Mathematics Minus Fear

I'm an adult literacy and numeracy tutor and always looking for interesting ways of making information accessible to my students. This is an absolutely marvellous book, but I won't be recommending it to too many of them. The reason is that whilst being very well written, it does require a higher level of literacy skills than many books that are written for adult learners. I loved reading all the interesting facts and the way that Lawrence made mathematics come alive for me, but I know that many of my students don't want that. They have dyslexia and they want a book that is easy to read and tells them what they need to know.

For all that, I can't give this book any less than five. How, oh how, I wish I had read this as a student thirty-five years ago. So, if you are highly literate and highly innumerate, GET THIS - it's fantastic.

If you want to understand mathematics in a plain, no frills format get Chambers' Adult Learners Guide To Numeracy which does the job nicely.

I think this is a fantastic book. I teach mathematics at secondary school and found this book to be a great source of material for improving the clarity of explanations I give on basic mathematics... As a teacher I couldn't recommend it highly enough to other teachers; the book also provides a bank of neat little puzzles, some more challenging than others, and all amusing to read. EXCELLENT STUFF!!

For someone who has had a fear of mathmatics for many years, this book is fantastic, and actually very funny. Lawrence Potter walks you through how to add, divide, multiply, how to work out percentages in a non patronising way. Recommended.

If you are in your 40s about to challenge your fear of Maths and claim back the night with an Open University Maths Degree this book is a great primer.
Essential therapy, like easing yourself into a cool pool on a baking hot day.

I LOVE this book! I have been hopeless at maths since secondary school and when I came across it in a local bookstore read a few pages and thought it had to be worth a try - couquering my maths demons and all that!
It's written really well and he explains the history behind how and why we are taught maths the way we are in schools and, if you like, the evolution of the maths we use everyday!
I decided it was worth every penny when I could answer a question about binary in a local pub quiz! The question was how is the number 19 represented in binary? - the answer is in the book - needless to say my friends were very impressed!!