Zaslavsky, author of Africa Counts: Number and Pattern in African Culture (1979) and other books and articles on math teaching and phobia, believes that the stereotype of (white) male superiority in mathematics has been used sometimes unthinkingly and sometimes deliberately to disqualify women and minorities from good educational opportunities and jobs. Much of her book is based on excerpts from "math autobiographies" in which people describe their good and bad experiences as math students. These stories illustrate how the fear of math is imposed by the attitudes of teachers and society and how overcoming fear can open up new opportunities. Zaslavsky describes some nonthreatening methods of math instruction, and she also includes a list of resources for parents and students. Her work, however, is not so much a self-help book as a discussion about the social effects of math ability stereotypes and inadequate education. If readers see themselves as victims of math discrimination rather than as bad students, they may be encouraged to give math another try. For general collections.
Amy Brunvand, Fort Lewis Coll. Lib., Durango, Col.
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