Shilling books

While it makes me feel a little bit guilty for my lack of productivity on either the Teddy Bear Forest©, I am nonetheless pleased by the publication of books by two folks I know personally.

While many who know me might expect these to be science fiction or perhaps fantasy tales - or maybe books on gifted education, neither of them falls into either category.

Accountability Frankenstein examines the monster that accountability has become. Sherman Dorn has done a superb job examining this difficult issue with clarity. From the site:

To understand the current moment in school accountability, one must understand the larger contradictions in education politics. Accountability Frankenstein provides a broader perspective on the school accountability debate by exploring the contradictions inherent in high-stakes testing. Accountability Frankenstein explains the historical and social origins of test-based accountability: the political roots of accountability, why we trust test scores while we distrust teachers, the assumptions behind formulaic accountability systems, and the weaknesses with the current carrot-and-stick approach to motivating teachers.

Accountability Frankenstein answers the questions of educators and parents who want to understand the origins of accountability. This book challenges the beliefs of fierce advocates and opponents of highstakes testing. It provides a rescue plan for accountability after the failures of high-stakes testing, a plan to make accountability smart, democratic, and real.

Follow the link, above, for more info or to listen to a podcast of the introduction.
*****

The other book showed up unexpectedly in a UPS delivery. Lessons in Play is about combinatorics in game theory. I know, I know, "just what I was looking for..." Well, from a skim, I would say if you weren't, you perhaps should have been. David Wolfe and his co-authors seem to have turned out a wonderful text! From the blurb:

As a perfect complement to Winning Ways, this is a formal, yet playful, introduction to the subject and covers all the core concepts needed to understand and play combinatorial games. Topics covered include symmetry, strategy stealing, the algebra of games, impartial, hot, and all-small games, and the partial order of games.

Enjoy!