Spoiler alert: it's really about math and there is math on practically every page.

My brother and I were both English majors. We also both had Miss Fox for math (he had her in 8th grade, I had her in 6th). My year with Miss Fox coincided and interfered with her wedding planning. So, she taught my class counted cross-stitch (math-related, I guess) and spent the rest of the year perusing wedding magazines. And so, I eventually flunked trig and I blame the 6th grade.

If anyone had ever taken the time to break concepts down for me like Orlin does here, I might have hated math less. Maybe. Anything is possible.

This book is appropriate for anyone (most ages) who needs/wants to understand math in practical terms. Orlin makes it seem useful and far less mysterious.

Maths isn't really my cup of tea, so anything that would make it more palatable is worth a go. Ben Orlin has managed to make maths understandable and fun. His way of explaining the concepts does not put me off, rather it makes me excited to be able to understand at last.

A great resource for those of us who want to learn maths in an accessible way.

I freely admit that I'm biased. I don't find math intuitive and I like it when someone can explain even simple things I already know. Books like this make math MAKE SENSE.
And I love the pictures. Hilariously, it was easy to see when the stick figures were annoyed or whatever the situation called for.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

I have received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Well, this was delightful. I can't recall ever having called a book of mathematics "charming" before, but this certainly qualifies. Clear prose, helpful illustrations, and entertaining discussions on the mechanics, vocabulary, symbolism and philosophy of math. I had to pause in the middle of a paragraph and go find a pen and paper to work that multiplication problem myself. I was thrilled to come out right!

I would very much recommend this book to anyone struggling with math, and I'm so glad I had the math education I did growing up!