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[(The Unknowns )] [Author: Benedict Carey] [Aug-2011]
This gripping mystery, spiked with math clues, follows quirky outcasts Lady Di and Tom Jones as they try to save their woebegone island community. In their trailer park next to the Folsom Energy Plant, people have started to vanish, and no one seems to care. At first the kids barely notice the disappearances themselves—until their beloved math tutor, Mrs. Clarke, is abducted too. Mrs. Clarke has left them clues to her whereabouts in the form of equations that lead them all over the trailer park, through hidden tunnels under nearby “Mount Trashmore,” and into the Folsom Energy Plant itself, where Lady Di and Tom Jones and a gang of other misfits uncover the sordid truth about what’s really happening on their island.Readers “will be swept up in the fast talk and exciting action” ( Booklist ) of this “inheritor of The Westing Game ” ( Kirkus ) that is sure to make math lovers of even the most determined number-phobes.
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First published April 1, 2009
32 people are currently reading
325 people want to read
About the author
Benedict Carey
13 books65 followersBenedict Carey was a health and medical reporter for the Los Angeles Times starting in 1997. In 2004 he became a science reporter for the New York Times.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews
March 11, 2014
I think this book is decent. My favourite part of the book is when Mr.Pink interviews Di and Tom. Although the book is decent, its not really my type. It just that math and adjectives don't really go together, its just like oil and vinegar. I would recommend it though. - a HL Math Student "7th grade."
March 11, 2014
In the Island Of The Unknowns Di and Tom find clues after Mrs.Clarke disappears. Mrs.Clarke leaves these clues knowing that some of her most intelligent students will find them, not all of the other investigators. After solving clue after clue Di and Tom get a hang of it. After lots of ups and downs Di and Tom also figure out they need help for finishing all clues. So they try to find some people to recruit some more people which later on are a a crucial help for them. Di and Tom learn lots of new math and so does the reader. While I was reading this book I thought it would just be a boring math book but as i would read the book it would always get more interesting and more exiting. I think this book is a great math helper that is exiting and never almost never boring. The book does get repetitive which I thought was a big downside to this book. This book would would be much better if there would be more unique action whether then the clue solving and clue solving ect. Anyways in general I think that the book was OK. But for a 7th grader I think that there could be less repetitive action.
March 11, 2014
Adjacent is a small island where never anything happens. But what will occur if in a normal day like now, people became disappearing? Lady Di and Tom Jones, our two little protagonists, will try to solve the mystery when their beloved friend and tutor Mrs.Clarke disappears too. They will crawl though tunnels,go under mountains of trash and rappel at cliffs to find out the truth behind the vanishing of their friends.
I personally liked the book, but sometimes the events go really slow and others go too fast for me to understand. The book holds in a lot of math and also mathematicians. Like Malba Tahan Clarke,George Polya, Pythagorus and lots more. Is a really interesting way to learn math while having fun.
I personally liked the book, but sometimes the events go really slow and others go too fast for me to understand. The book holds in a lot of math and also mathematicians. Like Malba Tahan Clarke,George Polya, Pythagorus and lots more. Is a really interesting way to learn math while having fun.
March 11, 2014
Me personally, didn't enjoy this book. I think that this book is not realistic enough for people to take seriously and I think that the author shouldn't have mixed adventure and maths together. I think that it's not realistic because with me being the same age of the characters, I don't think that I would've been able to make the clues join together and find Mrs. Clarke. All together, I didn't enjoy it but I do hope that future generations like it despite my comments.
March 12, 2014
This book was at the same time awesome and a little bit weird. At some points in the tunnels I had claustrofobia because the author describes the scene really good. A thing I really enjoyed was how the author describes and the words he uses to write the clues for example the staws. I really enjoyed the book.
