Our kids are pretty weak readers, and I'd like to try to address that, even though I teach math. I have some ideas for how to accomplish this without sacrificing my curriculum at all. What I want is some suggestions of books that I could justify as being tangentially related to my subject matter. It doesn't have to be a real strong connection; characters don't have to be actually solving equations. I just want to be able to plausibly rationalize my choices.
So I'm throwing this out to Hatrack's collected expertise. What books can you think of that I could share with high school math students?
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
Cryptonomicon? I dunno-- I heard it's got math in it...
How about Analog? It's a hard-sci fi mag-- the short stories might keep your readers better than a novel would.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
Maybe The Phantom Tollbooth, with the Mathemagician's capital of Digitopolis. Even though it's youngish, it is a fun, easy read, and many adults still like it.
Awesome sci-fi shorts in Mathenauts:Tales of Mathmatical Wonder, with math-related things from Asimov, Pohl, Hofstader, etc. The reading may be higher level, but they are shorts, so easier to tackle.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Short stories are a good idea, but I want to have some options that aren't science fiction--my natural tendency, of course, would be to go exclusively sci-fi, but I don't want to turn off the kids who hate it.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
Are Flatland and TPT too science-fictiony? [I'm checking to see what you are aiming toward -- if these are too sci-fi, I'll broaden my definition of "includes math" and get more creative.]
Posted by Lamarque (Member # 10825) on :
Cryptonomicon (Neal Stephenson) is an excellent novel with strong math connections but if you're concerned about your class being weak readers I wouldn't recommend it. It's quite a long book and quite complicated.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
TPT seemed rather fantasy like to me. I don't know, is there a good mystery novel that hinges on math? Maybe you could go with some math oriented segments of Harry Potter novels strung together.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Do you want stories that will challenge them, or stories pitched at a middle-school reading level? How weak are they at reading?
Posted by supercomplicated (Member # 5160) on :
I think it would be worth it for you to check out John Green's An Abundance of Katherines. It's a fun, smart coming-of-age young adult novel in which the main character is trying to devise a mathematical formula that will can predict the life of a relationship.
quote:Originally posted by pooka: TPT seemed rather fantasy like to me. I don't know, is there a good mystery novel that hinges on math?
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution *grin
Posted by seven (Member # 5367) on :
My 9th grade math class read Flatland.
Posted by Qaz (Member # 10298) on :
Alice.
The Curious Incident of the Upside-Down Dog. May be too advanced.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
Should be easy enough -- after all, everything is about math in some way, right?
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
These look like great suggestions so far! When I'm at a real computer I'll follow some of those links.
My firt instinct was to say I don't want anything too middle-schoolish, since I'm talking about high school juniors. But maybe that's a mistaken impulse on my part.
Ideally I'd like to provide four or five choices, in a variety of genres, all of which I've read, and give the kids free choice among them. And if one of them is middle schoolish, that could be a good choice for the weakest readers. I really do want the kids to enjoy it.
How weak are they? Well I don't know them as individuals yet; all I've got at this point is FCAT scores, not grade levels. The kids I'm targeting are regular ed, not honors. They are motivated enough to take Algebra 2 even though they have easier options.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
I don't have any suggestions that haven't already been mentioned, but I just wanted to say what a cool idea I think this is. Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
There are also plenty of ways to incorporate the books into your classes without the subject matter having anything to do with math.
Like, you could have the kids estimate how many words are in the entire book (plenty of ways to guess at that), or you could have them track how long it took them to read X number of pages and let them calculate their reading speed (that might not be good for the whole class because the slow readers would feel stupid, but you could give them the option of doing it). You could also do stuff like give them quantity pricing for paper and have them figure out how much the books would cost to produce. Then take the sale price, find your profit, and have them portion it out between the publisher, author, and bookstore (of course, there're plenty more pieces of that pie, but no need to overwhelm the poor kids ).
Just some ideas.
Posted by NotMe (Member # 10470) on :
High school age, you say? Then you're bound to have a student that will enjoy Another Fine Math You've Got Me Into by Ian Stewart. You might even get somebody interested in higher mathematics. It isn't a novel, though.
Posted by Samuel Bush (Member # 460) on :
What comes immediately to mind are these five short stories:
Schrodinger’s Plague by Greg Bear (about quantum mechanics) And He Built a Crooked House by Heinlein (about a tesseract house) Tangents by Greg Bear The Nine Billion Names of God by Clarke The Billiard Ball by Asimov
The first two have the added advantage of being immensely funny. And now that I think about it, “Nine Billion” is pretty funny too. At least I think so.
