The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure

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The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure

by Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Rotraut Susanne Berner (Illustrator), Michael Henry Heim (Translator)

3.86 of 5 stars 3.86 · rating details · 1,622 ratings · 257 reviews

The international best-seller that makes mathematics a thrilling exploration.

In twelve dreams, Robert, a boy who hates math, meets a Number Devil, who leads him to discover the amazing world of numbers: infinite numbers, prime numbers, Fibonacci numbers, numbers that magically appear in triangles, and numbers that expand without . As we dream with him, we are taken further...more

Paperback, 264 pages

Published May 1st 2000 by Holt Paperbacks (first published January 1st 1997)

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Lists with This Book

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Community Reviews

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Aug 18, 2012 Kelly Maybedog Hawkins rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: what-ya-and-children

Random math thinly disguised as a novel. I get what it's trying to do but it feels more like the kind of characters that kids' textbooks have to make the info more "fun." there isn't a plot here. But if it gets kid's reading about math then go go go. Plus, the illustrations are really cute.

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Apr 06, 2013 Anne Hamilton rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: children, golden-ratio

...But as he stood in front of his mirror in his pajamas, brushing his teeth, he felt something tickling his chest and looked down to see a tiny five-pointed star on a thin golden chain. He couldn't believe his eyes. This time his dream had come true! ...After he'd dressed, he took the chain off and stuck it in his pocket: he didn't want his mother asking silly questions. ...Where'd that star come from? she'd want to know the minute she saw it. Boys don't wear jewelry! ...How could he tell her

...more

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Oct 07, 2012 Elaine rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: year-2012, children

I love the idea of a novel that relies on and promotes interest in math, but the execution here just fell way short for me. The story itself - that a boy who hates math learns to like it through a series of dreams in which he interacts with a Number Devil - is a little thin and repetitive. But what I found bothered me the most were the explanations of the math concepts. I've seen some great nonfiction books that make math concepts interesting AND explain them in multiple ways for students who ca...more

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Sep 23, 2012 Jairo Guzman rated it 2 of 5 stars

Enzensberger tells a story of Robert, a young boy with mediocre math skills, and his journey through the world of mathematics under the tutoring of the number devil, a black-bearded, irascible, red man. In Enzensberger's The number devil, the boy Robert is able to contact this devil through 12 dreams and learns that math isn’t that bad at all. The whole purpose of this book is to reveal to young people that mathematics is something worth exploring and not just a sadistic intellectual exercise ma...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Daniel Plastrik rated it 4 of 5 stars

In The Number Devil, Hans Magnus Enzensberger tells the story of a boy named Robert who every night goes to sleep and dreams of an old man, called The Number Devil. This Devil teaches Robert about math problems through interesting examples and experiments that help Robert understand complex math ideas and get him hooked on learning more about mathematics. By using this playful story of dreams and devils, the author makes math come alive and seem fun.
Each lesson discussed in the twelve chapters...more In The Number Devil, Hans Magnus Enzensberger tells the story of a boy named Robert who every night goes to sleep and dreams of an old man, called The Number Devil. This Devil teaches Robert about math problems through interesting examples and experiments that help Robert understand complex math ideas and get him hooked on learning more about mathematics. By using this playful story of dreams and devils, the author makes math come alive and seem fun.
Each lesson discussed in the twelve chapters builds on the previous lessons, and the author also includes information about historical mathematicians who made important discoveries in the field of mathematics. Some of the main ideas talked about in this book include the concept of the number one, the discovery of zero, the challenge of prime numbers and irrational numbers, and the importance of square and root functions. Some of the lessons were very difficult for me to understand, but I still learned some neat things; for instance, that rabbits multiply following the Bonacci numbers, which is a unique pattern of numbers. The way tree branches form also follows the Bonacci numbers. I found this to be cool, because it shows that mathematical ideas exist not only in people’s minds, but in the real world. I also like reading about the connections between triangles within pyramids, which the Number Devil uses to show Robert the many ways you can build a number pyramid and see different patterns.
While I can see that the author was trying to make mathematics more interesting to readers, I still felt confused and sometimes bored with these lessons. I wondered why it is so important for people to think about these concepts. However, I have learned from my studies with Mr. Perry in Art/Media that mathematical ideas can be surprisingly useful in other subjects, and understanding how to use lines, space, and patterns has been really fun in creating art projects. I would like to learn more about how mathematics can be practically applied to my interests in drawing and cartooning.
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Sep 14, 2012 Passang rated it 3 of 5 stars

