Book Review – Mathmagicians

In this companion book to his first book Think of a Number, UK television personality Johnny Ball takes maths to the next level.

Maths is not just about numbers. Ball is a master at capturing the imagination of children between the ages of eight and fourteen. In this book he introduces the application of numbers to make sense of the world and the universe.

Measurement of time, distance, angles, space and temperature, for example, are explained historically and then given relevance in modern times. Great minds like Kepler, Copernicus and Galileo become the heroes in this story.

Puzzles, jokes and conundrums make the material easy to understand and apply. The pages are full of bright illustrations and interesting things to make and try at home.

I loved this book because my children of nine and eleven are proud of themselves for mastering concepts that can appear to be quite complicated. We will keep going back to it as a reference book.

I like to foster curiosity in my children and this is a fantastic book for exactly that.