vocabulary: quintessence, vector, potent, paralleliped. If you want to go there, there is also out of date vocabulary "Oh, what a head!" This book is rich.

Most of my high school math classes read "The Dot and the Line" at some point during the year, often as a read-aloud before a holiday. We find the puns, I explain the jokes, we discuss (briefly the social commentary), someone looks up the hard words, and they read a little boy-girl love story. It's the best kind of learning, the kind that happens when they think they are having fun!