Gary L. Musser | Lynn E. Trimpe
1 not college level
This book is pitched at an extremely low level
quite beyond anything in the 'math for poets'
category - often dropping below even that of high
school. Indeed, the book compares unfavorably
with the canonical hs text by Jacobs. To give
just one example, it takes the authors 273 pages
to get to the idea of cross multiplication [a staple
in the repertoire of any decent middle school
student]. In particular, math majors as well
as anyone interested in the subject should
steer clear of this and consider instead books by
Pedoe, Court, Coxeter, etc. If you are looking
for a problem oriented approach to geometry, try
the relevant offering in the Schaum's series
[acknowledged masters of this approach].
In the meantime, let's not sacrifice any more trees
for products as weak as this.
2 An outstanding introduction to geometric thought
This is one of the few introductory level texts I have seen that gives some of the real flavor of mathematics, without being too challenging for beginning students. The initial section on problem solving is modelled on the famous book by Polya, "How to solve it," and has many simple but thought-stimulating problems. The following sections develop plane and solid geometry with many illustrated problems and interesting historical notes. The final chapters carefully introduce geometric proofs. There are also review sections on simple algebraic manipulations and basic logic, as well as a short section on the implications of alternate parallel postulates. Overall, the text has a well thought out development of basic skills and concepts, and enough interesting tidbits from more "advanced" topics to challenge the imagination of any student.
