The History of Counting

by Denise Schmandt-Besserat

Book Overview

Drawing on years of research, a renowned archaeologist traces the evolution of counting. She shows how the concept of numbers came about, how various societies answered the question How many?, and how our modern-day decimal system was developed. Engrossing and enlightening, this fascinating book introduces children to one of our most important inventions.

00-01 Utah Book Award (Informational Books)

Notable Children's Trade Books in the...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688141188
• ISBN13: 9780688141189
• Release Date: August 1999
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 48 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.8" x 11.3"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Multicultural Math

This is a great book for the begining of the year. Shows the relevance of numbers in society. Would recommend highly.

Wonderful and comprehensive elem intro to math history

One of the biggest challenges I have had is finding in print books that are as good as some of the stand-by OOP books recommended on the best math reading lists. For example, Lancelot Hogben's The Wonderful World of Mathematics is highly recommended, but oop and also somewhat out of date. I got this book today and am delighted, I'll be using it for my classes this fall. It is almost a picture book, but dense - enough that I had to re-read parts of it to understand myself. Very highly illustrated so you can *see* what they are talking about, 41 pages, and the history covered is world wide, not just devoted to the Egyptians and Greeks. It is truly a comprehensive and universal history of counting brought down to kid level comprehension. The print is good sized and spaced well to make it more readable. I'd say it is read alone level for 3rd through 6th. With my own 6 year old I can paraphrase the text and use the great visuals to get the ideas across. There is one page that has a wonderful visual of "body counting" and the wide-spread use of these techniques all over the world actually makes this a good living geography book as well. For a parent that is very visual, you might like it yourself :o). The artwork isn't juvenile, it's clean and simple, I was very impressed with the book.

For the mathematician in all of us...!

Well, maybe for SOME of us! The book presents a fascinating history of...counting. Simple, you say? You just start at 1 and keep going. This is true only since recent history. What led up to this "modern" math? Take a look!