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Overview
The new edition retains the author's pungent analysis of what makes math "hard" for otherwise successful people and how women, more than men, become victims of a gendered view of math. It has been substantially updated to incorporate new research on what we know and don't know about "sex differences" in brain organization and function, and it has been enlarged to include problems, puzzles, and strategies tried out in hundreds of math anxiety workshops Tobias and her colleagues have sponsored.
What remains unchanged is the author's politics. She sees "math anxiety" as a political issue. So long as people themselves to be disabled in mathematics and do not rise up and confront the social and pedagogical origins of their disabilities, they will be denied "math mental health." Tobias defines this as "the willingness to learn the math you need when you need it." In an ever more technical society, having that willingness can make the difference between high and low self-esteem, failure and success.
Tobias' lucid explanations help take the sting out of math anxiety and make math more accessible. Updated chapters demonstrate how little we really know about sex differences in brain function and new programs, many for women only, are described in detail. Illustrations.
Synopsis
Sheila Tobias said it first: mathematics avoidance is not a failure of intellect, but a failure of nerve. When this book was first published in 1978, Tobias's political and psychological analysis brought hope and made "math anxiety" a household expression.
Booknews
The book that made math anxiety a household word when it was originally published in 1978 is here updated to reflect new findings of the last 15 years, including new research demonstrating how little is actually known about sex differences in brain organization and function. Tobias presents strategies for math mental health and explains her view that math anxiety is a political issue and that math competence doesn't have to be determined by gender or class. No index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)