This summer I decided to read the book The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. The story is about a boy named Robert who hates math because he finds it very boring at school. He keeps dreaming about being eaten by a giant fish or sliding down a never ending slide until one night he suddenly finds himself dreaming about meeting the Number Devil (Teplotaxl). During the twelve nights Robert finds himself learning different mathematical principles every night.
In the...more This summer I decided to read the book The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. The story is about a boy named Robert who hates math because he finds it very boring at school. He keeps dreaming about being eaten by a giant fish or sliding down a never ending slide until one night he suddenly finds himself dreaming about meeting the Number Devil (Teplotaxl). During the twelve nights Robert finds himself learning different mathematical principles every night.
In the first four nights, Robert learns about the importance of one and zero, exponents, negative numbers, prime numbers, and square roots. After the fourth night, Robert was not able to find the Number Devil until he dreamt of himself on a beach where the Number Devil taught him about triangular numbers. After the sixth dream, Robert’s mother begins to notice the change in his mathematical interest. On the seventh and eighth night Robert learns about Pascal’s triangle and Permutations and Combinations. On the ninth night Robert dreamt he was sick with the flu. The Number Devil appeared beside him and taught him about natural numbers and the characteristics of infinite. On the tenth and eleventh night he learns about irrational numbers and mathematical proofs. Robert shows great interest in math on the eleventh night. On the twelfth night Robert and the Number Devil were invited to Number Heaven which concluded that his time with the Number Devil was ending. In Number Heaven Robert learns about Pi and he meets famous mathematicians like George Canto and Fibonacci, whom the Number Devil calls them Bonacci and Professor Singer. The story ends with Robert in class answering a question provided by his math teacher Mr. Bockel and thanking the Number Devil for helping him.
A question that popped up for me was how did Robert all of a sudden dream of the Number Devil? If he kept on dreaming the same dreams over and over again how did he suddenly dream about something completely different from sliding down a never ending slide and being eaten by a giant fish? It was a very random way to start a story, but overall it was pretty interesting thing to read about.
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Sep 06, 2012 David Molnar rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: juv-math

I know this book is immensely popular, but it is a very effective way to get off on the wrong foot with me to state, on some single-digit-numbered page, "most genuine mathematicians are bad at sums". I honestly hope this is a translation gaffe, but seriously? most? bad ? I wouldn't even bother arguing with a statement such as "there is no correlation" between success as a mathematician and the ability to "do sums" -- this wouldn't be true either, but it would bear some similarity to "you don't n...more I know this book is immensely popular, but it is a very effective way to get off on the wrong foot with me to state, on some single-digit-numbered page, "most genuine mathematicians are bad at sums". I honestly hope this is a translation gaffe, but seriously? most? bad ? I wouldn't even bother arguing with a statement such as "there is no correlation" between success as a mathematician and the ability to "do sums" -- this wouldn't be true either, but it would bear some similarity to "you don't need to be able to `do sums' well in order to succeed as a mathematician," so I would keep my mouth shut. But if you are going to claim that there is actually a strong ("most") negative correlation, well, I Can't Get Behind That.

The Number Devil visits young Robert in his dreams and teaches him a lot of cool stuff, including infinity, positional notation, prime numbers, unreasonable numbers, rutabagas, figurate numbers, Fibonacci numbers, Pascal's triangle, permutations and combinations, cardinality, infinite series, the golden ratio, Euler's formula, Proof, and the Traveling Salesman Problem. That's quite a menu, and some of the topics towards the end are kindof intense, eg the divergence of the harmonic series. The scope is admirable. Unfortunately the episodic format just fell flat for me - towards the end I was just skimming chapters; I just wasn't engaged in the same way as other books aimed at this audience. The structure was just too easy.

And then there were more weird statements that I found myself snagged on - "nature acts as if it knew how numbers work"... well, yeah, I know some pineapples who could agree with that, but are Fibonacci's rabbits really the best way to make that point? They aren't real! They're a model, not nature. Pineapples are nature. "[Pascal's triangle is] good for lazybones who don't want to bother with large sums." Yes. Lazybones? OK, whatever, but sure, Pascal's triangle is a very convenient tool for finding large sums - there's that word again - of sequences of numbers that just happen to fall along a particular diagonal of the triangle.

