Basher Science: Algebra and Geometry

By Simon Basher

Basher Science: Algebra and Geometry created and illustrated by Simon Basher:

The best-selling author of Math and Punctuation now turns his attention to the fun and funky characters in Geometry and Algebra. Meet Polygon and Plane, Reflection and Rotation, Odd Number and his buddy Even Number and the three amigos Sine, Cosine and Tangent. Discover the secrets of their world and how they like to throw their numbers about. Bringing his charming manga-style artwork and tongue-and-cheek approach to explaining the basics, Basher brings a whole new spin to the world of higher math.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Jan 31, 2017
• ISBN: 9780753440292

Simon Basher

Simon Basher is an internationally recognized illustrator, author and artist. His range of work includes large scale paintings, animation, printmaking and digital media. He is best known for creating and illustrating a novel series of books that make science and other topics fun and accessible for younger students. His illustration style is described as graphic surrealism; a synergy of European graphic design and Japanese character creation. Simon Basher lives and works in London, England.

Book preview

Reviews for Basher Science

[ktnguyen-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is written in narrative format, starting with an introduction to history of mathematics. The chapters are organized with the progression of development of math, starting from number theory to modern geometry to trigonometry. This book also has great examples. Every page has a colored illustration of the concept discussed. This makes the book visually pleasing.

[harriewatson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have rated this book 5 stars because I enjoyed reading it so much. I will be able to use individual pages of this book as the basis of alternative lessons and activities for secondary math. There are loads of interesting facts and historical notes. The graphics are fun and help set up a visual sort of outline that makes locating specific areas of interest easy. I have already purchased this for my personal library. After saying all of this, I must admit that I think very few high school students would read this book voluntarily. To use the alternate rating system Dr Austin suggested, this would be Q5P2. The quality of the book is that it could not be written more effectively. However, the attraction or popularity for high school readers would probably be low, because to actually follow the reasoning used in the book requires a fairly high level of math knowledge. Most students will not dig around in their neurologic filing cabinets to access the information needed to comprehend the information without outside guidance.This book is a concept book aimed not at emergent readers, but at high school math students. The concepts covered include most basic definitions, operations, and symbols used in algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. Definitions are accessible and related topics are grouped together. Definitions are rooted more in conversational English rather than in math-speak. Seemingly simple (but actually very abstract) concepts such as zero and unity (one) are made very understandable. The format is consistent and repeated throughout. A page of text generally faces a page of graphics. The graphics are contemporary, somewhat Japanese style- is it anime- or something like that. The graphics don't necessarily explain a concept, but they do help with the general grouping of related topics. The illustrations are completely consistent and help hold together the enormous amount of information presented in 128 pages. The text pages here are the true focus. There are 3 starred facts at the top which are usually definitions. Text is in middle. There are 3 bullits at bottom which include historical or other math gems. Style of writing is understandable throughout. I have to admit that the Sumo wrestling Japanese phrases went over my head. I would recommend this book to math teachers and to those unfortunately few students who really connect with math and reading.

[kratzerliz23 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I would use this book to introduce a new math topic that was going to be discussed. I would first ask what my students knew about the topic. Then I would read from the book. After reading about the topic I would ask what my students wanted to know about it. Sometimes the book's explanations are a little too complicated, so parts of the writings might have to be omitted for younger audiences to understand. Hopefully the book's writings will spark questions by students.The accuracy of the book is good. Besides explaining about the topic it lists 3 meaningful facts about it at the top of the page. At the bottom of the page it lists topics related to the main topic. If a reader wants to know something quick about a math topic this book is a good place to start.

[josephmacadam · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When I first picked up this book and flipped through it, it looked like a book for very young kids. When reading through the book though, I noticed that the content was pretty high level. I would even use this book in my high school math classes because it talks about Euler's number, sine and vectors. The organization of this book is adequate. My favorite part is how at the bottom of each page there are three fun facts about the topic of that certain page. It usually includes a short history and two other fun facts. This book also has a very nice glossary and index in the back.I do not have many complaints about this book, sometimes I did question the pictures used. For example, on the cosine page, there is a picture of a graph that is not a cosine graph. It is similar to the cosine graph, but not a perfect one. Overall, this can be a very useful book.