Squinting through the rifle sight, Casey takes careful aim at the thief, on horseback, half a mile away and receding fast. The thief has the deed to the family's new ranch. Will Casey's calculations hold true? Only one bullet left. Time to find out ... Third Aunt is dying. The doctors from Uttarapatha charge exorbitant fees for their visit. Jayani, heroine of "Volumes of a Kiln," makes a desperate set of new calculations to save Third Aunt's life. Will she find the solution in time? Will the villainous Al-Layth ibn Al-Saffar thwart her? A collection of adventure stories. Resourceful girls coming of age and changing history -- using mathematics. Rupa plays Sherlock Holmes when she looks into the mysterious death of one of England's (and India's) foremost mathematicians. Her investigation arouses powerful forces. Ruby finds Bayes Rule to be a most useful tool as she combats deadly danger and international intrigue. In the story's climax, Rupa is ambushed on a foggy night, on a London wharf ... Math girl Uly takes the train to Moscow to collect an award for her work in Derivations. As usual, her beautiful, red-headed sister Sasha steals all of the attention. When the family arrives to stay with a professor cousin, Uly becomes entranced with the Maya tablet the professor (Yuri Knosorov) is studying. Who will emerge when the ensuing code-breaking triggers fateful events for the family? "Brilliant ..." Julie Porter, Bookworm Reviews "Wonderful reads ... an invaluable addition to any library. These stories represent the missing link between math entertainment and education that young learners have long needed." -- Diane Donovan, Editor, Bookwatch "We must teach mathematics from different points of view and different perspectives, as Tom has done in this collection of stories." -- Sandra Uve, Author "SuperMujeres, SuperInventoras," from her Foreword Must-read stories for readers of all ages who want to understand the value and some of the magic of mathematics. Tom's writing will keep you engaged. To especially those young readers who ask why we study STEM, get ready for a most surprising read. I was not expecting the cipher!! Teaching is my passion, and story- and game-based education are very near to my heart. Your storytelling is good. The footnotes at the end of the story are very helpful. It is a nice addition.- Aditya Soni, Game developer and Educator Math is not only about formulas and graphs. It's about its applications and illustrations. Tom has delivered 10 stories which ingeniously weave math into adventure stories. This intriguing book breaks the glass ceiling which prevents our young female students from pursuing STEM studies.--Darshan Maheshwari, Math and Physics Teacher Tom's stories are colorful, surprising and thrilling!! I could not stop reading until the mysteries were solved !! Rupa and her sister heroines are true role-models who face pulp-fiction dilemmas and solve them ... by applying math!! An inspiration for all young women interested in STEM. History, drama and math make for an exciting adventure ... Tom communicates a love for math.-- Tommaso Pettinari, Physicist, Code developer Tom Durwood is a teacher, writer and editor with an interest in history. Tom most recently taught English Composition and Empire and Literature at Valley Forge Military College, where he won the Teacher of the Year Award five times. Tom has taught Public Speaking and Basic Communications as guest lecturer for the Naval Special Warfare Development Group at the Dam's Neck Annex of the Naval War College. Tom's ebook Empire and Literature matches global works of film and fiction to specific quadrants of empire, finding surprising parallels. Literature, film, art and architecture are viewed against the rise and fall of empire. In a foreword to Empire and Literature, postcolonial scholar Dipesh Chakrabarty of the University of Chicago calls it "imaginative and innovative." Prof. Chakrabarty writes that "Durwood has given us a thought-provoking introduction to the humanities." His subsequent book "Kid Lit: An Introduction to Literary Criticism" has been well-reviewed. "My favorite nonfiction book of the year," writes The Literary Apothecary (Goodreads).Early reader response to Tom's historical fiction adventures has been promising. "A true pleasure ... the richness of the layers of Tom's novel is compelling," writes Fatima Sharrafedine in her foreword to "The Illustrated Boatman's Daughter." The Midwest Book Review calls that same adventure "uniformly gripping and educational ... pairing action and adventure with social issues." Adds Prairie Review, "A deeply intriguing, ambitious historical fiction series."Tom briefly ran his own children's book imprint, Calico Books (Contemporary Books, Chicago). Tom's newspaper column "Shelter" appeared in the North County Times for seven years. Tom earned a Masters in English Literature in San Diego, where he also served as Executive Director of San Diego Habitat for Humanity. Two