Bunny Crumpacker

I finished this and my impressions did not change from what I wrote while halfway through. Thank god she only mentioned the Da Vinci Code twice..

I'm having a little problem with the format, though. It seems she did not spend a lot of time really focusing on how she would organize the book. "Okay, I'll do a number per chapter and then some extras on big numbers at the end." This is fine, but she goes off on tangents in each chapter, talking about different types of number words that don't necessarily have anything to do with the particular number whose chapter hosts the topic. This is alright for the most part, because I can usually see where she is coming from.

The part that really gets me is that there is no story, no through line, the chapters don't go anywhere and often repeat themselves needlessly. It reads like a list of facts that have been turned into paragraphs. I'm learning a lot, but I want more cohesion. I think she should have grouped everything differently, with chapters like "concepts of many" or "the shape of figures" or "counting" or "unique number words and their origins" or "the pythagoreans" and then within each of these chapters gone number by number, with maybe just a short introductory chapter introducing the basics of each number.

Her style is a little flippant, and I feel like she thinks she's being really cute and clever at times, when really I would like her to use a complete sentence instead of concluding paragraphs with little phrasey witticisms. On top of this, she has so far referred to The Da Vinci Code twice, which I feel is inexcusable. Don't let this deter you, however, I think it goes to show what sort of audience she intended, rather than the quality of her ideas. On the other hand, the fact that she does not dwell on some of the more profound points she raises means that MY mind does the work, and I have the pleasure of making connections and discoveries on my own. This, so far, is the best thing about the book: the unusual connections and thoughts I wouldn't usually discover.

On the whole, though, I would recommend this book to anyone intrigued by it. You'll certainly come away with a lot of interesting, and for the most part useless (that's the best kind, isn't it?) knowledge.… (meer)

I finished this and my impressions did not change from what I wrote while halfway through. Thank god she only mentioned the Da Vinci Code twice..

I'm having a little problem with the format, though. It seems she did not spend a lot of time really focusing on how she would organize the book. "Okay, I'll do a number per chapter and then some extras on big numbers at the end." This is fine, but she goes off on tangents in each chapter, talking about different types of number words that don't necessarily have anything to do with the particular number whose chapter hosts the topic. This is alright for the most part, because I can usually see where she is coming from.

The part that really gets me is that there is no story, no through line, the chapters don't go anywhere and often repeat themselves needlessly. It reads like a list of facts that have been turned into paragraphs. I'm learning a lot, but I want more cohesion. I think she should have grouped everything differently, with chapters like "concepts of many" or "the shape of figures" or "counting" or "unique number words and their origins" or "the pythagoreans" and then within each of these chapters gone number by number, with maybe just a short introductory chapter introducing the basics of each number.

Her style is a little flippant, and I feel like she thinks she's being really cute and clever at times, when really I would like her to use a complete sentence instead of concluding paragraphs with little phrasey witticisms. On top of this, she has so far referred to The Da Vinci Code twice, which I feel is inexcusable. Don't let this deter you, however, I think it goes to show what sort of audience she intended, rather than the quality of her ideas. On the other hand, the fact that she does not dwell on some of the more profound points she raises means that MY mind does the work, and I have the pleasure of making connections and discoveries on my own. This, so far, is the best thing about the book: the unusual connections and thoughts I wouldn't usually discover.

On the whole, though, I would recommend this book to anyone intrigued by it. You'll certainly come away with a lot of interesting, and for the most part useless (that's the best kind, isn't it?) knowledge.… (meer)