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What the Numbers Say: A Field Guide to Mastering Our Numerical World Hardcover – June 10, 2003

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Derrick Niederman (Author)
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Derrick Niederman (Author), David Boyum (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars 12 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Crown Business; 1st edition (June 10, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0767909984
  • ISBN-13: 978-0767909983
  • Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,261,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful
and the audience is...
By Arnold Kling on June 8, 2003
Format: Hardcover
This book offers examples of quantitative reasoning, including the topics of compound growth and statistics. Their perspective is that without the ability to work with numbers, people can easily be misled. One of the examples is a statistic used by defense attorney Alan Dershowitz to mislead the jurors in the infamous Simpson trial.
As I was reading the book, I wondered who the audience ought to be. Although the tone is breezy and the examples are presented without the use of algebra or higher mathematics, I am not sure how a math-phobic person would react. My experience with math phobes is that they would feel threatened by the book and be resistant to picking it up.
A better audience for the book might be math educators. As a teacher, I found numerous examples in the book that will be helpful. Moreover, the last chapter, in which they discuss ways to reform math education, is a gem.
What the authors are saying is that people need good basic intuition about numbers in order to understand a world that is increasingly dominated by numerical data. The traditional math curriculum tries to prepare a student to study Newtonian physics. Instead, I think that the authors would argue that the curriculum ought to be aimed at enabling a student to understand stock market ratios and statistical research.
One random note is that the authors attribute the phrase "independence from irrelevant alternatives" to John Nash. I may be wrong, but I believe that it was Kenneth Arrow who brought that concept to the fore.
By filling the book with interesting examples that illustrate the type of quantitative reasoning that they consider important, the authors make a compelling case for the math education reform that they advocate. However, if their primary audience is math educators, that fact is obscured on the book jacket, which makes the intended audience unclear.
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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Infinitely Interesting! The Russian judge gives it a ...?
By S. A. Cartwright on November 14, 2003
Format: Hardcover
Authors Niederman and Boyum articulate that we live today in a new Quantitative Information Age. Strange then, that they did not entitle their book, "Ten Habits of Highly Effective Quantitative Thinkers" (actually the title of Chapter Two) - this book would have sold twice as much.
Ahh! Twice as much as what? As Stephen Covey's books? As much as this book's actual sales? What's the base? Now that I've read this "Field Guide to Mastering Our Numerical World" (actually the subtitle,) I am trained to ask the pertinent questions about numerical comparisons. I have learned to simultaneously "only trust the numbers" and to "never trust the numbers" - habits #1 and #2.
In this entertaining tour of today's quantitative landscape, the authors expose our collective inability to cope with numerical reasoning. From humorous pot shots at "our favorite punching bag, the International Skating Union," whose farcical scoring systems are easily exposed, to a better method of comparing safety between small plane flying and automobile safety, to famous courtroom misuses of statistical data, Niederman and Boyum demonstrate a growing gap between our increasingly data dependent decisions and our nation's declining numerical literacy.
"What The Numbers Say" provides a layman's look at mathematical skills required by everyone. It is a book for non-mathematicians, liberal arts students, teachers of all subjects, political and educational leaders, and above all, parents. To anyone struggling with children struggling to master the multiplication table, and wondering what became of the rote memorization and textbooks from earlier days, the authors make sense of the new teaching techniques.Read more ›
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Making Sense of the Numbers We See Every Day.
By mirasreviews HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on March 16, 2005
Format: Hardcover
Premised on the idea that we now live in a "quantitative information age", in which a person can hardly get through a day without reaching some conclusion based on numerical data, but that most people are poor quantitative thinkers who routinely make poor decisions because they are unskilled in analyzing numerical data, authors Derrick Niederman and David Boyum offer us "What the Numbers Say", a guide to spotting the most common kinds of data manipulation and determining what those numbers really mean. I should say that you do not need to know any mathematics beyond a 6th grade level to understand this book or to successfully decipher the numerical data that one encounters in everyday life. "What the Numbers Say" is engaging, clear, and easy to read. There are interesting examples taken from the stock market, business world, and current events for every subject that is discussed. And the examples don't have a pervasive political bias.

"What the Numbers Say" starts off by explaining "The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Quantitative Thinkers" and then dedicates each of six chapters to a different type or facet of quantitative data. "For Good Measure" explains the importance of understanding what unit your numbers are expressing, the problems inherent in distilling an assortment of data into a single number -such as an index, and troubles with rounding numbers. "Playing the Percentages" explores the traps of adding fractions, dealing with negative returns, percentages of percents, and ordinals, i.e. rankings. "Gaining Perspective" talks about very big numbers, very small numbers, and very sensitive numbers -especially denominators. "Throwing a Curve" is about non-linear relationships, including quadratic relationships and exponential relationships (growth and depreciation).Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Forgot if this was any good for the kids

Forgot if this was any good for the kids, just didn't want this popping up all the time so I decided to review it as average and unmemorable.

Published 17 months ago by vinnie
Entertaining Read on an Important Topic

"What the Numbers Say" offers readers an engaging overview of the importance of mathematics and numerical literacy in today's increasingly complex and technologically advanced... Read more

Published on November 5, 2007 by K. Scott Proctor
The problems with numbers written at a level where those with the...

This is an outstanding book, describing in detail, yet in layman's terms, many of the problems regarding the public's understanding of mathematics. Read more

Published on June 17, 2006 by Charles Ashbacher
All my life I have been misusing the numbers

In a way, I feel very frustrated with this wonderful book, it remainded me when my father recommended me the 7 Habits of Covey and told me " Its sad I found this at 60 and not a... Read more

Published on June 12, 2006 by Humberto Mejia
Excellent. Why did it take me so long to read it?

For some reason I purchased this book, started reading it, and got side tracked for about a year. At the time that I put it aside I guess it hadden't made a big impact on me to the... Read more

Published on January 19, 2006 by D. R. Pitts
A great book

This book should be required reading for every high school graduate in the country. It is full of useful information to expand your numerical thought process. Read more

Published on June 13, 2005 by Aaron D. Mitchell
Interesting and painless

Various topics are discussed, such as percentages, units and measurements, probability, statistics, etc. Read more

Published on June 30, 2003
a surprisingly fun read

This book, by a friend and former colleague, is a wonderful introduction to the ways that numbers are used, and misused, in our work and everyday lives. Read more

Published on June 10, 2003 by Harold A. Pollack
A surprisingly fun read

This book, co-written by a friend and former colleague, is a surprisingly fun read.
For all the wisecracks about Olympic judging and the Lakers, this book presents a... Read more

Published on June 9, 2003 by Harold A. Pollack

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