I took math through university, being so silly as to think I could minor in it. (I couldn’t…not quite.) But since I graduated I have forgotten so much of the more advanced math that I did understand, and everything I partially understood has utterly vanished – over a decade later, it’s as if I didn’t take 10 university level math courses.

I recognize that I shouldn’t be the audience of this book, but I am, given that I have forgotten most of what I learned. Thought his book is written for a UK audience, it’s easily decipherable to a North American audience as well. It’s a good, brief summary of various applied math topics – no theoretical stuff here – and is a pretty good way to attain a basic math literacy in a matter of hours (or less). It’s quite a useful book and I wish that some of my high school teachers and university professors could explain this stuff this well.

If I have one criticism, it is the way the book is laid out: basically as a bunch of topics with little to connect them; it doesn’t proceed in a logical way to my mind, and it feels like you have to jump around from topic to topic and back again, as you proceed through it. That is to say, one chapter does not always build upon the previous chapters. As someone trained on textbooks, that can be a little weird.

But this is still a valuable resource for anyone who wants some math literacy but doesn’t have the time or inclination to actually learn it.

8/10

• Print Length: 304 pages
• Publisher: Arcturus (July 29, 2016)
• Publication Date: July 29, 2016
• Language: English
• ASIN: B01M1I1MOM