BOOK REVIEW: "Mathematics for Adults" Series (Kinokuniya)

If you hate math, isn't that mainly because you got bad test scores? If people could approach math without concern for test scores or grades and simply enjoy studying it, then the number of people who hate math would most certainly decrease. Proof of this is the interest in books on math in recent years, a trend started by "Understanding Math Intuitively"(Iwanami Shoten), which has sold approximately 150,000 including sequels.
Kinokuniya has launched a series aimed at adults who want to study math again. "Math for Adults" is a seven-volume series written by mathematics scholar Koji Shiga, professor emeritus at Tokyo Institute of Technology. The first in the series, "Encountering Numbers and Quantities: An Introduction to Math," was distributed on November 13.
Shiga is also the author of "Mathematics: A Seven-Day Journey," the first "introductory instruction book" for adults published by Kinokuniya in 1990. Sales of this book exceeded 100,000, indicating that there are many people with a latent interest in studying math again. Following that, Shiga set up community classes at the university in order to give adults the opportunity to study. The present series grew out of this.
The basic concept is for adults to develop an understanding of the essentials of contemporary mathematics in segments. The content is explained through an easily understandable theoretical basis established around the middle of the twentieth century. Anyway with standard reading ability can follow it, irrespective of science or literary background. There is also a conscious effort to use poetic or philosophical terminology in the main title, allotting mathematical jargon to the subtitle, thus allowing for a wider readership.


*Some of the book titles are tentative translations.
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