Book Review: A Mind for Numbers By Barbara Oakley#

The subtitle of this books “How to Excel at Math and Science (Even if You Flunked Algebra).

It’s something of an odd thing. On the one hand science, except physics, was never really a huge challenge for me. In contrast, though, math and I have never really gotten along. Now, I can do math, at least basic stuff, and even a little bit of algebra, but when I try to go deeper I just get lost. I mean, I begged for the “D” I got in Algebra II in high school, remediated algebra in college (and did well) but still struggled in the “real” algebra class. And statistics … don’t get me started!

But even now, at age 66, I still want to learn how to do the higher level math stuff. I’d love to wrap my head, for example, around physics – at least the basics. But I always hit a wall. I’m sure some of it is just mental blockages, those “I’m not good at math” thoughts, even though I can estimate to the third decimal place and do quick and dirty math when calculating discounts on sales items in a store. But beyond that? Well …

So, when I saw this book by Barbara Oakley and read in her introduction that she had struggled with math for many, many years only to become a professor of engineering, which demands a mind for math, I was only too happy to give the book a shot.

I’m not really sure what I expected from this book. I think I was looking for tips and tricks for mastering the concepts of math. So, I was actually pretty disappointed with the book. Not because I don’t think the book is useful, it is. But because my expectations right or wrong were not met. I think the title sets you up for wrong expectations.

All that said, I am a student of learning. That is, I strongly believe that students should be taught how to learn and that is where I spend a fair amount of my time and effort – learning more about how people learn and how to help them learn – even though I am now retired from teaching.

As a resource on learning how to learn, this book is excellent. Although I was already familiar with many of the topics presented in the book, I still found it a worthwhile read. In fact, as I was reading, I kept thinking that I wished that schools would take the time to teach students the basic skills and approaches that are presented in this book (and others like it) in order to help them learn how to learn.

But let me return for a moment to the title and the book’s intended focus. While I dissed the book for not providing insight into specifically how to learn math and science, I must acknowledge that what it teaches is applicable to those two topics such that if a student applies the concepts, they will be able to make headway on those subjects. But the same concepts can be applied to all of their studies, not just math and science. Maybe that’s why I remain a bit confused about the title.

Do I Recommend it?#

Either way, YES, I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to develop their skills for learning or who has a child who is struggling to learn the more challenging subjects at school, such as math or science.