September 10, 2016
The book was really enjoyable and clearly explained a very big variety of math concepts. However the math in the story made it a bit choppy. I really enjoyed the beginning when you were trying to find out the clues when you we’re not reading. On the other hand when you read a lot of the book at the same time the clues weren’t as exciting since you didn’t have time to develop a good hypothesis on the clue. Overall the book was a really enjoyable read for me.
January 5, 2015
Island of the Unknowns is a nice but not well combined book. This book focuses on two things: Math and Mystery. The book is really interesting and has a lot intrigue whilst reading. The book is about mystery but the math behind doesnt make sense while the characters solve the mystery. Overall, the book is fun and nice to read.
March 12, 2014
Island of the Unknowns, is one of the only books that involve both math and mystery. A lot of thinking is used in this book and a lot of problems are solved throughout the novel. Even though some parts the book are slow, I have enjoy it and I
've had fun reading the book.
've had fun reading the book.
March 11, 2014
Island of the Unknowns is a mystery by Benedict Carey about kids from a dull place called Adjacent. Oddly, things actually start to happen one summer. Before anybody would expect it, people start to disappear. When their teacher vanished, two kids discovered clues. It is up to them to discover what is happening in the plant, why people are disappearing, and how to stop this. The kids have the resources and brains to solve this puzzle, all they need to do it put their plan in action.
Names in Island of the Unknowns are not just names. They mean so much. For example, a character in the book is named ‘Polya’; George Polya was a Hungarian mathematician who established four steps of problem solving.
Visuals of the clues are also included in Island of the Unknowns, helping the reader maintain a better understanding of the math. Math is scattered across the novel, actually helping you understand the book. This is probably one of the only times complicated math helps you to comprehend.
Although not very realistic, Island of the Unknowns is an exciting mix of literature, math, and mystery. I would recommend Island of the Unknowns to anybody over a standard 8th grade math level and above a 6th or 7th grade reading level. Overall, Island of the Unknowns is an exciting way to learn math concepts, while enhancing your reading level.
Names in Island of the Unknowns are not just names. They mean so much. For example, a character in the book is named ‘Polya’; George Polya was a Hungarian mathematician who established four steps of problem solving.
Visuals of the clues are also included in Island of the Unknowns, helping the reader maintain a better understanding of the math. Math is scattered across the novel, actually helping you understand the book. This is probably one of the only times complicated math helps you to comprehend.
Although not very realistic, Island of the Unknowns is an exciting mix of literature, math, and mystery. I would recommend Island of the Unknowns to anybody over a standard 8th grade math level and above a 6th or 7th grade reading level. Overall, Island of the Unknowns is an exciting way to learn math concepts, while enhancing your reading level.
March 11, 2014
I personally would have not read this book, but as it was assigned to me in my 7th grade high level math class I had to. I thought this book was a good book if you take the math into account, but the backstory and the story itself is a little far-fetched and repetitive. For example, when they go through some tunnels, they keep going to them, and going to them until you finally get tired of the same tunnels over and over again. If you want to read this book because of the math I'd highly recomend it. The book contains many problems that help you understand how you can use math in every day life. Although the story could use improvement, the math is great and you can learn a lot from it. If you want a book with a far fetched adventure story and some exemplary math, this is the book for you.
March 12, 2014
I think The Island of the Unknowns is a very good book, considering it is one of the only books I have ever seen that has such a great combination of numbers. If I had to pick something that if did not like about this book it would have to be that the age of the characters and what they do throughout the story makes you doubt whether this book really makes someone that loves realism, however if you is one of the people that love to just let their imagination run wild with a dash of math I extremely recommend it!!!
March 11, 2014
I think this book is good in some places but not everywhere. My favourite bit is when there is Mrs Clarke who leaves the straws and then all the clues start piling in. Although I think that after a while the book gets to repetitive.
March 16, 2020
Disgusting.
This was required reading a couple of years ago, and in my opinion they could not have chosen a more terrible book.
The characters were so thin it was like they weren't even there. The plot was topsy turvy because the author tried way too hard to be quirky.
