Tuesday 20 August 2019

"The Language of the Universe: A Visual Exploration of Mathematics" by Colin Stuart and Zimo Abadia (Big Picture Press!)

"Oooh they've got a bit about Fibonacci sequences in here!" shouted C excitedly as she intercepted this latest book parcel.

"Fibo-whaaa?" I replied. I am number blind you see, to me, maths is one of life's great mysteries - and I'm really glad that C has not taken after her old man in this instance.

"The Language of the Universe: A Visual Exploration of Mathematics" by Colin Stuart and Ximo Abadia had succeeded in its first intention then, to hook in young readers who might (like me) hear the word "Maths" and run a mile.

C is actually extremely good at maths in school though it's probably her least favourite subject. This fascinating visual dictionary of the history of mathematics stretches back through time to Ancient civilisations who first developed a deep understanding of numbers and sums, right through to the modern day and our heavy reliance on algorithms, heuristics and formulae to make the modern world function as it does.

Colin and Ximo make good use of a ton of amazing mathematical facts, brilliantly illustrated in sharp graphical style, to win your kids over. Let's take a closer look inside at some of the page spreads to see what's cookin', maths-wise.

Truly the language of the universe, there are mathematical constants, even out in space. 
Kids are naturally curious, and this book does a fantastic job of stimulating that curiosity by describing the wonders of mathematics, and how even the simplest equations have rocked our world.

Maths even plays a part in the creative world. 
It's a brilliant all-ages book, a fascinating insight into a subject that many kids may not enjoy, but will find new fascination with after dipping into this.

Triangles, triangles everywhere!
Sum this book up in a sentence: A truly fascinating and brilliantly presented guide to mathematics, produced in a way that doesn't instantly turn kids off.

"The Language of the Universe: A Visual Exploration of Mathematics" by Colin Stuart and Ximo Abadia is out on 22nd August 2019, published by Big Picture Press (kindly supplied for review).