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The Very Hungry Caterpillar [Board Book]

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Mathematics
by: Eric Carle

September 07, 1995
If you love reading to your child, do not miss this book.

It is a delightful, humourous,dream-like surreal book, with a repetitive, poetic, chanting story.

It is (deservedly) a children's classic. Many reviewers here have tried to break down the different elements of this book.

What I would like to convey is the whole experience of reading the book which teaches a simple life experience to a child - which is highly spiritual, particularly the last pages where a riot of colour is the world through the eyes of a butterfly.

The story has optimism and beauty at its very core.

It has limitless opportunities for teaching and conversation. There is a colouring book of the fantastic ... Read More:

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Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze?: And 114 Other Questions

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Mathematics
from: Profile Books Ltd

October 05, 2006
The book is an assemblage of good answers to some good questions.

So why didn't I enjoy it?

I think because in keeping faith with the contributors of answers, several answers to one question are included and a lot of each answer is the same, though expressed slightly differently.

So it would have been better (to my way of thinking) to include each contributor's answer ONLY as far as it added to a previous answer.

Certainly make for a better read.

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The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Mathematics
by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

February 28, 2008
I originally bought this book last year, I read about half of it but gave up in disgust at the general pretentiousness and repetition.
I picked it up again this year after the credit crunch had hit and it seemed to be a different book, funny with some insight into current market turmoil! Assuming the book hadn't changed while on my shelf, presumably I had.

The core idea is very simple, Gaussian (Normal/ bell curves) distributions are overused in finance and they critically underestimate the chances of high impact relatively rare events which are best modelled as Power laws (see the The Long Tail: How Endless Choice is Creating Unlimited Demand for another take). Taleb covers the slightly strange beat where finance/ statistics/ epistemology (Philosophy ... Read More:

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Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Mathematics
by: Ian Stewart

October 02, 2008
this book admittedly is not laid out in an obviously systematic way but i m not sure that matters. it got me interested in some things that i thought were rather boring, and on the whole though i haven t read it all through yet it does seem to the makings of a very good read, though inevitably some of the puzzles will be very familiar.

the version that i have has an incorrect printing of the 3x3 "nearly magic" square on p66, the first of the two examples. the fix is fairly easy though and provides a nice additional problem for anyone interested!

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The Selfish Gene

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Mathematics
by: Richard Dawkins

March 16, 2006
The author writes about living things as if the gene is the animal and the animal is simply a seed for the gene. He basically turns life inside out. It's a powerful mind tool to get a different perspective on life but don't get too carried away with the idea. The whole theory of evolution is valuable in understanding the world but like a lot of science it starts to become too difficult to use. So in conclusion I don't believe that the author has discovered the secret of life, he just has another way of looking at things that you may find useful. It should be one of the books you have read.

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Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Mathematics
by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

May 03, 2007
I would suggest that this book is NOT for someone who has a clear view of where they are going in life, and how they will get there. For in both the large and small events in life, there are unpredictable events. Nassim Taleb talks about how we handle those events, and more importantly, how we can use them in our favour. If you are one I recommend not to start the book, the reading may change your outlook. Permanently.

Taleb is a market trader, with experience of having survived several severe financial storms - `difficult trading conditions'. The book is peopled with real and composite characters from his trading life. Most are no longer working in the market, a result of having `blown up'. The essence of the volume is in the title, describing situations where an ... Read More:

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Jupiter's Travels

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Mathematics
by: Ted Simon

January 25, 2007
I really enjoyed reading the first part of this book as Ted travelled down through Africa. He seemed focussed on the journey ahead, seemed interested in all the contrasting people around him and included lots of detail about his bike. From South America onwards however, he seemed to lose interest in the trip and dwelled far too long on certain events. He also skipped through whole countries in a matter of a couple of pages. His philosophising on whether he might be a God was irritating and at this point I found myself skipping pages. Disappointing in places.

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The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Mathematics
from: OUP Oxford

March 13, 2008
This book contains a superb collection of excerpts from books and essays of some of the world's greatest scientists. The amount of ideas discussed is truly mind-expanding. A must have for anyone interested in where the great search for knowledge called science is taking us.

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100 Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Mathematics
by: John D. Barrow

October 16, 2008
This book contains a superb collection of excerpts from books and essays of some of the world's greatest scientists. The amount of ideas discussed is truly mind-expanding. A must have for anyone interested in where the great search for knowledge called science is taking us.

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Engineering Mathematics 6th Edition

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Mathematics
by: K.A. Stroud, Dexter J. Booth

January 25, 2007
When I was a young man, I embarked on a degree in mechanical engineering. This was about 30 years ago. In the first year alone we had to study about eight different subjects.

These included fluid mechanics, drawing and design, solid body mechanics, electricity, mathematics, materials science, physics and thermodymamics.

I had passed three 'A' levels in chemistry, mathematics and physics while at school.

I remember that this book was easy to follow and helped me to pass my first year mathematics exam with very high marks and little effort. My nephew is now studying civil engineering and I recommended this book to him. He said that it had made all the difference.

This book uses a method of learning called programme learning in which each stage ... Read More: