Counting; Temperature

A & C Black have always been good at series titles. 'Beans', 'Threads' and 'Stopwatch' were all touchstones of quality and now, devoted to measurement in many forms, come 'Millipedes'.

Counting starts with early ways of recording quantities before moving on to modern numerals and number bases. Abacus, tallysticks, Napier's bones and Babbage's engine all come in and lead to mathematical curiosities like magic squares and the self-fulfilling properties of the Fibonacci series. Even for an incorrigible innumerate like me all the descriptions are intelligible and all the instructions work out; here's a book that gets you counting pineapples, daisies and terrapins, knowing why, and enjoying it.

Temperature is more diffuse but covers many hows and whys of measuring it and the effects of temperature change. Imagine - the Forth Rail Bridge is a metre longer in hot weather than in cold, so a round trip from Stenhousemuir to Cowdenbeath is over six feet further in summer than at Christmas. It makes you think - they both do, and, on this showing, may Millipedes' thousand feet take them far!