Overcoming Math Anxiety

I’ll admit: I side-eyed this audiobook at first. Another ‘math isn’t scary’ spiel? But Hamilton’s approach is radical because it treats math anxiety as a *identity crisis*, not an intellectual deficit. She doesn’t just tell you to ‘breathe through it’—she explains how math phobia often stems from a single humiliating moment (a teacher’s eye-roll, a failed test) that gets fossilized into ‘I’m bad at this.’ The narration by Jodie Webb sells it: her voice has this rare mix of maternal patience and ‘cut the crap’ energy, like the cool aunt who’ll call you out *and* hand you a tissue. When she delivers lines like, ‘Your brain isn’t broken—your *story* about math is,’ it lands like a gut punch. The pacing is mostly sharp, though the middle section on ‘math mindfulness’ drags slightly—Hamilton’s exercises (visualizing numbers as friendly, not threatening) feel a bit woo-woo until you try them and realize they work. My other critique? The audiobook assumes you’re helping a *child* overcome math fear, which sidelines adults who need this for, say, career changes or financial literacy. Still, the production quality is flawless: no distracting edits, and the use of subtle sound cues (like a chalkboard erase to signal a mental reset) is a clever touch. By the end, I didn’t just *tolerate* math—I was angry at how it had been weaponized against me. That’s the power of this book: it doesn’t just soothe; it *rearms* you.