510 Mathematics
Dehaene, Stanislas. The Number Sense: How the Mind Creates Mathematics. (Illus.) NY: Oxford University Press, 1997. xi+274pp. $25.00. 96-53840. ISBN 0-19-511004-8. Index; C.I.P.
C, T, GA ++
The subtitle of this work speaks clearly to its remarkable contents. Throughout the volume, the simple working hypothesis is the postulate that humans are endowed with mental representations of quantities very similar to representations found in all animals. In the book are a preface, an introduction, three major parts followed by an appendix, useful notes, references, and an index. Each part has three chapters. Part I, "Our Numerical Heritage," has "Talented and Gifted Animals," "Babies Who Count," and "The Adult Number Line"; Part II, "Beyond Approximation," is divided into "The Language of Numbers," "Small Heads for Big Calculations," and "Geniuses and Prodigies"; Part III, titled "Of Neurons and Numbers," contains "Losing Number Sense," "The Computing Brain," and "What Is a Number?" Each chapter begins with a thoughtful quotation that sets the stage for discussions of experiments and conclusions. For example, chapter 3 begins with a quotation by Voltaire: "I recommend you to question all your beliefs, except that two and two makes four." Throughout the text, the author has made excellent use of clear figures, drawings, line graphs, mathematical equations, and geometric proofs to help make his ideas and thoughts more easily studied. For readers interested in mathematics, he provides many provocative conclusions, which he supports with logical, scientific, and commonsense principles. One of the most interesting discussions is the relationship between numbers and neurons, or, in other words, how to get numbers and the brain together to produce useful results. If you love numbers, animals, and mathematics, you will find this clever book a joy and an inspiration to read and study. It belongs in everybody's library.—Robert H. Bell, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA
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