The author exerts a lot of energy making up alternative terminology for everything - roots become rutabagas, irrational numbers are "unreasonable", but on the whole I found this more annoying than cute. What is the point of replacing `Fibonacci' with `Bonacci'? I can see why one might want to read 4! as "four vroom!" rather than "four factorial", but whatever cuteness there is in that is severely diluted. The "prima-donna numbers"? Seriously?

(from my not-really-a-blog at https://sites.google.com/site/molnarm...)(less)

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Aug 30, 2012 Ileen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, scrittori-tedeschi

Grazie mille Enzensberger!
Sapevo che la matematica può essere divertente (anche se i professori evitano accuratamente di farti conoscere questo lato) ma che fosse così spassosa, quello no, non l'avrei immaginato. Dodici notti, dodici sogni per insegnare a Roberto come funzionano le cose e che alla fine non è il caso di avere paura. Robero è fantastico! Il modo di rispondere, di fare, non sembra un bambino di 10 anni, come tralatro si evince anche dalla copertina (anche perchè esprimo qualche pe...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Gabriel rated it 3 of 5 stars

A cute book that holds many of the same principals as Magic House of Numbers, but is written with a middle school/very late elementary school audience in mind.

Some great (and advanced) mathematical ideas are presented in here. These include some ideas as young as Russel's Paradox or Countable Infinities. Others are much older (Pascal's Triangle and Diagonal length of squares). All of this told in a quiet, simple manner akin to Daniel Quinn's Ishmael - though a little more entertaining than that...more

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Jan 01, 2012 Tung rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: children

Imagine that a math teacher wanted to write a children's book to show kids how cool math really was; but since it's a math teacher and not an English teacher doing the writing, all you end up with are math concepts written out in analogies similar to what you'd hear in a math classroom -- that's what this book is like. The story is about a boy named Robert who hates his math class and math teacher and by extension math in general. He falls asleep and over a series of twelve different dreams over...more

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Aug 31, 2011 Cheryl in CC NV rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of those fun all-ages books like Phantom Tollbooth. So far though, no social commentary etc. that make PT, Flatland, and Alice in Wonderland so amazing.

Ok done. Moved a little fast for me - so even though it's written at a level for 10-13 year-old children (I think) I had to struggle a bit. If I were a child, I'd have taken the time to work through all the problems and create more related examples, etc. In fact, when I was a child, I loved books like this and would have totally loved this 5...more

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Jul 23, 2011 Nora Apriyani rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Buku ini sama sekali bukan buku baru. Tapi buku ini baru aja dikembalikan teman saya setelah sekian lama dipinjam dan dipendam di rumahnya, hehehe... Sempat kaget juga, ternyata buku yang selama ini saya cari-cari ada di tempat dia. Hihihi.. Salah siapa ya?? Salah saya atau salah dia? Hmmm. Entahlah... :D

Tapi pas dia balikin buku ini, saya pun tersadar, bahwa ini adalah sebuah buku yang bagus banget untuk direview. Agar kalian yang belum pernah membaca buku ini, bisa tau bahwa ada sebuah buku be...more Buku ini sama sekali bukan buku baru. Tapi buku ini baru aja dikembalikan teman saya setelah sekian lama dipinjam dan dipendam di rumahnya, hehehe... Sempat kaget juga, ternyata buku yang selama ini saya cari-cari ada di tempat dia. Hihihi.. Salah siapa ya?? Salah saya atau salah dia? Hmmm. Entahlah... :D

Tapi pas dia balikin buku ini, saya pun tersadar, bahwa ini adalah sebuah buku yang bagus banget untuk direview. Agar kalian yang belum pernah membaca buku ini, bisa tau bahwa ada sebuah buku berjudul ’Setan Angka’ Karya Hans Magnus Enzensberger.

Hmm... Entah apa yang ada di pikiran kalian ketika mendengar judul buku tersebut.

Kalau saya sih, waktu pertama kali memegang buku ini dan membaca judulnya ”Setan Angka – sebuah petualangan matematika’, maka yang pertama ada di pikiran saya adalah, buku ini pasti buku yang menarik. Karena jujur saja saya sudah mencintai matematika sejak saya kecil, bahkan mungkin sejak sebelum saya masuk Taman Kanak-Kanak. Senang aja nulis angka dari 1 s.d 10. Hehehe...
Lalu ketertarikan saya terhadap buku ini semakin bertambah-tambah setelah saya baca sedikit review di bagian belakang covernya.
”Inilah buku untuk semua kalangan pembaca–yang ketakutan terhadap matematika maupun yang terpesona olehnya–karya salah seorang penulis andal yang mengerahkan seluruh pesona dan kemungkinannya guna memperlihatkan apa yang bisa dilakukan malaikat kecil angka.”
Hmmm.. Menarik bukan??

Dan untuk membuatnya lebih menarik, Enzensberger mengemas tulisannya menyerupai dongeng Alice in Wonderland. Tetapi yang dikisahkan di sini adalah Robert–bocah dua belas tahun–yang membenci guru matematikanya, yang membuatnya kesal dengan soal cerita matematika dan tidak mengizinkannya menggunakan kalkulator. Lalu di dalam mimpinya ia bertemu Setan Angka yang kemudian membawanya berkelana di dunia yang hampir menyerupai Wonderland nya Alice. Terkadang Robert menjadi bocah seukuran jari, dan tak jarang pula ia menjadi berukuran raksasa.
Sambil berpetulang inilah, Setan Angka menunjukkan padanya apa sesungguhnya matematika itu; nol dan satu, rangkaian tak terhingga dan bilangan irasional, bilangan prima dan probabilitas.
Maka secara tidak langsung kita akan menemukan rahasia-rahasia mencengangkan tentang matematika tanpa perlu mengutak-atik satu pun soal matematika.

Dari semua malam-malam yang dilalui Robert bersama Setan Angka di dalam mimpinya, saya sangat menyukai mimpinya di malam keenam (walaupun jujur, saya suka semua mimpi-mimpinya, karena masing-masingnya punya cerita yang berbeda-beda tentang matematika).
Mimpi di malam keenam itu bercerita tentang angka Bonacci. Tau kah kalian apa itu angka Bonacci? Kalau kalian belum tau, maka kalian harus membaca buku ini, hehehe... Dan ternyata, alam berperilaku seakan-akan memahami cara kerja angka Bonacci lho...

Buku dengan tebal 272 halaman ini adalah buku terlaris di Italia dan Spanyol, dan terjual lebih dari 130.000 eksemplar di Jerman. Fakta ini cukup menjadikannya sebagai jaminan, bahwa buku ini layak baca bahkan layak dikoleksi. Bagaimana? Tertarik? Kalau saya sih sekarang malah tertarik untuk membacanya untuk kali kesekian. Hahaha...(less)

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Feb 23, 2010 Mark Gromko rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s, science

This book was recommended in an intriguing column in the NY Times. There is enough in this book to pique one's interest, but not to satisfy. The book's main character, Robert, is visited by The Number Devil nightly in his dreams. The Number Devil shows Robert fascinating features of various mathematical subjects, including prime numbers, fractions and decimals, irrational numbers, combinations, series, topology, and more.

However, the book is weak on two counts. As the author relates in the last...more

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Jan 03, 2010 Beth rated it 5 of 5 stars

What do you get when you cross Alice in Wonderland with a small, red, horned man obsessed with numbers? No, it isn't an arithmetic problem - it's a middle school math primer!
Robert, a boy who hates math and is frustrated because his teacher doesn't allow calculators, has strange dreams all the time. One night he dreams up a character called the Number Devil, who takes him away to a surreal world of numbers where Robert learns basic math concepts and a few handy shortcuts. After all, says the Num...more What do you get when you cross Alice in Wonderland with a small, red, horned man obsessed with numbers? No, it isn't an arithmetic problem - it's a middle school math primer!
Robert, a boy who hates math and is frustrated because his teacher doesn't allow calculators, has strange dreams all the time. One night he dreams up a character called the Number Devil, who takes him away to a surreal world of numbers where Robert learns basic math concepts and a few handy shortcuts. After all, says the Number Devil, "you learn best when you sleep."
Over the course of 12 different evenings, Robert learns factorials, how to find a square root, and more. Concepts such as the importance of the number zero and the idea of infinity are stressed over and over. Robert discovers triangle number, Bonacci numbers, imaginary numbers, and irrational numbers. Did you know that you can take any even number larger than two and find 2 prime number that add up to it? Robert is even able to apply what he's learned in an actual math class.
The Number Devil makes up fun - and punny - terms for things. Roots become "rutabagas" (a root vegetable) and prime numbers are "prima donnas." Squaring becomes "number hopping," and factorials (!) are renamed "vrooms." A warning at the end reminds kids to use the proper terms in class. The index doubles as a brief glossary, defining terms in a few words.

It is truly remarkable how clearly the theories are presented. Enzensberger translates math to German, and Berner translates the German to English. The concepts are well explained and provide jumping off points for many discussions, from pyramids to mosaics to biographies of mathematicians. Whimsical illustrations and colorful charts and diagrams add to the text. Practical applications relate to nature in many cases. Bonacci numbers are illustrated with rapidly multiplying bunny rabbits. Similar examples would have been great! Related activities include playing with number triangles and making 3-D geometric shapes. There are no pages of practice problems or exercises, although one or two chapters end with a question for a student to solve by extrapolating new information.

Middle school teachers can spice up their lectures with a chapter from this book. Homeschoolers can it as a unique supplemental text. While some might object to the negative imagery surrounding math (Robert is in number hell, and learns from a devil), the book may reach some kids relate to the main character. This math-phobic librarian (the only numbers I'm good at are Dewey Decimal ones). Can't wait for the sequel!(less)

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Dec 04, 2009 yo mama*84* added it

This book is by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. This was a book about a young boy who was having bad dreams at night and didnt know why. One night during one of his dreams he met someone called the number devil. At first he didnt like the number devil but he thought it was better than having bad dreams at night. These dreams continued on for a while and he was learning new things. His mom of course thought he was crazy when she heard of the things he was dreaming about. The young boy really hated the...more

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Nov 15, 2009 Phillip rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: advisory-10th

This book was really weird to pick up but it looked interesting as i flipped through the long pages of this book. It had small pictures and diagram which really surprised me. This book wasn't as great as it looked though.
This book was really good in some way because it had a story line to the math problems that was being given to the main character, Robert. He had trouble in math then everyday in math he would get weird dreams that would somehow teach him a lesson about the things he would not u...more

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Feb 11, 2011 natercopia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Numbers. Not good with them. But for someone like me to read this book, The Number Devil surprised me and I had fun reading it. Some of the maths terms in this book had been changed to cater to the children, which makes it easier for me to read. They also changed some mathematicians names to imaginary names. I can identify with the main character, Robert who hates Maths - especially his Maths teacher. His frustration with maths problem sums and he struggle everytime his Maths teacher call on him...more

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Feb 27, 2010 Steven rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: advisory-2009-2010

I really enjoyed The Number Devil. I thought that it was a worthwhile book and if you are having trouble in math, it can really help you. I thought that the book was very good in its way of delivering the information. Robert, the main character, is always asleep when he is with the Number Devil and in his dream world, math is completely different from ours. One thing i didn't really like about the book is how they do not always use real math terms. They use words like coconuts and rutabagas and...more

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Sep 25, 2012 Muhammad rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: my-library

Ini bukan dongeng, bukan pula memoar. Tapi kejadian-kejadian yang ada dalam buku ini bisa saja Anda alami di kehidupan Anda.

Perkenalkan Robert, seorang anak berumur 12 tahun yang sangat membenci matematika dan terutama guru matematikanya. Baginya angka-angka dan segala macam hitung-hitungan adalah hal yang menjemukan. Tapi, pandangannya tersebut perlahan-lahan berubah sejak bertemu Setan Angka dalam mimpinya. Dari malam ke malam Setan Angka mengajaknya bertualang menjelajahi dunia matematika. Se

...more

Ini bukan dongeng, bukan pula memoar. Tapi kejadian-kejadian yang ada dalam buku ini bisa saja Anda alami di kehidupan Anda.

Perkenalkan Robert, seorang anak berumur 12 tahun yang sangat membenci matematika dan terutama guru matematikanya. Baginya angka-angka dan segala macam hitung-hitungan adalah hal yang menjemukan. Tapi, pandangannya tersebut perlahan-lahan berubah sejak bertemu Setan Angka dalam mimpinya. Dari malam ke malam Setan Angka mengajaknya bertualang menjelajahi dunia matematika. Segala macam keunikan dan keajaiban matematika pun ditemui Robert. Dan di akhir perjumpaannya dengan Setan Angka, Robert pun menyadari bahwa sebenarnya matematika itu asyik!

Setelah menyelesaikan buku ini saya simpulkan hanya ada dua keistimewaan buku ini, yaitu kovernya yang keren dan berbagai keunikan dan kejaiban matematis yang mungkin tidak kita perhatikan atau ketahui. Contohnya bagaimana semua angka yang kita kenal selama ini (kecuali angka nol) pada dasarnya berasal dari angka 1, keistimewaan-keistimewaan angka nol, beberapa fakta yang mungkin tidak kita ketahui tentang The Golden Ratio-nya bilangan Fibonacci, dan masih banyak lagi keunikan dan keajaiban matematika yang dapat kita temukan di buku ini. Oh, ya. Untuk soal kover buku ini harus saya akui memang keren! Simpel dan benar-benar tepat sasaran sesuai judul bukunya. Kover ini juga lah salah satu faktor yang membuat saya memutuskan membeli buku ini.

Selain dua hal di atas tidak ada yang istimewa lagi dari buku ini. Semuanya biasa-biasa saja, bahkan menurut saya sedikit kekanak-kanakan. Tapi ya wajar juga sih. Soalnya oleh penerbitnya buku ini dikategorikan ke dalam fiksi anak. Dan anehnya meski dikategorikan ke dalam fiksi anak, justru menurut saya buku ini tidak begitu cocok dibaca oleh anak-anak. Kenapa? Pertama, Setan Angka dalam buku ini digambarkan sebagai tokoh yang keras dan galak. Kedua, Setan Angka juga ini sering mengumpat-umpat jika Robert agak lamban berpikir atau tidak bisa mengerjakan beberapa soal. Umpatannya pun cukup keras, seperti "Dasar otak udang!". Bahkan Robert pun pernah disebutnya "kroco". Entah ini penerjemahannya yang tidak beres atau dari bahasa asli penulisnya memang seperti itu, menurut saya buku ini tidak cocok dibaca anak-anak. Menurut saya lebih pantas jika dibaca oleh orang tua untuk kemudian diajarkan kepada anak-anak. Padahal buku ini juga dilengkapi ilustrasi-ilustrasi yang menarik untuk anak-anak. Sayang sekali jika buku ini tidak bisa dibaca oleh anak-anak karena bahasa yang terlalu vulgar tadi.

Well, seperti yang saya sebut tadi buku ini memang sedikit kekanak-kanakan. Seperti membaca buku dongeng untuk anak-anak saja. Tapi, cukup banyak ilmu dan wawasan baru tentang matematika yang saya peroleh dari buku ini. Apalagi kover buku ini menurut saya sangat bagus untuk dikoleksi. Yah, tiga bintang masih layak lah untuk buku ini.(less)

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Apr 04, 2013 Aria Yudhistira rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: childrens

Membuat belajar matematika menjadi hal yang menyenangkan. Bahkan dalam beberapa kesempatan saya lupa sedang "diperkenalkan" dengan matematika.

Penuh dengan imajinasi dan ilmu pengetahuan. Tidak hanya diajarkan pengetahuan mengenai angka-angka, di novel ini saya juga diajarkan kekuatan mimpi. Bagaimana kejadian-kejadian yang dialami didalam mimpi, benar-benar bisa dilakukan di kehidupan nyata sehari-hari dan menghasilkan sebuah perubahan yang signifikan bagi diri sendiri.

Untuk benar-benar menikmat...more

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Dec 06, 2009 Kathy rated it 3 of 5 stars

First, let me say I've always hated math. So liking this book was an unexpected surprise. I picked it up at a yard sale for a quarter because I liked the illustrations. I didn't know I would learn so much. Periodically, I'd just stop and say...whoa, that's really cool.

Robert, a boy who hates math, meets a number devil in his dreams at night, and has practical experiences about how numbers work in a magical way.

