Cook successfully establishes the mathematical foundation needed for construction with a witty, conversational tone that...
This step-by-step guide to mastering basic construction math utilizes the building of a hypothetical bungalow as an occasion to lightheartedly relate mathematical thinking to practical application.
The need for one more book in a market where a dozen books on basic math for construction workers have been published appears initially questionable. Yet Cook’s book earns a place of distinction for bringing a gently humorous tone and an engaging sense of storytelling to what could be the driest of subjects. Organizing his book around the building of a hypothetical bungalow, Cook brings essential grade-school level mathematical concepts (how to solve for unknowns, distinguishing numbers and units and dealing with fundamental algebra and geometry) into play in the sequence you would need to use them if you were building your own home. This is a particularly engaging read for anyone suffering math phobia. “Solving for an unknown is like traveling to a new destination,” opens the book, and, through the author’s clearheaded examples of construction problems mathematically solved, math becomes a thoroughly charming form of intellectual recreation. Each chapter concludes with a helpful review of key concepts. And sprinkled through the text are Mary E. Scott’s cartoons achieving a remarkable balance between adult sophistication and childlike playfulness. In Cook’s chapter on reviewing how to solve fractions, decimals and percent, the author gives the all-too-gripping math problem of calculating the cost of filling up your truck’s gas tank, a skyrocketing cost of doing construction work. Levity is introduced through Scott’s cartoon showing a depressed consumer pondering which button to press on a gas pump with buttons labeled “Barely Afford,” “Second Mortgage” and “Buy a Bike.” The book’s 17 compact chapters conclude with a helpful list of conversion factors and handy equations.
Cook successfully establishes the mathematical foundation needed for construction with a witty, conversational tone that clarifies math while instilling confidence in a reader’s capacity to practically apply numbers.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2008
ISBN: 978-0979409707
Page Count: 113
Publisher: Freshwater
Review Posted Online: Nov. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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