G IS FOR GOOGOL

Readers who have so far successfully resisted the math curse will find themselves deftly ensorcelled by this alphabetic tally of mathematics concepts. Between “A Is For Abacus” and “Z Is For Zillion,” Schwartz (If You Made a Million, 1989, etc.) takes on binary calculations, units of measurement, exponents, observable phenomena from tessellation to Fibonacci numbers, puzzles, polygons, probability and, for W, “When are we ever gonna use this stuff, anyway?” (His answer: “At school, at home, at play, and at work. Any other questions?”) Each topic gets several paragraphs of breezy, accessible discussion, illustrated with labeled, freely drawn ink-and-watercolor figures and supplemented by a large glossary. Despite a few disputes’some say it is indeed possible to create a Klein bottle—and some too-brief definitions, this overview convinces readers that math is pervasive, inescapable, huge—and never just egghead territory. (Nonfiction. 9-12)