This book is fiction, but it teaches basic math concepts and in a logical and fun ma...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Catherine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

Very interesting book, apparently it was originally written in German and translated into English. The translation was pretty good with a few exceptions. I got confused when they started referring to roots as rutabegas, but there's a "warning" in the back that explains that these references are on purpose. Why they tried to "candy" up the names of things like prime numbers, exponentials and roots is beyond me, I think it make things more complicated. Paid homage to some mathematicians I already...more

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May 29, 2012 Joel Simon rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: My children, and parents who are looking for a way to get their kids more interested in math

Recommended to Joel by: Steve Drew

Shelves: children, fiction

The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure is an excellent story that makes some complicated math topics understandable and fun. The main characters are a little boy named Robert, who doesn't like math or his math teacher, and the number devil, who visits Robert at night in dreams. The number devil, through clever stories and visuals shows Robert how math can be used in a variety of situations, and how numbers can be magical. The book covers concepts such as infinity, exponents, fractions, squar...more

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Mar 07, 2009 82_little_red rated it 1 of 5 stars

A boy named Robert has always had weird dreams. Sliding down a long slide to being eaten by a large fish. His dreams never made any sense until one night he meets the Number Devil. The Number Devil would teaches Robert math from the easiest math to math you would really need a calculator. For every night Robert would see the Number Devil they would be in a different location. Soon Robert learns and catches up with the Number Devil.

The Number Devil by Hans Magnus Enzensberger is the most boring...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: keeper, bought-new

Continuing the 'devil's apprentice' theme here in an altogether more frivolous vein. I'm absolutely torn between really looking forward to sharing this with at least one of my children when they're older, and fervently hoping that neither of them will turn into enough of a maths nerd to enjoy it (like me).

I'm still freaked out by the concept of infinity though, stemming from the Ladybird Book of Children's Hymns, whose cover bore a picture of two children singing out of the Ladybird Book of Chil...more

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Dec 03, 2009 Trapstar83 added it

The number devil is a good and funny book, almost better than Wayside Stories. This is about a boy named Robert; he hates math. But one day he has a dream about a small red pipsqueak named Teplotaxl aka "the number devil." The number devil visits Robert twelve days. The number devil tought Robert to conquer prime numbers, fractions, square numbers, triangle numbers, and more. At the end Robert becomes a math wiz and gets to visit Number Hell/Heavan.
I liked this book because it teaches; it teac...more

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Aug 08, 2010 Jeff rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mathematics, childrens-and-young-adult-books

Enzensberger has written a delightful romp through the world of numbers exploring everything from infinite series to the amazing properties of Pascal's triangle. At points hilarious and enlightening, this is a great companion to anyone's exploration of mathematics. Similar to The Man Who Counted, The Number Devil A Mathematical Adventure wraps mathematics into an interesting narrative. This one is much more of a page turner, and really is about showing off some of the wonders of mathematics rath...more

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Mar 15, 2009 82i.love.beirut rated it 1 of 5 stars

The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure was written by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. The story takes place in Robert's dreams. Every night he has dreams like sliding down in the forest or eaten by a giant fish. One night, the Number Devil appeared. The Number Devil interfers with Robert's dreams for twelve nights. The number Devil explains the fundemental principals of mathematics to Robert. Robert gradually looks forward into seeing the Number Devil, and understands more about math than Mr.Bock...more

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May 31, 2011 Lisa rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book has the same artist as one of our favorite children's books: In the Town, All Year Round.

I'm not sure what to say about this one. Who would I recommend it to?

Not math people - The terminology will drive this reader crazy! The author took math terms and called them something else. For example, instead of "the square root of 9 equals 3," it was "the rutabaga of 9 equals 3." OOOOOOOOKKKKKKKKKKK!

Not non-math people - 1. With the strange verbiage, you won't be able to talk to other people,...more

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Nov 30, 2009 freaking crazy ninja man83 rated it 1 of 5 stars

The "number devil" was written by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. The book is about a boy named Robert who is not at all fond of math or anything related.Robert also has unusual nightmares during his sleep.one night during his sleep Robert is going through a nightmare when all of a sudden an unusual character,the number devil,shows up.For thirteen nights the number devil shows up in Robert's dreams and teaches him mathematical problems and equations.
I did not like the book at all.it was boring and I...more

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