Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Has anyone used Gelfand's Algebra?

A mathematician I work with as well as this post by JonahSinick recommended Israel Gelfand's Algebra. I've read Hung-Hsi Wu's review, but I was wondering if anyone here has actually used the text with their child? I'm interested in feedback on how it went. What worked well? What were problems you encountered using the text?

I love Gelfand's books for kids, but by no means you can use them alone, only as a supplement to a good textbook. Gelfand wrote his books for former USSR schoolchildren, who already had a strong foundation in basic mathematical skills, and just wish to look at familiar problems from the different angle or to solve more tricky problems than those they had at school. His style is very clear and simple, and your child can just read these books alone during his free time.

Interesting that Dr Hung-Hsi Wu once recognised this:-

"...Be that as it may, the current
reform movement is definitely kinder to the students in the lower half than
those in the top 20% (say), and the question of how to take proper care
of students serious about learning mathematics is left unresolved for now.
6
By coincidence, the Department of Education issued a remarkable document
[NA] only six months ago which discusses in depth how the American schools
have failed to educate the talented students. It is difficult not to see [NA]
as a reproach of this senseless drift in mathematics education, from allowing
proofs to be memorized without understanding to essentially denying the
students the opportunity to learn about proofs altogether."

There are people over on the Well Trained Mind forums who have used Gelfand. It was popular among the rigorous math folks before AoPS took over. A search will turn up several posts, though I think the bulk of the discussion happened before they switched to the current format and so is lost unfortunately.