Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

For my young reader, at least, it was a huge success

Hidden Figures: Young Readers' Edition by Margot Lee Shetterly

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I’ve been struggling all summer to find a book to read with my 8 year old. He’s a smart kid, but he’s not really all that interested in the things I remember being into as a kid. I keep trying books I grew up on, and he’s not really been interested in any of them. That may be a maturity thing, though. I didn’t really get into reading until I was in middle school. But he loves math. At the end of last year, he […]

Math problems on Mars.

Singer Distance by Ethan Chatagnier

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I said in a status update while reading Singer Distance that it was giving me Contact vibes, and that’s true. The homespun science and grungy academic feel of the book, along with a group of characters working towards contacting aliens does give me the same feelings I get watching that movie (I have the book and I really need to finally read it!), but Singer Distance also has its own unique feel. This is an alternate history where back in the late 1800s, scientists spotted a message on Mars and began […]

This is bad math. Egregiously bad math.

A Slice of Pi by Liz Strachan

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BINGO – Font (though truthfully, you should not go to this book for math information) Let me just start by just saying that this book is not a good book for learning or even remembering anything related to math. Overall, this book feels more like a chance for author Liz Strachan to reflect on her 36 years of mathematics education experience and boast about much her students just absolutely loved math and how easy math was for all of her students. This book is 161 […]

1 plus 1 equals two chicken books

Arithmechicks Add Up: A Math Story by Ann Marie Stephens

Arithmechicks Take Away: A Math Story by Ann Marie Stephens

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If you want a book about math, you need to find Arithmechicks Add Up: A Math Story and Arithmechicks Take Away: A Math Story. Now, these are not just your “one plus one” or “two minus one” stories. A lot is going on allowing them to be fairly busy. Therefore, while the format and the images are for the younger group, the older (up to first grade, maybe low second) can read as well.  There is much to the text and some concepts (which are […]

A book about nothing

Zero Zebras: A Counting Book about What’s Not There by Bruce Goldstone

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The concept of Zero Zebras: A Counting Book about What’s Not There at first was off putting and I expected something to happen that eventually, never did. Bruce Goldstone starts with the usual counting format. Therefore, the idea of 5 foxes or 10 tigers is not new, and even zero zebras is not a new concept. However, one most likely will assumes that by the end you will have a menagerie of animals and then the narrator will say, oh one zebra or 100 zebras […]

Pick up a physical slice of humble pi and learn some math

Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors by Matt Parker

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Math is everywhere. It is a part of everything we do now. Math developed the roads and bridges we drive on. Math created the buildings we work in (or used to work in, pre-pandemic). Math forms all the technology we use without a second thought. But what happens when the math goes wrong? When someone fudges the numbers or uses the wrong unit? Or when data get deleted? Sometimes what happens is a mild inconvenience that is easily rectified but other times, the results are […]



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