Bernhard Riemann was an underdog of sorts, a malnourished son of a parson who grew up to be the author of one of mathematics' greatest problems. In Prime Obsession, John Derbyshire deals brilliantly with both Riemann's life and that problem: proof of the conjecture, "All non-trivial zeros of the zeta function have real part one-half." Though the statement itself passes as nonsense to anyone but a mathematician, Derbyshire walks readers through the decades of reasoning that led to the Riemann Hypothesis in such a way as to clear it up perfectly. Riemann himself never proved the statement, and it remains unsolved to this day. 

Chock full of entertaining mathematical ideas, puzzles, tricks, and word problems, this book proves that everyone can be a math whiz. "Students can't help but grow in mathematical skills and positive attitudes."--School Library Journal.

 

Featuring page after page of beautiful, dynamic, full-color images, "The Big Book of Lofts" presents 48 creative and cutting-edge projects, showcasing concepts that today's most innovative designers have applied to lofts around the globe. From modern apartment complexes to traditional, family-sized spaces, this book presents a variety of projects involving one unit and single-family dwellings that are sure to catch the eye of any reader.

It is an interesting, varied, not-your-run-of-the-mill activity book, with cute illustrations. A caveat is a large scatter of difficulty among activities, which created frustration when activities could not be figured out (it would've been better to mark activities with level of difficulty so children knew when they were approaching the most difficult ones), and some unusual and rather idiosyncratic answers that were difficult even for adults to come up with or explain. Overall, good fun.

This set presents readers in grades six and up with information surveying the study of science through the ages. Each volume discusses a specific time period, region, or area of science. Arrangement is, for the most part, chronological. Volumes 1 through 6 cover science history beginning with the ancient Egyptians and ending with the eighteenth century. There is good coverage of the science of Islam, and volume 3 is devoted to science in China, India, Mesoamerica, and other regions. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries are treated in two volumes each, one covering physical sciences and the other covering life sciences.

Board of Directors, NCTM Imagine handing students state-by-state data on the number of gallons of soft drinks sold per person in one year. Imagine using it to lead a vibrant problem-solving session in which students energetically pose and answer mathematical questions:
Why does it say sold instead of consumed?
What IS a soft drink? Is it the same as soda?
Who would collect this kind of data? Why would they collect it?