How Math Can Save Your Life:

Description

Despite the word "math" in the title, this book is more oriented towards arithmetic, as pointed out by the author. Basically, it contains a variety of well-thought-out applications of simple arithmetic. Each of the fourteen chapters contains a different topic - and the topics are indeed quite varied, resulting in a rather odd mixture. The topics are so varied that a given reader is likely to find some much more interesting than others. In my case, I found many chapters quite entertaining, many informative, some even quite captivating, and others, well, rather boring. As a result, I find this book rather difficult to rate. The writing style is very friendly and includes several personal anecdotes; it is certainly most authoritative, often engaging, but, as noted, chapters of little interest to the reader may be found to be quite dull. As a result, the target audience is unclear. There are chapters on football strategies, different forms of gambling and even one (one of the longest) on how to teach arithmetic to elementary school children. On the whole, I believe that there is something of interest in this book for just about everyone, e.g., a few gamblers, maybe football fans/strategists, perhaps elementary school teachers and, possibly the odd math buff. However, I don't think that everyone who reads it will enjoy all of it. As a result of all of this, and for my own personal taste, I would give this book 3.5 stars, rounded to 4.