I am not a person that enjoys math, and this book was probably more of geometrical problems that the characters were solving than actual story.
This isn't much of a review, but I did not enjoy this book one bit. Save yourself and don't bother reading it.
*yeets book into trash can*
This was required reading a couple of years ago, and in my opinion they could not have chosen a more terrible book.
The characters were so thin it was like they weren't even there. The plot was topsy turvy because the author tried way too hard to be quirky.
I am not a person that enjoys math, and this book was probably more of geometrical problems that the characters were solving than actual story.
This isn't much of a review, but I did not enjoy this book one bit. Save yourself and don't bother reading it.
*yeets book into trash can*
Read
March 12, 2014I thought this book was very interesting. It had a lot of math and the explanations were really good. This book helped me understand things that we were doing in math class. I also liked the book because it had action and wasn't a boring book about math that had nothing interesting, this book was full of ideas and it also made your imagination flow with the book.
The only thing that I didn't like about the book is that you couldn't think at all that the book was connected to real life. You could only imagine the things but you couldn't really feel that the book could really happen as you could in other books.
We read this book in seventh grade math class, at first I thought that it was weird reading a book in math class but later on when we started reading the book I figured out that you had to really think of the math behind it. Even the names were all about math, you had to search up the names of the people to find out what they meant. For example Tom Jones, his actual last name is named after the 'king of algebra'.
The thing that I most liked about this book was that you really had to think not only to understand what they were saying but to understand all of the book, because the book was based in math.
The only thing that I didn't like about the book is that you couldn't think at all that the book was connected to real life. You could only imagine the things but you couldn't really feel that the book could really happen as you could in other books.
We read this book in seventh grade math class, at first I thought that it was weird reading a book in math class but later on when we started reading the book I figured out that you had to really think of the math behind it. Even the names were all about math, you had to search up the names of the people to find out what they meant. For example Tom Jones, his actual last name is named after the 'king of algebra'.
The thing that I most liked about this book was that you really had to think not only to understand what they were saying but to understand all of the book, because the book was based in math.
March 11, 2014
I really like this book, we read it in our 7th grade math class and it's great! I always liked the idea of learning through reading a book! It's entertaining and at the same time full of information. I also liked how each author has a name for some reason, for instance Malba Tahan Clark, one of the protagonists of the story is the same person that wrote "The man who counted." (it's a math book with math riddles.)
Though, what I like the most is that it's a book in which adventure happens through the whole story, not just at the end. I think you can benefit from reading this book. For example, I had kind of forgotten about the formula of Pi and how to solve for circles, this book reminded me of how to do this. It also includes information about slopes and relates all the clues to the real world.
If you like reading and challenging yourself, then read this book!
Though, what I like the most is that it's a book in which adventure happens through the whole story, not just at the end. I think you can benefit from reading this book. For example, I had kind of forgotten about the formula of Pi and how to solve for circles, this book reminded me of how to do this. It also includes information about slopes and relates all the clues to the real world.
If you like reading and challenging yourself, then read this book!
March 11, 2014
A week ago I read Island of the Unknowns: A Mystery by Benedict Carey . I think it's a good book because it mentions a lot of math, and it also talks about famous mathematicians such as Malba Tahan Clarke or George Polya's last name. It also mentions a lot of math in it like π and calculating area of circles, or Pythagorean Theorem. Although I liked the book, I think it was repetitive. I found the book interesting. I learned a lot of math from it.
March 11, 2014
The Island of the Unknowns
The Island of the Unknowns is about 5 kids, who discover that Mrs. Clarke a person who lives in adjacent, a village near a power plant. I think that this book is unrealistic and strange how a bunch of kids see math in everything, which is unrealistic. I think that 5 kids who have never seen computers could not have cracked codes and hacked into a power plants computer system. I think that we should separate math and adventure stories.