Two novels, “The Fountains of Paradise” by Clarke and “The Web Between the Worlds” by Charles Sheffield, also come to mind. They aren’t about math, per se, but about massive engineering projects.
At any rate, I also did two Google searches - “novels about math” and “mathematical fiction.” and I got more suggestions than you can shake a slipstick at.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
I have to say, Icarus, that you are possibly the coolest math teacher ever and I heartily approve of your sneaky methods for improving reading.
Posted by xnera (Member # 187) on :
It's been forever since I've read it, and I only vaguely remember it, but The Ghost from the Grand Banks by Arthur C. Clarke was quite a big influence on me. It introduced me to the Mandelbrot set (and fractals in general), and I later did my senior seminar in college on fractals. The edition I read had a excerpt from a seminar or something like that in the back of the book, that explained the mathematics behind the Mandelbrot set. I was utterly fascinated by it.
Hmm. I should really reread this.
'Course these days kids are learning about fractals in grammar school, so it might be a big yawn to them. Still, thought I'd mention it since it was so important to me.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
One suggestion, as you describe your group, is to make this possible extra credit. Math may be the primary academic strength of a kid and being forced to deal with language for a grade could be alienating. I know someone who was brilliant at math, and her professors wanted her to go to grad school, but she was happy to fail anything where writing was mandatory.
Between us, we made a whole person.
Actually, I hated writing until 10th grade, when a teacher encouraged me, so having an encouraging teacher helps, and it was a history teacher not an english teacher.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Actually, I am planning to make it an integrated series of extra credit assignments, but I don't want to get into specifics. For one thing, I don't want to enter into a debate about whether a reading extra credit assignment waters down my math curriculum or devaluates my grades, etc.
Posted by Samuel Bush (Member # 460) on :
Right on, xnera ! I'd forgotten about "The Ghost from the Grand Banks", but yeah, that is what got me hooked on fractals.
Anyway, I think that giving them a variety of choices is a good idea. My theory about why some students don’t read much is that they haven’t yet found a genra they are interested in. Granted, I base that on very limited experience.
In the case of my own four children, we surrounded them with a wide variety of books. (They each had a library card almost before they could walk.) We also read to them a lot. When they discovered a type of literature that interested them, they made the effort to improve their reading skills so they could read the books they wanted to read.
After we read the Hobbit to them, my oldest son decided he wanted to read the Trilogy by himself (I think he was 8 or 9). After that there was no stopping him. For another son it was “James and the Giant Peach” that got him hooked on reading.
At any rate, now they read continually. All of them have at least one book they are in the process of reading. This has been going on every day of their lives since before they were teens. And I’m not talking about those little wimpy two hundred and fifty pagers either. I’m talking about those thousand plus page brain buster sized novels like Brin, King, Jordan, and Clancy like to write. Oh sure, they will read the little ones. But that is like a light snack to them.
I have a brother-in-law who had some learning disabilities. One day his teacher confiscated his comic books. My mother-in-law had a little private get-in-your-face conference with the teacher. She explained to the teacher that she has been struggling for years to try and teach him to read and that it was really difficult. And now that she had finally found something that he liked to read and was therefore finally improving his skills, someone confiscates his books.
So anyway, that is my theory, for what it’s worth.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
For amusing short stories, how about the Hotel Infinity? You would have to find it online and print it out, but it's short and sweet.
Posted by Stray (Member # 4056) on :
I highly recommend The Man Who Counted, I really enjoyed it when I was around that age.
Posted by Liz B (Member # 8238) on :
Icarus, you rock. Talk about literacy across the curriculum.
Maybe Catharine Asaro? It's been a while since I read _Primary Inversion_, but I remember it having a lot of physics in it. It might appeal because it is definitely a romance, albeit a sci-fi one.
I'll pass the question on to some colleagues, too.
_Flowers from the Storm_ is a Regency romance where the main character is a brilliant mathematician struggling to regain--then prove-- his sanity. There's definitely explicit sex (don't know how that would go over in your district). But if your intent is to get a kid to read a book... Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
quote:Originally posted by ClaudiaTherese:
quote:Originally posted by pooka: TPT seemed rather fantasy like to me. I don't know, is there a good mystery novel that hinges on math?
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution *grin
LOVED that!
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
A Wrinkle in Time.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Oh, and there's a fantasy anthology that I loved growing up, and I can't for the life of me remember the name, it's on the tip of my tongue... It has a story in it that hinges on a Moebius strip, that kind of counts, right? But I can't remember the name although I remember everything about the book! Posted by solo (Member # 3148) on :
quote:Annoyed with his math teacher who assigns word problems and won't let him use a calculator, twelve-year-old Robert finds help from the number devil in his dreams.
Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
They aren't fiction, but John Allen Paulos's books, such as Innumeracy, A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper, and Beyond Numeracy: Ruminations of a Numbers Man are very interesting to read, and talk about math in a conversational manner. Beyond Numeracy, the only one I currently own, was written as a series of short essays on different mathematically-oriented subjects, with topics ranging from the different fields in math (Calc, Linear Programming, Diff Eq, etc) to things like Mathematics in Ethics, Zeno & Motion, and "Music, Art, and Digitalization." There's even a chapter on Mathematics in Literature, which discusses the Ouvroir de Litterature Potentielle (Workshop of Potential Literature), which apparently is a group that uses mathematics techniques to create literature, such as Queneau's Ten Trillion Sonnets developed by mixing 10's sonnets' 14 lines (10^14).
I was given Paulos's book Innumeracy by my 8th grade Algebra teacher, who helped to develop my love of mathematics.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
"The Seven-Per-Cent Solution"
Oh yeah ain't nothing like a novel in which the hero is a cokehead to impress the parents
[ August 14, 2007, 07:06 PM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
The Man Who Counted is an Arabian Nights-style tale in which math is prominently featured.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: Oh, and there's a fantasy anthology that I loved growing up, and I can't for the life of me remember the name, it's on the tip of my tongue... It has a story in it that hinges on a Moebius strip, that kind of counts, right? But I can't remember the name although I remember everything about the book!
If you are talking about the short story "Bright Star", it's been anthologised in several places. That's the one where all the Brights figure out how to wrap the four-dimensional equivalent of Mobius strips around themselves, and disappear to where they won't be persecuted. It's also where the expression comes from that "Where a Bright can go, a 'Tween can follow".
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Nope.
It involved sealing a painting that was a gateway for hellish creatures by folding it in on itself until it was a Moebius strip-- so it had no edge, or something-- whereupon it disappeared.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
I very much enjoyed Cuckoo's Egg. Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
quote:Originally posted by aspectre: "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution"
Oh yeah ain't nothing like a novel in which the hero is a cokehead to impress the parents
I take it you didn't notice the "*grin"
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: Nope.
It involved sealing a painting that was a gateway for hellish creatures by folding it in on itself until it was a Moebius strip-- so it had no edge, or something-- whereupon it disappeared.
Hmmm. There was a short like this as part of the first (or at least early volumes of) Thieves' World.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
Just thought I'd give Icarus the second "heads up". SherlockHolmes.....amazing what some parents will let their kids read Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
*laughing
Yes, well, you probably did the right thing.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
I don't have any ideas, but I wanted to say that Icarus does seem like a fantastic teacher. I think that if I'd had him as a teacher, I would've done much better in math (not necessarily grade-wise, but I certainly would've learned more and been much less frustrated).
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
quote:Originally posted by ClaudiaTherese:
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: Nope.
It involved sealing a painting that was a gateway for hellish creatures by folding it in on itself until it was a Moebius strip-- so it had no edge, or something-- whereupon it disappeared.
Hmmm. There was a short like this as part of the first (or at least early volumes of) Thieves' World.
That's it!!! It's the first volume of Thieves' World! Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
I loved that piece, and I also have remembered it since. Wasn't it something about "flying daggers"? *goes to look
---
Edited to add: Ahaa! I bet it was "The Gate of the Flying Knives" by Poul Anderson.
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
Rudy Rucker is a mathematician and great sci-fi writer whose works are often math-heavy, but unfortunately for this purpose include lots of sex too. Maybe Spacetime Donuts by Rucker isn't so sex-laden? I don't remember. Or maybe Spaceland, Rucker's 3-d upgrade of the classic Flatland.
Larry Niven has a few short stories with math themes : "Not long before the end" and "Convergent Series" are the only 2 I can think of.
Niven's Inferno has a good deal of math, but is unsuitable because of the religious theme and graphic nature of sin.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Something a little bit inappropriate might be okay if I do permission slips. Generally our lit teachers get away with stuff that we could never get away with if we were showing a movie to the class.
-o-
Thanks for all the nice thoughts, guys! Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
In that case, see if Rucker's The Sex Sphere will pass muster.
If memory serves, the title character is a multidimensional nymphomaniacal manifold.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Perhaps not that one . . .
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
I wasn't kidding when I said Rucker's novels have lots of sex. I don't remember how much is in Spacetime Donuts, haven't read that in years. And I've never read Spaceland and couldn't tell from the review how age-appropriate it is.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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).![[Cool]](cool.gif)
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LOVED that!
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ain't nothing like a novel in which the hero is a cokehead to impress the parents![[Frown]](frown.gif)
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