How to Update Your Let’s Play Math Ebook

I love how seeing math as a playful game can help even the busiest parents enjoy learning alongside their children.

My math books grew from more than a quarter-century of playing math with children — my own and those of our friends — at my house, at the library, in the park, and in group workshops. The kids and I learned from each other as we shared the adventure of learning mathematics.

Now that the publication dust has settled and the typos and formatting glitches have been sorted out, I’ve updated all the Let’s Play Math ebook files to match my shiny new, greatly expanded paperback edition.

Changes Include

Totally new section on Understanding Mathematics.
A new chapter of Frequently Asked Questions for when your student is struggling with math.
A greatly expanded section on mental math, with plenty of examples and a list of “Mental Math Do’s and Don’ts.”
All new graphics — 140+ illustrations.
New quotes from Jo Boaler, Christopher Danielson, Paul Halmos, Andre Toom, Dan Finkel, Charlotte Mason, and many, many more.
Loads of new links to my favorite books and online resources, from preschool to high school. (Now I need to get my blog book lists and resource pages caught up to match my book!)
Plus a foreword by Stanford mathematician and popular author Keith Devlin.

Do You Need an Update?

If your version shows the family playing together on the cover, then you’re all set. The copyright notice should say “Ebook version 3.0.”

But if you have an earlier edition of Let’s Play Math, you will probably want to update to this new, revised edition. Be warned: this is a totally new file, so you’ll lose all your highlights and bookmarks. But the expanded version has SO many wonderful changes, believe me, it’s well worth the inconvenience.

The following instructions are for Amazon.com. If you bought your book somewhere else, check the book dealer’s webpage — if the new cover (above) is showing, then they have the updated file. Find the Customer Service section of their website and follow their procedure.

Amazon Policy Change

I’ve asked Amazon to release the new ebook files to everyone who bought the earlier edition — as used to be their standard policy. But they’ve had too many complaints about people losing their bookmarks, so they no longer issue updates except by customer request.

The only way to get the updated file is to contact Customer Service and ask for it yourself.

Step by step instructions:

Click the contact Customer Service link. Log into your account.
Under “What can we help you with?” click the option “Digital Services.”
Under “Tell us more about your issue,” click “Kindle eBooks” and then “Something else.”
Under “Enter short summary of issue,” copy and paste the following text:
I bought the ebook Let's Play Math (ASIN B0095POAX4). This book has recently been updated with new material. Would you please send the updated ebook files to my account? Thank you.
Choose how you want to be contacted. I always pick “Email,” but you can pick a more immediate option if you like.

And then wait for the support people to do their magic. You should get the new file within 24 hours.

What About the Paperbacks?

What if you got a bad copy of a paperback book?

The machines that print POD (Print On Demand) books — like my math book or my daughter’s fantasy novels — are basically giant computer printers. As everyone knows, printers get glitches. And the humans who take a book off the machine and put it in a shipping box won’t necessarily notice the mistake.

If you ever get a messed-up copy of my math paperbacks (or any book by anyone, for that matter), you can always contact customer service to have it replaced.

Just follow the same steps as above, but choose the options that make sense for whatever complaint you have. Or if you didn’t buy from Amazon, then find the Customer Service section for whatever book dealer you used, and follow their procedure.