The Island of the Unknowns is about 5 kids, who discover that Mrs. Clarke a person who lives in adjacent, a village near a power plant. I think that this book is unrealistic and strange how a bunch of kids see math in everything, which is unrealistic. I think that 5 kids who have never seen computers could not have cracked codes and hacked into a power plants computer system. I think that we should separate math and adventure stories.
March 11, 2014
I think it was a book for math lovers, people who love challenging their minds and puzzle solving. Something I enjoyed about the book is the attention for detail in the names and the acts of the characters, all related to math. What I didn't like about it is that somehow they always found the right clue. That is weird in such a big universe like math. To understand this book you must pay attention so highlighting important bits of the book helps later in the book.
Want to read
January 27, 2013This is so weird. I saw the cover of the book in the back of Poison Most Vial, Benedict Carey's other book. But I've searched dozens of library districts and none of them have this book!!! And goodreads doesn't even have the cover!!! It's like it's disappeared off the face of the earth!!!!
March 11, 2014
I liked the book but at the same time I found it excessively repetitive. They were always going through tunnels and hiding in different places etc.
June 6, 2019
I think the theme of this book is teamwork because Lady Di and her best friends team up to find out what's been happening in the town Adjacent. People start to disappear and they try to find out who or what is causing this.
October 27, 2014
This was the second strangest book I have read this year. It was a quick, random grab from the library shelf.
It's hard to describe this story. Two likable kids, Di and Tom, live in a socially messed up trailer park on a perfectly circular coastal island. Everyone in the trailer park works or used to work at the underground nuclear power plant on the island. The island is ugly and barren and has a large dump at one end as well. People start disappearing, and when the nice old lady who helped Di and Tom with homework disappears, they follow a trail of math clues that she left to find out what is going on and stop it. They eventually involve other kids from the island too. And math is important. Don't give up on solving problems, especially those with math. Math is awesome. go math.
The problem is that the book really makes almost no sense. A nuclear power plant right across a bridge from an urban area is staffed largely by stereotypical trailer park people who have little education and no money? The island is perfectly round? They're venting their radioactive water directly into the ocean? There are secret tunnels easily accessible by teenagers that lead into the heart of the plant? The mean junior high gang is called the "Poets" and led by a guy who calls himself "Virgil?" They don't do much of anything in the plot anyway? The lady who knows the secret plot of the plant has time to crawl into secret tunnels and plant secret math messages, but she can't just call the authorities or initiate the shut down herself? The dysfunctional people on the island are dumb and helpless, but suddenly smart and knowing? I like a "common man is more than you think" theme, but it comes out of nowhere. The other theme of "math is for everyone" is pushed in our faces time and time again. It really obviously looks like someone decided to make a novel to show that math is important, and it comes off like that.
With all that said, the two main characters are likable and the story was readable.
It's hard to describe this story. Two likable kids, Di and Tom, live in a socially messed up trailer park on a perfectly circular coastal island. Everyone in the trailer park works or used to work at the underground nuclear power plant on the island. The island is ugly and barren and has a large dump at one end as well. People start disappearing, and when the nice old lady who helped Di and Tom with homework disappears, they follow a trail of math clues that she left to find out what is going on and stop it. They eventually involve other kids from the island too. And math is important. Don't give up on solving problems, especially those with math. Math is awesome. go math.
The problem is that the book really makes almost no sense. A nuclear power plant right across a bridge from an urban area is staffed largely by stereotypical trailer park people who have little education and no money? The island is perfectly round? They're venting their radioactive water directly into the ocean? There are secret tunnels easily accessible by teenagers that lead into the heart of the plant? The mean junior high gang is called the "Poets" and led by a guy who calls himself "Virgil?" They don't do much of anything in the plot anyway? The lady who knows the secret plot of the plant has time to crawl into secret tunnels and plant secret math messages, but she can't just call the authorities or initiate the shut down herself? The dysfunctional people on the island are dumb and helpless, but suddenly smart and knowing? I like a "common man is more than you think" theme, but it comes out of nowhere. The other theme of "math is for everyone" is pushed in our faces time and time again. It really obviously looks like someone decided to make a novel to show that math is important, and it comes off like that.
