A book that more or less sticks to the trivial (at least the trivial-seeming) and the factoid to get some good, strong mathematical concepts across. Here are plants that can count, numbers that are so close to minus infinity that they both are minus infinity and yet not at the same time, a 9 in the font that looks like an 8 and no way of telling the comma from the point. Yes, it's not perfect, but it is engaging, fun, varied, and skewed to showing how important the discipline is to all aspects of real life.

This book is brilliant. It has everything. There are complex maths problems, inspirational mathematicians, maths in art and nature, experiments, music, games and more. I have already learnt so many new things and tried out some of the activities. I can't wait to get a copy in real life to share with the children at school.

Did you know that ...
👉 The Venus flytrap uses maths to trap unsuspecting insects inside its leaves?
👉 Slender buildings bend a little during strong winds and might cause seasickness?
👉 A doughnut and a coffee mug are the same shape mathematically?
👉 The shape of a band-aid (rectangle with semicircles at the end) is called a ‘discorectangle’?

This book contains many such fun bits of trivia. But it doesn’t stop here.

As the title cleverly suggests, this is not your “average” maths book. (Don’t you love the punny sound of it?) I’ve read quite a few books on making maths comfortable for children, but all of them end up providing definitions and theorems, though in a fun way. This book strives to be different. There are hardly any staid definitions. What we get instead is an application-intensive book filled with examples of how maths is actually used in the real world.

Right from architecture to shopping to nature to travel time, the entire book looks at how maths is all around us in our routine life. It even details concepts that you wouldn’t traditionally count under maths such as symmetry or fractals or genetic dominance. The book even includes famous mathematicians and a timeline of key mathematical developments. The perfect icing on the cake is the inclusion of fun puzzles.

The approach of the book is the right medley of information and entertainment. It simplifies even the most complicated of concepts with its practical approach and humorous presentation. As in every Quarto book, the illustrations are perfect and add the right touch of levity and detail to the concepts. I applaud the decision to keep the illustrations inclusive.

Overall, this will be a great book for children to understand not just what maths is all about but also how their maths teachers are (sometimes) right – maths is required in the real world and if one can approach it with sensibility than with fear, maths can be a wonderfully useful subject for life.

Heartily recommended to all youngsters, their parents, schools and libraries. This would suit children aged 9+, though they might need to wait to understand some of the higher-level concepts.

4.5 stars from me for this way-above-average math book.

My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group and NetGalley for the DRC of “Not Your Average Maths Book”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.