Burn Math Class: And Reinvent Mathematics for Yourself 1st Edition

I'm only about halfway through this book so far, but I can definitely tell you that it is an absolute JOY to read!The conceit of the book is that the author assumes that you know basically nothing about math beyond addition and multiplication. He then shows you a couple of simple implications of those two things, then jumps immediately into calculus and demonstrates that it's actually way more simple and intuitive and beautiful than you ever imagined. He somehow manages to simultaneously go into so much detail that every last possible question that the reader might have is answered along the way, while at the same time moving through many years of math classes in something that you can read in a few hours. When you get done reading a chapter, you suddenly grasp things on an intuitive level that had previously always depended on memorizing a lot of "because I said so" type of rules, which just feels amazing.While I'm a person who has always enjoyed math, I was never especially talented as a mathematician and haven't revisited most of this stuff in decades. With this book that's totally okay because the writing is so clear and personable that it's feels like learning from an incredibly talented and non-judgmental teacher that's happy to meet you where you are. But that being said, I think it would appeal to anyone who loves math, even if you're already really good at it. I picked up this book after hearing about it on Cal Newport's podcast. He said that he loved it and he has a PhD from MIT and is a full professor at a major research university in a field where he writes mathematical proofs for a living. So it's definitely not a "for dummies" type of approach at all. Instead, it's just a fun read from an author with an immense talent for making you look at things from first principles and really grasp them on an intuitive level. This is a book about "why" rather than "how" math works the way it does.

I am a computer programmer by trade. I would say my math skills are so so . I am long past needing this for a math course. I first saw in a book store and read a few pages and thought that was sort of interesting. I bought the book expecting I probably get a few pages into and put it on the bookshelf forever. Not so... this is an absolutely great book. It makes me question why math isn't taught this way.Many high schools have pre-calculus courses that teach pre-statistics. Students go to college and are often unaware that they are not really prepared for calculus.This book should be used as a textbook in high school to excite students into mathematics. What it does is throw away everything that makes mathematics difficult by explaining it a manor that I have never seen nor read . It isn't just a good math book it is a good read that delivers a whole new universe . In a country that wants to deliver more scientist and engineers what we may have to understand is a new approach to things needs to happen. If I were an educator ( I have taught programming classes) I would read this book and ask myself is this a better way to learn math. I suspect it is ! Last thing on mathematics , music and art classes should be added to curriculum's this is a failure of thinking not everything fits the Machine f(x)=mx+b...... a certain non linearity is good! lol

I agree w/both the positive comments and the criticisms of this book shared by others, but overall I quite enjoyed it. I feel I now have a better intuitive grasp of these topics than I ever did after classroom math study. In that regard, I consider it a successful purchase.This is by far the most entertaining or informative math book I've ever read.In fact, it's the only math book I've ever read cover to cover, because who does that?The author pulls back the curtain on some of the ivory tower High Priest Mathematician mumbo-jumbo and Jedi mind-trick hand-waviness. He does a pretty good job of explaining things in layman's terms and from first principles (although not without some confusion & jargon of his own). He mostly succeeds in tying topics together very nicely, which is a huge departure from how math is usually taught in a disjointed and rudderless fashion.The beginning chapters of this book ought to be understandable enough for most people with a basic understanding of Jr. High algebra. If you have never taken any math beyond algebra, I can't judge how useful or understandable the later chapters would be for you. Maybe? Give it a shot and find out. Combining this book w/Khan Academy videos can take you from Jr. High math to college-level calculus in a matter of weeks, rather than the multiple years it typically takes in a classroom.I took AP Calc I in high school (mostly "this is how to enter this into your TI-82") followed by "Integral" Calc II in college. That was ~20yrs ago now, and I was a humanities major so I remember very little, but this wasn't my 1st exposure to the material. I still had to read some sections over again to really follow the explanations & discussions, but this was easier than interpreting Wikipedia articles on the same topics. I never took multivariable calculus or beyond, but was able to understand those topics as introduced and explained in the book. That was possible precisely because of how this book deliberately tore down arbitrary "walls", explained the connections, and translated the superficial differences into common ideas.The chapter on multi-dimensional calc, which he calls his least-favorite chapter in the book, was one of my favorites for tying it all together. I never really thought about the inherent connections between point -> line -> slope -> angles -> 2D slope of any curve -> 3D "slope" in (x,y,z) -> N-dimensional change in (x,y,z,......n). - it really is all the exact same thing using the exact same techniques! All this stuff is just funny notation and the Pythagorean theorem at a different scale (which btw was independently "invented" by the Babylonians ~2000yrs before Pythagoras).Yes, the "dialogues" and extra characters can be tedious & confusing. Initially I found them a bit annoying and distracting vs the narrative text. But, I also appreciated that the author was trying to keep things light, while conveying feelings and ideas beyond merely explaining the math - that was part of his goal, so ok.I could've done w/less dialogue, more narrative explanation, and more discussion of practical applications. *Why* am I learning/inventing this stuff anyway? What can I use it for? Now I know *how* to think about curvy things in multiple dimensions, but so what? So we derived "pi", but what can I *do* with this knowledge? Why would I ever want or need to graph a function's output?What practical applications might I have for vector math, or matrices (not covered), or tearing apart or factoring polynomials? How does this relate back to the REAL world? ... Oh, this stuff forms the foundations for all computer graphics, 3D animation, computer science, etc? Neat. Let's invent THAT stuff too so we can get an idea what else we might invent. The practicality & application is why I enjoyed Physics, where I could literally weigh planets and stars, compared to Calculus class that only taught me how to take a test w/a certain calculator. The lack of practical, applied discussion for these newly "invented" topics & techniques is something I think would've benefitted readers who will still likely ask "when will I ever need this?"All that said, comparing this to the god-awful boring, colorless, lifeless, inaccessible & horribly overpriced stats/probability book I just had to buy for an upcoming return to college life (a book ostensibly full of "practical" uses presented in a boring-as-hell manner), I'm positive this book was more fun, easier to read, and worth the purchase price. If Jason Wilkes were to ever write another book about Differential Equations (not covered, so what are those?) or Matrices & Linear Algebra (not covered, so what are those?) I'd probably buy it.