With all that said, the two main characters are likable and the story was readable.
June 22, 2009
This book fills a unique niche in the mystery genre --- there is drama, excitement, pulse-racing action, but there is also some very serious math too. I was a bit skeptical going in, but there is a lot to this book and the author pulls it off.
It takes place on an island that contains Folsom Energy Plant and the Adjacent Trailer Park. Carey does a superb job evoking this place --- the trash, the kind-but-somewhat-down-and-out inhabitants, the ways of trailer park living. As Deborah Stevenson noted in her Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books review (available at their site), "Carey takes the puzzle-book format, familiar in works from Raskin’s The Westing Game (BCCB 9/78) to Balliett’s Chasing Vermeer (BCCB 7/04), and gives it a rawboned and rich human story with a vivid sense of place."
The two main characters, Di and Tom, are appealing 7th graders --- smart and marginalized. When they discover a local resident, one Mrs. Clark, missing and clues that suggest she wanted them to find something major to do with the plant--- off they go. Pulling in a few other kids, supported by other adult eccentrics, the kids do math, adventure, and save the day. Carey's vivid portrayal of Adjacent and its inhabitants completely won me over. The math puzzles are fun (and become more complex as the story goes on) and there is excitement and drama aplenty.
This is a story written consciously for smart math-loving kids, but I'm sure other mystery-puzzle-loving readers are going to enjoy it too.
It takes place on an island that contains Folsom Energy Plant and the Adjacent Trailer Park. Carey does a superb job evoking this place --- the trash, the kind-but-somewhat-down-and-out inhabitants, the ways of trailer park living. As Deborah Stevenson noted in her Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books review (available at their site), "Carey takes the puzzle-book format, familiar in works from Raskin’s The Westing Game (BCCB 9/78) to Balliett’s Chasing Vermeer (BCCB 7/04), and gives it a rawboned and rich human story with a vivid sense of place."
The two main characters, Di and Tom, are appealing 7th graders --- smart and marginalized. When they discover a local resident, one Mrs. Clark, missing and clues that suggest she wanted them to find something major to do with the plant--- off they go. Pulling in a few other kids, supported by other adult eccentrics, the kids do math, adventure, and save the day. Carey's vivid portrayal of Adjacent and its inhabitants completely won me over. The math puzzles are fun (and become more complex as the story goes on) and there is excitement and drama aplenty.
This is a story written consciously for smart math-loving kids, but I'm sure other mystery-puzzle-loving readers are going to enjoy it too.
February 23, 2011
As a math teacher I should have enjoyed this book, since it uses math, specifically the Pythagorean Theorem, coordinate geometry and circle formulae to solve the mystery of the disappearing people. It started out in a fairly promising way, with a sense of foreboding that sinister events are unfolding. People disappear, people are threatened, and bad things seem to be happening for no apparent reason. But the plot is skimpy, as though it was constructed as an excuse for the kids to use math skills in solving the mystery behind Mrs. Clarke's disappearance. I got the feeling that someone decided they needed a novel that would promote math, and didn't care too much about how much sense the plot would make as long as it included math. The characters are all misfits, and everyone else is pretty much a stereotype. I kept asking myself why Mrs. Clarke would make the clues so obscure; surely there are better ways to be a whistleblower (call a reporter, maybe?). The math and the maps would leave most readers a little confused as the kids wander through tunnels - I just got bored with keeping track of where they were, x-y pairs and all. There was a subplot involving the "Poets" gang that comes after the kids because of a missing Swiss Army knife, but that was left unresolved and made me wonder why it was in there to begin with. I realize this was written for middle-schoolers, but I was disappointed.
