Why more than one book?

I like to have several projects on the go at all times. Sometimes I need to take time out from one project to allow my subconscious to mess around with it. Sometimes I’m too depressed to work on complicated stuff. Sometimes I just fancy a change.

Fancy being part of it?

Some of the stuff listed here may never be published, but I’d be delighted to provide interested people with work in progress for comment - if you’re interested let me know:

non-fiction brewing

It feels like we're not doing any work but then you
look back and realise just how much you've covered

Subversive Ramblings 2

The first draft is about a third written, though much more of it is ready there in my head. The idea is to capture the best of my best Maths lessons from the past thirty years, make Maths fun, mix in psychology and science and anything else that feels good, and look at bits of Maths that really help but which teachers often leave out.

Sub Ram 1 focused on numbers, Sub Ram 2 on algebra. So it has to be a little heavier in places, but that shouldn’t matter since you can skip what you like and read in any order. The starting point is a politically incorrect look at e = mc² and Big Al. Currently the psychology sections look at how you might be able to motivate yourself better.

Miriam hasn’t started on the cartoons for this yet, but I’m looking forward to seeing what she produces.

The layout is similar, with 20,000 words in Part A which makes sense read in order but needn’t be, and loads of asides in boxes. Longer asides and reference stuff is in a series of Extra Bits forming the final 10,000 words. There’s more off the wall stuff; for instance one of the Extra Bits is called: Build your own atomic bomb.

Other stuff

Ideas are bubbling for a range of other Maths-related books which might or might not fit the Sub Ram pattern. If it isn’t a fresh approach to topics then I’d rather not write it. These ideas will mutate, but here are current working headings:

probability and statistics - what they haven’t time to teach you at school

real geometry

vectors, tensors and complex numbers

relativity and quantum theories

study skills for humans

problem-solving in Maths, the Universe and Life

The penultimate taboo subject

Adam Warner and I are getting together to produce a book about disability. It’s a subject which is too often talked about from a distance, and discussed far too superficially. Do we really have any idea what different types of disabled people have been through to get where they are. Many have fought hard but are still treated as not really human. All too often we grossly underestimate what someone with a visible disability is able to do instead of encouraging him or her to stretch to their limits.

The book will include frank descriptions of some of the worst experiences Adam’s cerebral palsy has put him through. It will encourage other disabled people to get on with as normal a life as possible. It will offer wisdom and insight to everyone, disabled or not. Whatever “not” means. Because actually we’re all disabled in some way, and for most practical purposes we should all think of ourselves as able.

Now there’s a contradiction.

Apparently.

c² and Big Al.