Rating: 
Summary: Mathletes extraordinaire
Review: "Count Down" is the story of the annual high school Olympiad of mathematics - a gathering of the best student mathematicians in the world. Participating countries field a team of six students, and over the two day contest, students attempt to solve six extremely difficult math problems. These math problems aren't your everyday geometry or algebra questions - they require a great deal of logic and creativity. Author Steve Olson followed the 2001 contest and got to know many of the students, focusing on the U.S. team.
To better understand these students, Olson discusses some of the qualities they possess and that are hypothesized as necessary to excel at math. Each chapter covers a specific quality, such as 'creativity' or 'talent.' These chapters discuss psychological and educational research about how a factor is related to math performance and how it relates to particular U.S. teammates. Topics such as sex and ethnic differences in math abilities are also covered. In addition, each chapter discusses one of the six math problems featured in the Olympiad - examining how a member of the U.S. team solved it.
Of course, many people feel intimidated by math and may therefore avoid this book. I think that one does not really need to be a math genius to appreciate what these kids do or to enjoy the book itself. The six problems from the exam are discussed in detail in the appendix, allowing those interested to revel in the minutiae, but a deep understanding of the problems isn't needed to understand the book.
Overall, "Count Down is an interesting book on an interesting topic. However, in the end, I thought that the students and their stories were given somewhat short shrift. I didn't really feel as though I knew the students very well, and they are certainly the most engaging aspect of the book. In addition, the psychological and educational research that is presented is covered in a fairly cursory manner. People unfamiliar with research on intelligence and creativity may find this information of interest, but more knowledgeable audiences will likely hunger for a more in-depth analysis. In sum, despite a few flaws, "Count Down" is a solid read on a topic that certainly deserves more attention.
Rating: 
Summary: Competently fills an important niche
Review: ***1/2This is a book with profoundly admirable intentions. It attempts to dispel widespread stereotypes about what kinds of kids like math and excel at it, by presenting an insider's chronicle of the world's premiere mathematics competition for high schoolers, the International Mathematical Olympiad; by presenting its contestants as the well rounded, competitive mental athletes they are; and by conveying some of the suspense, thrill and mystique of that annual event. For those who sit down and read through the slim volume, it will probably achieve those goals. But I don't think it's likely to command the attention of the general population it seems to be aimed at. For each of the members of the 2001 US Olympiad team, we get a thumbnail biography, an assessment of the particular mathematical strengths he brings to the contest, and a walkthrough of the mental path he followed to solve one of the Olympiad problems. (Since each Olympiad consists of six problems, and each country's team of six students, this scheme affords neat and complete coverage of the two-day meet.) We learn enough about each student to explode any preconception of geekdom, but most of the portraits remain too generic to give us a sense that we know the subjects personally; they tend to blur together in the mind by the time the next chapter rushes past. But if the human interest isn't quite vivid enough to ensnare the reader not already engaged with math, the mathematical interest is far too lightly touched on to engage the mathematically mature, even though the problems themselves will intrigue them. The skimpy detail of the "answers in the back" would not have earned many marks from the contest judges. On some, I was able to fill in the gaps; on others, nearly all gap, I was left scratching my head. Olson seems fascinated by the process of mathematical thought, and has many interesting (if inconclusive) things to say about it; but to the math itself, the stuff that actually sets these kids' minds on fire, I felt he gave pretty short shrift. Perhaps this was a necessary sacrifice to keep from driving away the important bloc of readers who may care little for math, but who still understand how important it is for our kids and schools to care about it. There are particular audiences that will find this a valuable and even indispensable read, because no other author has even attempted to take the subject on at a popular level. I only award four stars to books I feel I can recommend without reservation, but for anyone who may find themselves dealing with the Olympiad, or its many feeder tests in middle school and high school, I would hasten to make that unreserved recommendation. That includes middle and high school math teachers, friends and parents of mathematically talented students (and as Olson makes clear, many an Olympian thinks of him or herself as only pretty good at math until problem solving is taken up as a sport) as well those students themselves, wondering what the world of problem solving tournaments might be like. About half of each chapter deals with some aspect of psychology or public policy related to the nurturing of mathematical talent, briefly exploring the controversies without taking any final positions. Those readers who teach may find these discourses thought provoking; the other members of the book's special audience will find them easy enough to skim through to get to the good parts.
Rating:
Summary: A Contest Without Suspense
Review: Count Down promises to be the story of six students who compete their way to a place on the 2001 U.S. Math Olympiad Team and what happens once they get to the big contest. I was expecting something like the excellent documentary Spellbound, which was about some of the kids who made it to the National Spelling Bee one year. I was a bit disappointed. Count Down is best when it is about the students, but author Steve Olson often digresses to talk about topics related to math. He discusses what genius is, how math is taught in the U.S., why there aren't more girls on the U.S. team, the history of math contests, and much more. These are all interesting and pertinent topics, but I found that what I really wanted to know more about was the kids themselves. Maybe a spelling bee is just inherently more dramatic since it takes place on stage, while the math contest takes place at desks and inside the contestants' heads. The whole notion of a math "team" in this case is misleading, since the members' individual scores are added together to determine the team score. They don't solve the problems as a team, although they train together. The top individuals are recognized as well, so I'm not sure what the point of a "math team" is. Still, I did learn some odd facts, such as that much of the behavior in nature that is considered inborn or instinctive, isn't. Day-old chicks who were thought to eat mealworms instinctively, fail to do so if the chicks' feet are covered. Young chimpanzees who supposedly have an inborn fear of snakes, do not shy away from snakes if the chimps' diet is changed. This sort of knowledge challenges the nature vs. nurture arguments regarding I.Q. and genius. Count Down is a good book about math education, but it doesn't have the drama or suspense that a good contest should have. For a good book about competition, try Cookoff, about cooking competitions in the U.S. For a good book about math, try either My Brain is Open or The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, both good biographies of Paul Erdos, eccentric Hungarian mathematician.
Rating:
Summary: Okay
Review: Having competed in some of the competitions mentioned, I guess I expected more from this book. If you are looking for the level of "Poker Nation" for Poker or "Word Freak" for Scrabble, you are likely to be disappointed. Enough research and personality to garner a quick reading.
Rating:
Summary: Okay
Review: Having competed in some of the competitions mentioned, I guess I expected more from this book. If you are looking for the level of "Poker Nation" for Poker or "Word Freak" for Scrabble, you are likely to be disappointed. Enough research and personality to garner a quick reading.
Rating: 
Summary: This Isn't SPELLBOUND
Review: Having loved SPELLBOUND, and being both a mathematics major in college and a high school math teacher, I opened this book with great anticipation. Unfortunately, I closed it in utter disappointment a week later after forcing myself to finish it. From its name (an absurd attempt to create a sense of excitement which the author completely fails to deliver) to its cover subtitle to its book jacket text, this book promises to introduce us to "the kids," the brilliant young people who pursue mathematics out of talent, but also out of love for its artistry and unparalleled aesthetics. Instead, the author gives us rehash after rehash of "expert" opinion about genius, creativity, talent, problem-solving, and the like. Not one new or original idea, just repetition of material that's better read in its originals (e.g., Martin Gardner, or "Einstein and Picasso"). The one area that could have been truly original was to introduce the reader to the young mathematicians themselves. To prospective readers: if you read the generic, one-paragraph description of the six contestants from the book jacket, you'll know almost as much about these youngsters as if you had read the whole book. Count Down is a missed opportunity, and unfortunately, its publication probably prohibits anyone else from writing the book that should have been written. Who are these six young people? Who are their families and teachers? How do they interact with the world, and how does the world interact with them? What are the dynamics among the six young people who make the team? What are they thinking as they try to solve the problems from the Olympiad? Steve Olson leaves these six very human youngsters as stick figures, wooden, nearly devoid of personality. He offers us no significant insight into their characters, their lives, or their families. As I read this book, I kept thinking how far short it falls from the richness of SPELLBOUND, both as a sociological statement about family, discipline, and goal-setting, as well as an exploration of directed intelligence and its effects on the young participants. As one example, Chapter 8 is supposed to introduce us to a young man named Oaz Nir. After learning far more about his private school than we need (its motto, its wooded location helped with an unnecessarily pretentious quote from Faulkner, and knowing that the Mississippi Symphony played a concert there), we are treated to the following insights from his teachers:
"He was a good writer, interested in history." "He was a good citizen at this school."
"We had to think of things to keep him busy."
"He taught me as much as I taught him." It's a miracle he learned anything from teachers with this much depth and insight, and it's a waste of the reader's time to read such drivel. When Oaz learns that he has been invited to a summer math training camp, his response (according to the author) is: "I was very excited about going." A page later, the author apparently needs to cite David Brooks from the Atlantic Monthly to tell us that high schools have cliques, that "that's just the way life is." Count Down is a huge disappointment, filled with banalities, wandering among topics like Good Will Hunting and a far-too-lengthy discussion of Andrew Wiles' experiences with Fermat's Last Theorem, and seemingly doing everything possible to avoid actually talking about the kids. What could have been a fascinating human study turns out to be a rehash of old math stories and quotations and debates about nature vs. nurture, genius, talent, creativity, and the like. The book lacks focus and utterly fails to introduce us to six fascinating young people. Even the attempts to make the Olympiad outcome exciting are feeble, including a misleading chapter title of "Triumph" and a bizarre build-up about the team coach and one player's score that inexplicably falls flat by ending with the coach saying "Five's fine," as though it never happened. The ending includes a reference to a famous formula, e to the (i x pi) power = -1. The author mentions the amazing interconnectedness of different fields of math study displayed by this formula which only mathematicians will really appreciate. At the same time, he fails to note that another representation, e to the (i x pi) power + 1 = 0, which is far easier for the average reader to see the beauty of, since e, i, pi, 1, and 0, the five most significant values in mathematics, are related in a single equation. All in all, a huge disappointment. The one star is for trying, and for at least writing a general interest book about math. But if you're looking for a math equivalent to SPELLBOUND, you'll have to look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: This Isn't SPELLBOUND
Review: Having loved SPELLBOUND, and being both a mathematics major in college and a high school math teacher, I opened this book with great anticipation. Unfortunately, I closed it in utter disappointment a week later after forcing myself to finish it. From its name (an absurd attempt to create a sense of excitement which the author completely fails to deliver) to its cover subtitle to its book jacket text, this book promises to introduce us to "the kids," the brilliant young people who pursue mathematics out of talent, but also out of love for its artistry and unparalleled aesthetics. Instead, the author gives us rehash after rehash of "expert" opinion about genius, creativity, talent, problem-solving, and the like. Not one new or original idea, just repetition of material that's better read in its originals (e.g., Martin Gardner, or "Einstein and Picasso"). The one area that could have been truly original was to introduce the reader to the young mathematicians themselves. To prospective readers: if you read the generic, one-paragraph description of the six contestants from the book jacket, you'll know almost as much about these youngsters as if you had read the whole book. Count Down is a missed opportunity, and unfortunately, its publication probably prohibits anyone else from writing the book that should have been written. Who are these six young people? Who are their families and teachers? How do they interact with the world, and how does the world interact with them? What are the dynamics among the six young people who make the team? What are they thinking as they try to solve the problems from the Olympiad? Steve Olson leaves these six very human youngsters as stick figures, wooden, nearly devoid of personality. He offers us no significant insight into their characters, their lives, or their families. As I read this book, I kept thinking how far short it falls from the richness of SPELLBOUND, both as a sociological statement about family, discipline, and goal-setting, as well as an exploration of directed intelligence and its effects on the young participants. As one example, Chapter 8 is supposed to introduce us to a young man named Oaz Nir. After learning far more about his private school than we need (its motto, its wooded location helped with an unnecessarily pretentious quote from Faulkner, and knowing that the Mississippi Symphony played a concert there), we are treated to the following insights from his teachers:
"He was a good writer, interested in history." "He was a good citizen at this school."
"We had to think of things to keep him busy."
"He taught me as much as I taught him." It's a miracle he learned anything from teachers with this much depth and insight, and it's a waste of the reader's time to read such drivel. When Oaz learns that he has been invited to a summer math training camp, his response (according to the author) is: "I was very excited about going." A page later, the author apparently needs to cite David Brooks from the Atlantic Monthly to tell us that high schools have cliques, that "that's just the way life is." Count Down is a huge disappointment, filled with banalities, wandering among topics like Good Will Hunting and a far-too-lengthy discussion of Andrew Wiles' experiences with Fermat's Last Theorem, and seemingly doing everything possible to avoid actually talking about the kids. What could have been a fascinating human study turns out to be a rehash of old math stories and quotations and debates about nature vs. nurture, genius, talent, creativity, and the like. The book lacks focus and utterly fails to introduce us to six fascinating young people. Even the attempts to make the Olympiad outcome exciting are feeble, including a misleading chapter title of "Triumph" and a bizarre build-up about the team coach and one player's score that inexplicably falls flat by ending with the coach saying "Five's fine," as though it never happened. The ending includes a reference to a famous formula, e to the (i x pi) power = -1. The author mentions the amazing interconnectedness of different fields of math study displayed by this formula which only mathematicians will really appreciate. At the same time, he fails to note that another representation, e to the (i x pi) power + 1 = 0, which is far easier for the average reader to see the beauty of, since e, i, pi, 1, and 0, the five most significant values in mathematics, are related in a single equation. All in all, a huge disappointment. The one star is for trying, and for at least writing a general interest book about math. But if you're looking for a math equivalent to SPELLBOUND, you'll have to look elsewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: This book deserves no less than 5 stars
Review: I agree with all of the 5 star reviews written to date. *Count Down* is one of the finest books in the 'pop math' genre. Steve Olson wrote a book that would have been the book that other fine science/math writers like Simon Singh would have written about the Intl Math Olympiad (and math contests in general). This book includes both a taste of the math involved, public policy issues, the science of how these kids can be so darn smart, biographical sketches of the kids and adults involved, and other interesting details. What, unfortunately, motivates my review is the comments by 'figvine.' The reasons he/she offers for giving this book 3 stars is petty to say the least. It is ridiculous and illogical to expect that a book such as this would cover all of the bases in mind-numbing detail that figvine would expect. If Olson had given the reader false expectations and had told us of any intentions to give us the book figvine wanted, then Olson should be criticized. But Olson didn't mislead his readers in any way; his final product is exactly what he intended on writing. If someone wants more mathematical details on the Intl Math Olympiad, then they can read books by Andreescu (one of the coaches for the teams), et al., published by the Mathematical Assoc. of America, and other related books. Olson's book is much broader in scope than those books and was written with a wider audience in mind. Olson succeeds. He rightly deserves no less than 5 stars. The reasons offered for giving less are petty and pedantic to put it mildly.
Rating:
Summary: enjoyable read = f(interesting, riveting, informative)
Review: I once worked with a man who could look at a sheet of numbers and find an error within a few seconds. He said he could visualize the numbers and their patterns in his head. He was the adult version of the nearly 500,000 kids who annually tryout for the Math Olympiad. In 2002, SPELLBOUND, an extremely entertaining film hit the festival circuit, and followed eight boys and girls from regional spelling bees to the national spelling bee competition in Washington. In this book, Steve Olson changes the medium from film to paper, and the competition from spelling bees to mathematics, and the result is an entertaining, alluring, and riveting read about young men (of 119 U.S. team members, only 1 was female), math reasoning, and math problems in an international competition in Northern Virginia (don't worry, the six math solutions are in an appendix). Olson, who has written about genomics, genetics, and the state of science education in American schools, also adds covincing arguments in the book about the education systems' onerous failures to teach math properly, and he is uniquely qualified to discuss whether these kids are products of math nurturing or genetic nature. The key players in this book are the six immigrant-heavy members of the U.S. 2001 team: Oaz Nir (a poet who had already won a gold medal and is now at Duke); Gabriel Carroll (who also had won a gold medalist at a past competition and is now at Harvard); Tiankai Liu (still in high school); Ian Le (now at Harvard); David Shin (now at MIT); and Reid Barton (who had won 3 gold medals at past cometitions, now at MIT). Other key players in the book are the team's coach, Titu Andreescu, and Melanie Wood, the team guide. The book provided nto only an enjoyable read, but some very good insights into creative problem solving methods when time is crucial.
Rating:
Summary: enjoyable read = f(interesting, riveting, informative)
Review: I once worked with a man who could look at a sheet of numbers and find an error within a few seconds. He said he could visualize the numbers and their patterns in his head. He was the adult version of the nearly 500,000 kids who annually tryout for the Math Olympiad. In 2002, SPELLBOUND, an extremely entertaining film hit the festival circuit, and followed eight boys and girls from regional spelling bees to the national spelling bee competition in Washington. In this book, Steve Olson changes the medium from film to paper, and the competition from spelling bees to mathematics, and the result is an entertaining, alluring, and riveting read about young men (of 119 U.S. team members, only 1 was female), math reasoning, and math problems in an international competition in Northern Virginia (don't worry, the six math solutions are in an appendix). Olson, who has written about genomics, genetics, and the state of science education in American schools, also adds covincing arguments in the book about the education systems' onerous failures to teach math properly, and he is uniquely qualified to discuss whether these kids are products of math nurturing or genetic nature. The key players in this book are the six immigrant-heavy members of the U.S. 2001 team: Oaz Nir (a poet who had already won a gold medal and is now at Duke); Gabriel Carroll (who also had won a gold medalist at a past competition and is now at Harvard); Tiankai Liu (still in high school); Ian Le (now at Harvard); David Shin (now at MIT); and Reid Barton (who had won 3 gold medals at past cometitions, now at MIT). Other key players in the book are the team's coach, Titu Andreescu, and Melanie Wood, the team guide. The book provided nto only an enjoyable read, but some very good insights into creative problem solving methods when time is crucial.
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