March 11, 2014
In my opinion we should not mix subjects. to me math is math and reading an adventure book is reading an adventure book. I also think the book is a bit repetitive. I also learn more by studying actual math and not a adventure book about math. This is only my opinion others might learn better with a adventure math book but i don’t.
surveyed by Math 7th grade Mr. Rogers
surveyed by Math 7th grade Mr. Rogers
April 3, 2013
Another for the math extra credit project. A mystery set on an island where the town is made up of people living in trailers around a power plant. The kids have to solve the mystery based on math clues left behind by a kidnapped woman.
June 22, 2013
While adding math problems to a mystery was great for showing real life uses of math, it made for a choppy read at times. Good story line though. Loved the characters.
November 20, 2013
Good book if you like alot of math
September 27, 2017
3.9/5 stars
This book was... Weird. Not, like, bad weird, but Uncannily weird. The book takes place in an area called Folsom Adjacent. It follows your two, pretty generic, main characters as they embark on a journey to solve the mystery of several disappearances, with math. Yup, the whole story revolves around these kids solving math problems with hints that their tutor, that is one of the victims (she is not a tutor, but I'll refer to her as one),'Cleverly hidden'. In the beginning they connect these disappearances with the power plant, which was actually the cause. Of course, these two characters are idiots (okay that may be slightly harsh), so they find help from local outcasts and wackos on the way to help them unravel the clues. Really, the book inherently, wasn't really that bad, it's more of the story that's slightly messed up. Like, how does their tutor have time to hide these clues, but not have time to alert the police?? Like, hello? She knew about the power plant? The bottom point is that the author was trying to shove the message that 'math is used in life' a lot. It kind of worked; if there were to be disappearances in my town, which is an isolated island, with everyone possessing lesser than 90iq and then suddenly having +200 iq and with the the police being a group of blind idiots. Yeah sure. Okay, the bottom, bottom line, was that the book was readable. The two main characters were relatable and that the weird scenarios they get into were interesting. Overall, not too bad, but I will probably not recommend the book since there are tons of books that are more worthwhile to read than this.
This book was... Weird. Not, like, bad weird, but Uncannily weird. The book takes place in an area called Folsom Adjacent. It follows your two, pretty generic, main characters as they embark on a journey to solve the mystery of several disappearances, with math. Yup, the whole story revolves around these kids solving math problems with hints that their tutor, that is one of the victims (she is not a tutor, but I'll refer to her as one),'Cleverly hidden'. In the beginning they connect these disappearances with the power plant, which was actually the cause. Of course, these two characters are idiots (okay that may be slightly harsh), so they find help from local outcasts and wackos on the way to help them unravel the clues. Really, the book inherently, wasn't really that bad, it's more of the story that's slightly messed up. Like, how does their tutor have time to hide these clues, but not have time to alert the police?? Like, hello? She knew about the power plant? The bottom point is that the author was trying to shove the message that 'math is used in life' a lot. It kind of worked; if there were to be disappearances in my town, which is an isolated island, with everyone possessing lesser than 90iq and then suddenly having +200 iq and with the the police being a group of blind idiots. Yeah sure. Okay, the bottom, bottom line, was that the book was readable. The two main characters were relatable and that the weird scenarios they get into were interesting. Overall, not too bad, but I will probably not recommend the book since there are tons of books that are more worthwhile to read than this.
March 22, 2017
I think this is a great book to read. The book The Unknown by Benedict Carey is a good book for those who want an interesting read about Mystery. I like how this book uses math to make the reader think but also has a great story line. This book also involves mathematics to find how Mrs. Clarke disappeared. Tom and Di are the main characters and will look for this mysterious disappearance of Mrs. Clarke throughout the book. I like this book because math is one of my favorite subjects and I love how Tom and Di use it in this book. One example of this is when they find a 3:4:5 that make up a right triangle. This is their first clue of many that Mrs. Clarke has left behind after her disappearance. Also within this book you will find mini pictures on many pages on the book. I like this because it puts it in a clear picture of what is happening on that page. I would recommend this book for people who are visual learners and like math while reading.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews