"The Joy of Mathematics: Marvels, Novelties, and Neglected Gems That Are Rarely Taught in Math Class" by Alfred E. Posamentier

Publisher:Amherst, New York : Prometheus Books, 2017.

ISBN:9781633882973 

Characteristics:319 pages :,illustrations ;,23 cm

You must admit that “The Joy of Mathematics" is at the very least an intriguing title. I doubt very much if there's many people that really consider mathematics to be joyful, especially when you consider the way it's being taught in schools today. When I was in school everything was taught by rote memorization, learning your times tables memorizing theorums, doing problems, etc. I have no idea how many hundreds of times my various teachers in grades two through four made me and the rest of my classmates write out the times tables from 1 x 1 right through to 12 x 12. I guess though in all fairness it did work, but it was definitely not joyful. I’m not going to get into the fun of Algebra.

Now if I had had this book, or very least if my teachers had had this book I'm fairly sure that math would've been much more fun and interesting. 

On the other hand I loved geometry and trigonometry as they had practical applications. Good ol’ Pythagorus and his theorem is something I’ve used many times and the same goes for trigonometry. Calculus wasn’t offered in my school way-back-when, but seeing as it has practical applications I would likely have been interested in that as well.

The authors touch on a lot of different topics such as arithmetic novelties, algebraic explanations of accepted concepts, geometric curiosities, probability, and some common sense mathematics. And they do it in a way that is interesting to read, and they give great explanations and examples showing you why and how it works.

I would definitely recommend this book to any math teacher, as getting students to be interested in math can be a challenge, and as one of my math teachers told our class once “There is not a single thing you will do in your life that doesn’t involve math, and if you can prove me otherwise you automatically pass this course.”

So far I haven’t found anything to prove him wrong!

"Starman Jones" by Robert A. Heinlein (1908-1988)

Publisher: Ballantine / Del Rey
Copyright: 1953
ISBN: 0345301048

Starman Jones is another book that is somewhat hard to place chronologically within the Heinlein Juveniles series, as no dates are mentioned. However, it seems as if would be taking place quite sometime after "The Rolling Stones" as humanity has crossed the brink of interstellar travel. What I mean by this is that while it is becoming more common there is still significant risks involved with regard to ships getting lost etc.

The story itself revolves around a young man named Max Jones, who describes himself as a hillbilly, with dreams of becoming an astrogator like his uncle was. He does however have an extremely good head for mathematics, and a very good memory (not photographic as he points out, as he actually has to read the page). In the beginning his stepmother surprises him one day by bringing an unwanted guest to their shack, which causes trouble right from the start. When his man who it turns out is Max's new father decides to sell their farm, and other things Max runs away and falls in with a hobo.

The political climate on Earth at this time is one where almost any job worth having is controlled by a guild, and many of these restrict entrance to sponsored kin. Which Max was under the impression his uncle had done for him. After a couple of minor adventures Max makes it to the guild hall for the astrogators, where he finds out the truth. But his hobo acquaintance shows up again with a crazy plan that works. Soon thereafter Max is in a starship and on his way.

Heinlein's characters were always well rounded, and he does a very good job of bringing the dynamics of crew personalities into the story. There is the bully, the con man, the slacker, and more.

During this voyage Max grows up rather suddenly, after some prodding by a young lady, which results in him getting found out to be a stowaway, but also gets him the opportunity to try  out the profession of astrogator.

This once again was a very good book, that I believe young adults (and most others) will enjoy.

"#Newsfail" by Jamie Kilstein & Allison Kilkenny

Publisher:New York ; Toronto : Simon & Schuster, 2014.

Edition:First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition. --.

ISBN:9781476706511 Characteristics:                  xiv, 208 pages

This was an extremely interesting book to read, especially from the standpoint of one who doesn't follow American politics very close. That being said, it did open my eyes to the strange, and disturbing ways that the "truth" is delivered to the public by mass media. I've put the word truth in quotation marks, primarily because I'm a skeptic at heart and I am aware that all sources of information are biased based on the person doing the reporting, even the information provided in this book. However, after reading this book, and seeing the differences between reality and what is being told to the public I am quite in awe of what some people think they can get away with, and what other will believe.

The two authors are the creators of Citizen Radio, a podcast that has been available for many years now. I have never listened to it myself (in fact I wasn't aware it existed prior to reading the book), but believe that I will now be tuning in occasionally so that I know what is going on. Because Citizen Radio deals primarily with American topics and such I personally would much prefer finding a Canadian version. I realize that American politics does affect Canada to a great extent (more than it likely should) In my opinion it is not as important as Canadian politics, and while I'm fairly sure the same biases go on up here I would just like to get our version.

In any case though I think this book is well worth the read, and would make a good supplementary resource for any social studies teacher who is interested in going outside the general scope of things.

"The Rolling Stones" by Robert A. Heinlein (1908-1988)

Publisher: Ballantine Del-Rey
Copyright: 1952
ISBN: Unknown

This book is the sixth in what is known as the Heinlein juveniles series. Unlike Between Planets, which I reviewed on April 15, 2019, this novel definitely falls within the same timeline as Red Planet, Space Cadet, and a few of his short stories.

This novel in fact takes place approximately 30 years after Red Planet, as some of the events that happened in that book are referred to in this one. For example the atmosphere project - which is now complete. The climatic concluding event in Red Planet is also referred to in this book and is given as the reason why Martians are no longer easily found on Mars.

The story itself revolves around the seven members of the Stone family, who decide to leave their home on Luna and travel the solar system after purchasing a spaceship. The characters in this novel are also very well written. The two primary protagonists are Castor and Pollux, two redheaded twins, that have a distinct talent for getting in trouble. Their father (an engineer), mother (an MD), and grandmother (another engineer, and one of the original lunar colonists), as well as her two siblings join them in their adventures which have them visiting Mars, then taking a trip to the astroid belt where uranium and other ores are being mined.

Mr. Heinlein goes into a fair bit of detail with regard to the science behind travel with in the solar system, how this would be accomplished, the equipment needed etc. The addition of these details make the book very realistic, and from the first time I read it it was one of my favourites.

A very enjoyable book that I think all readers young and old will enjoy.

"Blackbeard: America's Most Notorious Pirate" by Angus Konstam

Publisher: Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Year: 2006
ISBN: 9780471758853


This book was an amazing read that is very well researched and written. I first heard of the author Angus Konstam when I watched a documentary called "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Real Story" which compared the Disney movie "Pirates of the Caribbean" to the facts. and Mr. Konstam was one of the people interviewed.

The book details the life of Edward Teach a.k.a. Blackbeard from his younger days in Bristol, England (as far as can be determined) to his death. It was interesting to read about all his various exploits and how they reinforced the public's impression of him during his short career.

The book goes into a fair bit of detail about the political situation in the American colonies at this time, which I found somewhat unimportant to the story, but this is undoubtedly because I don't really know any American history and therefore have nothing to relate it to. Looking back however (after doing a bit of research) I found that it was very important as the rivalries between the various colonies were both an opportunity that Blackbeard took advantage of, as well as the reason that he was eventually hunted down.

A great book, that I would recommend to all history buffs, and especially those who are fascinated by pirates, and life in general in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

"Between Planets" by Robert A. Heinlein (1908-1988)

Publisher: Ballantine Del-Rey
Copyright: 1951
ISBN: None listed

Between planets is the fifth book in what are known as the Heinlein juvenile series. 

The dustjacket's blurb describes this book more concisely that I can: "Don, The hero of this story, is a citizen of the Federation but not of any planet. His mother was born on Venus, his father on Earth, and Don himself was born on a spaceship in trajectory between planets.  This curious citizenship makes difficulties for him when the rebellion starts on Venus. Whether or not Don can resolve his future allegiance to his best advantage remains to be seen."

Don is on his way to Mars to join his parents. But before he leaves Earth (where he is attending school) he is instructed to visit a family friend before he leave - this causes him no end of trouble, as the Federation forces are looking for him for some reason unknown to him.

Don never actually makes it to Mars until the last part of the story as he chooses to go to Venus rather than return to Earth when the space station he is on his attacked by the revolutionary forces. In the meantime he is a young man who is wanted by just about everybody.

On the surface this story seems to take place a number of years after "Farmer in the Sky". Because between the time of Farmer in the Sky and Between Planets there has been a limited nuclear war on Earth. For example Chicago, is now New Chicago and "Old Chicago" is described as an "... enormous field, still slightly radioactive ...". But it is also stated later on in the book that Mars is primarily a scientific establishment and is not colonized, which would actually put it before "Red Planet", and possibly even before "Space Cadet". There are other inconsistencies as well, but I won't go into them here.

Due to these differences I would say that this story does not really fall within the same storyline as the other books, but this does not detract from the story.

Once again this is a good story to introduce teenagers and young adults to classic science fiction, and it's well worth the read.

"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible" by Steve Wells

ISBN: 9780988245105 (hardcover)

Ever since the attacks of September 11, it has been repeated many times in both the mainstream media, and in casual conversation about how violent and war like the Koran is.

Sources that this espouse this viewpoint seem however to have blindly ignored all the violence, the subjugation of women, racism, murder, sexual deviation, and genocide (amongst other things) that are present in the Christian Bible.

The three Abrahamic religions namely Christianity, Islam & Judaism all stem from the same roots, and while it is possible that both the Talmud and the Koran also promote violence, the subjugation of women, racism, etc. I am unable to confirm this because I do not speak or read either Arabic or Hebrew, and I would be somewhat sceptical of an English translation of them, as translators throughout history have been infamous for massaging texts to suit their philosophies.

There are however some things you have to ask yourself: if the Christian Bible is truly the word of a benevolent god, then why is it so violent, why does it vilify women, promote racism, glorify genocide, and so on ad nauseum. Yes, it can be argued that this is the way things were back then, but if that's the case then why are we supposed be following the dictates of a misogynistic, racist, genocidal supreme being, with an inferiority complex to deep that if it isn't worshipped that it will take revenge on everyone?

Unfortunately most people simply pick and choose certain parts of the book, blindly ignore the rest, and are quite happy in their ignorance, and justify away their choices by saying that's the way it was.

In any case the contents of this book should make any critically thinking person take a second look at what the Bible actually does promote.

"Farmer in the Sky" by Robert A. Heinlein (1908-1988)

Publisher: Ballentine Del Rey Books

Copyright: 1950

ISBN: 0-345-24375-7

Farmer in the Sky is the fourth book in the Heinlein Juveniles series, originally published by Scribners in 1950.

The story revolves around Bill Lerner a teenager who immigrates to Ganymede to join the colony there and become a homesteader. Earth at this time is in pretty bad shape with a very high population, and a poor economy. The idea to immigrate is Bill's father George's, and Bill decides to go along. At first George forbids it, but then gives in when he realizes that a family has a better chance of immigrating. To do this however he hast to get married as George is a widower. The marriage is something that Bill is not in favour of, as he still misses his mother. In addition the marriage gives him a new sister whom he is not very fond of.

The book goes into a fair bit of detail with regard to the trials that a homesteading family would actually  have to go through, such as acquiring the land, breaking it, converting the ground into viable soil, planting crops, etc.

I don't remember exactly when the first time was I read this book, but it was many years ago. At the time, from what I can remember, I wasn't overly fond of it. Upon reading it again though I find that is quite well written, and gives a good idea of what her family would really have to go through. I don't know whether Mr. Heinlein actually knew anybody who had homesteaded, but the detail in the book makes me think that he did.

I believe this book is a very good recommendation for a teenager, who likes or would like to explore classic Science Fiction.