Alpha Beta Zero to Zillion Word Codes for Numbers

Name: Alpha Beta Zero to Zillion Word Codes for Numbers
Author: Godwin Lekwuwa
ISBN: 978-1-5049-9509-2

by Godwin Lekwuwa ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 28, 2015

A number-remembering system that works, although mastering it may take some practice.

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Debut author Lekwuwa delivers a guidebook about a system for remembering numbers.

Welcome to the Alpha Beta Zero to Zillion word-code system, a method that the author says “can be used to convert any given number to word code equivalents.” His book provides consonant abbreviations that can be used to denote numbers zero through nine; for example, the number 5 can be represented by either “L” or “V.” The idea is to then create a word that will encompass the number (or numbers) that one wants to remember. Vowels have no values in the system, so consonants may be joined with any vowel that’s convenient. As the author explains, “The consonants act as bricks in which numbers are inscribed. The vowels act as mortar which bond the bricks together.” For instance, one could represent the number 456 with the word “Files” (four is “F,” “I” is neutral, five is “L,” “E” is neutral, six is “S”) or, as the author suggests, “False” or “Flies.” Lekwuwa devotes the bulk of the book to similar suggestions (for example, 6063 may be remembered as “Sarasota” and 8634 as “Justify”), and once readers learn the basics, they could feasibly memorize all sorts of other numbers using words. Although the book’s initial premise of associating, say, the number five with the letter “L” isn’t necessarily intuitive, one need only learn a few rules to open up a world of numbered possibilities. The method may perhaps be clumsy for smaller numbers; wouldn’t it be easier to simply remember “456” than the word “Files” and a decoding system? However, the beauty of such a process comes from encoding and decoding larger numbers. Also, the encoder has great leeway in making words of their own choosing, which allows for a degree of elegance. The author is keen to point out that although he provides many suggestions, “users are entitled to use alternative words which are more appealing to them.” Those who are willing to learn the system’s foundation will have more than their share of bricks and mortar at their disposal.

A number-remembering system that works, although mastering it may take some practice.

Pub Date: Dec. 28, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-9509-2

Page Count: 192

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2016

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

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EDUCATION

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BEHIND THE PLAYDOUGH CURTAIN

A YEAR IN MY LIFE AS A PRESCHOOL TEACHER

by Patti Greenberg Wollman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1994

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An endearing and lively account of what one teacher encountered in a year with a private nursery school ``class from hell'' on Manhattan's educationally progressive Upper West Side. A preschool teacher for 20 years, Wollman had decided to keep a detailed journal of a recent school year before she knew that her class of 13 three- and four-year-olds would have more than its share of problems. True, there was an unusual number of unruly and immature children (one youngster was still in diapers). But affecting the behavior of the class even more was a procession of tragic events, including deaths and illnesses in almost every child's family, putting extraordinary demands on Wollman and her assistant, Cathy. For, as Wollman says, ``preschool teachers do a lot more than play games and bandage scraped knees.'' They socialize and civilize, give the children a safe place to learn how to identify emotions and express them verbally, and work (carefully) with parents to detect and correct problems. The children come to life: Harris, who struggles to overcome the scars left by a babysitter who hit and screamed at him; Jeremy, who's blaming himself for the baby sibling who died at birth; Sharon, who had a difficult ear operation early in the school year; and the other ten enchanting, frustrating, bright youngsters (names are changed). Though Wollman is often exhausted, troubled, and challenged by her charges, nevertheless, year's end finds the class and its teachers a tightly knit, productive group and the parents rightly grateful to have found a nurturing haven for their children. Wollman writes, ``[We] felt victorious...We had enriched the lives of thirteen families who would never be the same.'' A year's adventures in the world of collage, cubbies, and time-out, told with wit and humanity. (Author tour)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994

ISBN: 0-684-19665-4

Page Count: 280

Publisher: Scribner

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1994

Categories:

EDUCATION

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CITY ON A HILL

TESTING THE AMERICAN DREAM AT CITY COLLEGE

by James Traub ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1994

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Eschewing hand-wringing and political rhetoric for close, critical observation, freelance journalist Traub (Too Good to Be True, 1990) delineates a unique—and uniquely representative- -institution: New York's City College. Traub spent a year observing classes at City College's Gothic Revival campus, which sits atop a hill in Harlem. Founded in 1849 as an egalitarian experiment, tuition-free City College came into its own when the great turn-of-the-century tide of Jewish migration provided it with cohorts of driven students. Their legendary successes—a record number of Nobelists and intellectuals such as Irving Howe—made it a beacon of educational possibility for the nation. A confluence of social and political upheavals, however, brought radical changes in the 1960s, key among them guaranteed admission for graduates of New York City high schools to the City University of New York, of which City College is a part. An exploration of the drastic results of this ``open admissions'' policy constitutes the main part of Traub's book. After limning the ideological conflicts that still continue among the faculty and in the press, he introduces us to its ramifications in City College's classrooms. We meet a range of teachers, from dedicated idealists, struggling to reach woefully under-prepared students while maintaining some semblance of academic standards, to the controversial Afrocentrist professor Leonard Jeffries, whose authoritarian anti-intellectualism Traub exposes as he captures the human, even tragic dimension of Jeffries's sway over uninformed followers. Empathetic portraits of City College students stand at the book's center. Many flounder in remedial courses; difficult family situations and looming financial disaster burden most; the dedication of contemporary immigrants provides some hope. But Traub's ultimate accomplishment is to reveal the consequences for one legendary college of the inadequacy of our urban high schools and vocational training, and our general devaluation of learning. The crisis continues—and as goes New York's City on a hill, so goes the nation. Exemplary reportage, essential for all those debating the future of American college education.