- Paperback: 274 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd (London); New edition 1999(1998 & 1997) edition (4 Mar 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140261346
- ISBN-13: 978-0140261349
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,155,811 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Review
"Read The Number Sense for its rich insights into matters as varying as the cuneiform depiction of numbers, why Jean Piaget's theory of stages in infant learning is wrong, and to discover the brain regions involved in the number sense."--The New York Times Book Review
"From the origin of Roman numerals to the latest MRI results, everything you might like to know about numbers and the brain, as filtered through the lively and engaging brain of Stanislas Dehaene."--Discover
"A delight."--Ian Stewart, New Scientist
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
This text provides an overview of how numbers and calculation are processed in the human brain. The author sheds light on the unique abilities of idiot savants and mathematical geniuses, sex differences in arithmetics and the pros and cons of electronic calculator usage.
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First Sentence
Books on natural history have recounted the following anecdote since the eighteenth century: A nobleman wanted to shoot down a crow that had built its nest atop a tower on his domain. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Books on natural history have recounted the following anecdote since the eighteenth century: A nobleman wanted to shoot down a crow that had built its nest atop a tower on his domain. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A remarkable insight into the way the Mind creates Maths.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Number Sense:How The Mind Creates Mathematics. (Paperback)
Dehaene tell it like it is. His writing style is a pleasure to read. The book is full of excellent 'real' world examples and anecdotes. This book is a must for anybody interested in the development of mathematics and how as human beings we create maths.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.6 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews) 44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A delight!,
By Mark Rosa - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Number Sense, The: How the Mind Creates Mathematics (Hardcover)
I immediately gave this book a glance-through upon seeing the title. The resemblance to Steven Pinker's 'The Language Instinct' and his quote at the bottom hooked me, and the inside didn't disappoint. A lot of people have written books questioning why we don't understand math; here's someone who wonders why we do.Regarding the part about memorization - I assume that the numbers shown to the test subjects were our European numerals in all cases. I wonder what would happen if Chinese digits were used -- they all look distinct, in comparison to, say, our ambiguous 6 and 9, which can be confusing (ever see "1 2 3 4 5 SIX 7 8 NINE" on a gambling table to avoid this?). Can people recognize Chinese digits faster? (And Ronald, I too immediately formed a Japanese mnemonic upon seeing the string of digits in that chapter. Unconsciously, in fact. The five/nine ambiguity disappeared!) One quibble is that Dehaene seems to fall into the trap that many people - mathematicians included - blindly accept as fact; the idea that the European numerals that we use every day are superior to anything else. 'It's hard to see how they could be improved upon', he says, (or something to that effect - I'm doing this from memory). Arabic numerals (by which I mean those used by Arabic-speaking people, not the European variations that 'we' use) have the advantage of all being written without lifting your pen, and Chinese digits, for which trying to distinguish between, say, "160" and "180" in very small print is no problem. When you think about it, any place-value system with a zero is equally effective regardless of the forms of the numerals. All in all a fascinating and informative look at a subject that's been largely neglected; at least in the popular press. Well worth reading. Does Dehaene have another book in the works? (Recommendations from me? 'The Great Mental Calculators' by Steven Smith, which is tough to find, 'Innumeracy' by John Allen Paulos, and most of all 'From One to Zero/The Universal History of Numbers' by Georges Ifrah. All fantastic.) 25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent book,
By Ron - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Number Sense, The: How the Mind Creates Mathematics (Hardcover)
I have not yet finished Stanislas Dahaene's excellent book "The Number Sense". But I would like to add an observation on chapter 4. The author discusses many studies which show that persons whose native language uses number names stemming from Chinese, such as Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, can remember much longer strings of numbers, on average, than speakers of such western languages as English or French. He attributes this to the shorter length of the spoken names of the numbers in the eastern languages. However, another important factor in Japanese, at least, must be the ease with which meaningful mnemonics can be made. Japanese effectively has three different ways to name each digit. One stems from Chinese (ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shichi, hachi, kyuu, juu), another is the native Japanese counting system predating Chinese influence (hitotsu, futatsu, mitsu,yotsu,itsutsu,mutsu,nanatsu,yatsu,kokonotus,too) and the third is from English (wan, tsuu, suree, foah, etc.). The digit zero can be named as "oh" from the English letter "O", or "ma" from "maru" meaning circle, etc. It is almost always possible to make an easily remembered mnemonic. This way commercial telephone numbers are made easier to remember in advertisements. (Japanese telephones have only digits on the buttons, no added letters.) Telephone numbers for pet shops and veterinarians often have pairs of ones, "11". Because "wan wan" is the Japanese equivelant of "arf arf". The dentist downstairs in my building uses the number "1818" because "ii ha, ii ha" means "good tooth good tooth". Mr. Dehaene does not make it clear whether studies have been done attempting to measure number memory span, isolated from the effect of mnemonics. If this could be done I would be very interested in learning of the results. As of the end of seven of nine chapters, I say this is a very well written, and extremely interesting book. I highly recommend it.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended, especially for math educators.,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Number Sense, The: How the Mind Creates Mathematics (Hardcover)
I am very grateful to the friend who directed me to an article in last July's issue of "Discover" that describes Stanislas Dehaene's new book "The Number Sense: How the Mind Creates Mathematics." The article highlights the examples Dehaene gives of people who have brain injuries that destroy their ability to do parts of arithmetic, while leaving other skills intact. Dehaene combines these examples with evidence from reaction time experiments and from new brain imaging techniques to make a compelling case that we share with other animals an analog method for dealing with quantitative information. He uses the metaphors of a mental number line and an analog accumulator, and notes that these may be more than just metaphors. Anyone interested in the teaching and learning of arithmetic must read this book. And it is so well written -- in English by a Frenchman! -- and contains so much new informnation that it can be recommended to everyone. Dehaene goes beyond the biological heritage we share with other animals to consider how the language processing parts of our brain contribute to our ability to do arithmetic. He also gives a clear and complete description of why hindu-arabic numerals are now universal, noting that place value systems arose independently in four different civilizations. In all, he makes a compelling case that those of us interested in the teaching of arithmetic have to pay attention both to evolution and to the intelligent design of numeral systems. Dehaene gives examples of how our non-linguisitic, linguistic, and cultural heritages interact in our doing arithmetic, and of what can go wrong when they are out of sync. He notes that speakers of English fall considerably behind speakers of languages that use the Chinese way of saying numbers, first in learning to count beyond twelve and later in skills such as "borrowing" and carrying." In Japanese, "thirteen" is "ten three" and "twenty-one" is "two ten(s) one," etc. My current interest is in introducing young children to the numbers between the whole numbers that are needed for measuring things. Dehaene's book encourages me to continue searching for ways to delay fraction talk and fraction ways of saying decimals. But that is another story. I am sure that others interested in education will find ideas in this book that will help them in their work. And that everyone can enjoy the exciting story that Dehaene tells. |
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