• Front Page
    • Digital Education
    • Terry Freedman's Books Bulletin
  • RSS
  • Search
    • Welcome
    • The "About" Page
    • Testimonials
    • CV/Resumé
    • My Writing
    • Published articles
  • Corrections Policy
Menu

ICT & Computing in Education

Articles on education technology and related topics
  • Front Page
  • Newsletters
    • Digital Education
    • Terry Freedman's Books Bulletin
  • RSS
  • Search
  • Info
    • Welcome
    • The "About" Page
    • Testimonials
    • CV/Resumé
    • My Writing
    • Published articles
  • Corrections Policy
Click the cover to go to the book on Amazon (affiliate link)

Click the cover to go to the book on Amazon (affiliate link)

Quick look: Hello World

October 2, 2019

Here’s a quick heads-up. Hello World is another book about algorithms, but one with a difference: it’s written by a mathematician. The result is an interesting perspective on why AI algorithms yield skewed results even when the data they’ve learnt from is as unbiased as possible.

The author, Hannah Fry, writes engagingly, so although the subject matter is about complex issues, it’s an easy read.

I’ve written a review of the book for Teach Secondary, and have been told that will appear in print in November 2019.

More brief reviews:

Featured
effective teaching.jpg
May 24, 2026
Review: Effective Teaching: Evidence and Practice
May 24, 2026

Although this is a few years old now (2018), it has stood the test of time.

May 24, 2026
Quick look: Desirable difficulties in action
July 17, 2024
Quick look: Desirable difficulties in action
July 17, 2024

The idea of desirable difficulties has always appealed to me. In my teaching I’m partticularly in favour of applying Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal development.

July 17, 2024
Quick looks: Support Not Surveillance, by Dr Mary Bousted
May 14, 2022
Quick looks: Support Not Surveillance, by Dr Mary Bousted
May 14, 2022

As far as I’m aware no Education Secretary has had the ability or the courage to deal with the teacher recruitment and retention crisis.

May 14, 2022
Quick looks: Tools for Teachers, by Oliver Lovell
May 14, 2022
Quick looks: Tools for Teachers, by Oliver Lovell
May 14, 2022

Overall the book is a good investment, although I did have some quibbles with it.

May 14, 2022
Quick looks: About Our Schools, by Tim Brighouse and Mick Waters
May 14, 2022
Quick looks: About Our Schools, by Tim Brighouse and Mick Waters
May 14, 2022

If you want to see the humble brag elevated to an art form, this is the book for you.

May 14, 2022
Quick look: The self-taught computer scientist
February 13, 2022
Quick look: The self-taught computer scientist
February 13, 2022

It’s a bit of a tall order, I think, to teach yourself computer science, as opposed to computer programming, because of the need to understand particular concepts.

February 13, 2022
Quick look: Organise Ideas (follow-up)
November 12, 2021
Quick look: Organise Ideas (follow-up)
November 12, 2021

[When I was a teacher,] as with many of my blog posts these days, my own handouts and lesson summaries were festooned with drawings, diagrams and arrows.

November 12, 2021
Quick look: Organise Ideas
September 27, 2021
Quick look: Organise Ideas
September 27, 2021

My first impression is that this is a handy toolkit which, once mastered, can be applied in lots of different contexts in any subject.

September 27, 2021
What I'm reading: Sort Your Brain Out
September 14, 2021
What I'm reading: Sort Your Brain Out
September 14, 2021

One of my first impressions: I like the fact that the book includes relatively recently-acknowledged attributes of the brain, such as neuroplasticity.

September 14, 2021
Thumbnail sketch: Teaching in the Online Classroom
April 30, 2021
Thumbnail sketch: Teaching in the Online Classroom
April 30, 2021

I’m always wary of books that are written while the issues that it addresses are new and current.

April 30, 2021
In Bookshelf, Books in Brief, Reviews Tags artificial intelligence, Hello World, algorithms, Hannah Fry
← How to automatically allocate time for an activity in your Google calendarMore fake news →
Recent book reviews
Teach Fast.jpg
Review: Teach Fast

The book contains some interesting ideas.

Read more →
profits, prophets.jpg
A question of leadership

I have somewhat dichotomous views of this question of whether leaders make a difference, or much of a difference. I think my views can be classified as macro and micro.

Read more →
Making good progress.jpg
Review: Making Good Progress?

Daisy Christodoulou carefully picks apart the pitfalls of various kinds of assessment, drawing on different subject areas to do so.

Read more →
principles and practice of assessment.jpg
Review: Principles and Practices of Assessment

There is plenty in this book to like.

Read more →
effective teaching.jpg
Review: Effective Teaching: Evidence and Practice

Although this is a few years old now (2018), it has stood the test of time.

Read more →
maths library.jpg
Review: One for maths teachers

This wide-ranging book takes in probability, fractals, astronomy, Babbage, Lovelace and a host of other areas and people.

Read more →
Weimar.jpg
Reviews: Two for History teachers

Two books on the Nazi era.

Read more →
verb yr enthusiasm.jpg
Review: One for English teachers

No book about the craft of writing seems complete without a stern chapter on the importance of eschewing adverbs and adjectives - but what to put in their place?

Read more →
formal theory.jpg
Review: The Great Formal Machinery Works: Theories of Deduction and Computation at the Origins of the Digital Age

If you’re of a mathematical bent this could be just the book to delve into.

Read more →
How+to+lie+with+statistics.jpg
Review: How to lie with statistics

Although this book is over 60 years old, it is remarkably apposite for our times -- and especially in the fields of educational research and assessing pupils' understanding and progress.

Read more →
Dig+Ed+Banner.jpg

Contact us

Privacy

Cookies

Terms and conditions

This website is powered by Squarespace

(c) Terry Freedman All Rights Reserved