Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences (Vintage) First Vintage Books Edition Edition

by John Allen Paulos (Author)

154 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0679726012

ISBN-10: 0679726012

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Dozens of examples in innumeracy show us how it affects not only personal economics and travel plans, but explains mischosen mates, inappropriate drug-testing, and the allure of psuedo-science.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This is the book that made "innumeracy" a household word, at least in some households. Paulos admits that "at least part of the motivation for any book is anger, and this book is no exception. I'm distressed by a society which depends so completely on mathematics and science and yet seems to indifferent to the innumeracy and scientific illiteracy of so many of its citizens."

But that is not all that drives him. The difference between our pretensions and reality is absurd and humorous, and the numerate can see this better than those who don't speak math. "I think there's something of the divine in these feelings of our absurdity, and they should be cherished, not avoided."

Paulos is not entirely successful at balancing anger and absurdity, but he tries. His diatribes against astrology, bad math education, Freud, and willful ignorance are leavened with jokes, mathematical or the sort (he claims) favored by the numerate.

It remains to be seen if Innumeracy will indeed be able, as Hofstadter hoped, to "help launch a revolution in math education that would do for innumeracy what Sabin and Salk did for polio"--but many of the improvements Paulos suggested have come to pass within 10 years. Only time will tell if the generation raised on these new principles is more resistant to innumeracy--and need only worry about being incomputable. --Mary Ellen Curtin

Review

He takes us a couple of steps closer to numeracy, and it is all in all an enlightening place to be. -- Christopher Lehman-Haupt, New York Times, 1989

Paulos makes numbers, probability, and statistics perform like so many trained seals for the reader's entertainment and enlightenment. -- Jon Van, Chicago Tribune, 1989

The innumerate will surely profit from this entertaining book. -- Morris Kline, New York Times Book Review, 1989

The world, as seen by Paulos, is less mysterious, yet somehow more elegant, less magical, yet more wonderful. So many apparently strange events do, in fact, become all the more magnificent in their not-so-fearful symmetry. -- Arthur Salm, San Diego Tribune, 1989

This admirable little book is only 135 pages long. You can read it in 2 hours. Chances are that they could be among the most enlightening and even profitable 120 minutes you ever spent. -- Henry Kisor, Cicago Sun-Times, 1989

This elegant survival manual is brief, witty, and full of practical applications. (Stefan Kanfer, Time Magazine, 1989)

REVIEW: Like carrying on a conversation with an engaging, articulate math whiz who easily shifts from the profound to the funny. -- Christopher Farrell, Business Week, 1989

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Product details

Paperback: 180 pages
Publisher: Vintage; First Vintage Books Edition edition (January 16, 1990)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0679726012
ISBN-13: 978-0679726012
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 154 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,298,525 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4440 in Probability & Statistics (Books)
- #11556 in Mathematics (Books)

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gergelyk

Some good nuggets, but not a polished piece

December 5, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I bought this book after it was referenced in the very well-written The Panic Virus (Seth Mnookin), which I'd highly recommend. I was curious about a professional's take on math skills in the general population. There's plenty of good insight and information, but it's like the author couldn't make up his mind if he wanted to rant or educate. He covers a number of numerical fallacies and adds explanations, but often it feels like the explanation would come up short to anyone who really didn't understand the particular issue being covered. I'm quite good with math myself so it was easy for me to follow everything, but parts of the book came off more as a "we smart people get why that's so dumb". I think the book could be improved by either tightening it up and focusing on a more advanced reader group or by really fleshing out the explanations to try and really help readers who are not good at math and actually suffer from the innumeracy/ies he describes. He could probably have done both even, if he set up chapters with a high-level concept, issue and effects section, then an educational/explanation section that the advanced reader could easily skip over.

Lots of good, but could really use a revision or two.

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Amazon Customer

Innumeracy - the book

March 1, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The author goes through a large number of real-world examples of applied mathematics, that I (a retired engineer) had thought were like breathing out, breathing in. When I shared a couple of them with my adolescent grand-children, I found some enthusiastic "aha!!" moments. Huh...

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Always Shopping

Even a highschooler can like this book

April 12, 2012

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Innumeracy opens your mind and makes you question things you have heard on television and the news. John Allen Paulos, who is fantastically witty, explains complex and simple misconceptions in a manner that almost anyone can understand. Paulos writes takes you back into history with Julius Caesar and brings you back to the present with baseball figures and common mistakes in statistics. It opens your mind to just what exactly numbers can do and how they revolve around almost every aspect in our lives. Innumeracy makes you look at yourself and others around you and see how understanding numbers can help you improve in numerous ways. Paulos applies mathematics to almost every aspect in life. If you believe you are "not a math person," then this is the book for you. Using real life examples, Paulos makes you understand why math and numbers are so important. Innumeracy shows how celebrities, presidents, and major politicians use numbers in the wrong way. It is amazing what you will find out in this information-packed book. From statistics to probability to the multiplication principle, this book has it all and is written in such a way that makes even the most boring subject interesting to any reader. Witty and to-the-point, Paulos writes a book that could change the way people think for the better and most likely improve our society as a whole. If everyone read this book, it is amazing what the results would be. He takes the most relevant and sometimes controversial subjects and applies them to math while pointing out how some things are not correct at all. You will soon find yourself thinking twice about saying, "I am not a math person" or "Math just isn't my subject."

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Beyond HOW TO LIE WITH STATISTICS

October 27, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is the book for people who want to go one step beyond HOW TO LIE WITH STATISTICS. So many of us are bewitched by sloppy statistics, by flawed procedurals that wind up in the mass media and other lies, some benign, some not, that author Paulos felt this book was necessary. He went on to write a couple more according to the same themes.

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Toni

Now a fan of John Allen Paulos

January 14, 2010

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

John Allen Paulos passionately explains in a personal essay the probabilistic nature of life. He believes that too often people are innumerate and have many misconceptions about math. He enumerates these fallacies in the preface (Paulos, xii,xiv):
1. Math is nothing more than computation;
2. Math is a completely hierarchical subject;
3. Storytelling is not effective as an educational tool in mathematics;
4. Mathematics is only for a few;
5. Math numbs or limits our freedom.
Since Paulos studied philosophy as an undergrad and mathematics in graduate school, he respectfully acknowledges the duality of the two disciplines. Throughout the book he makes comparisons such as "The romantics believe that a concern with numbers numbs us to the big questions of grandeur of sunsets and waterfalls" (Paulos, 179).
Paulos provides real world examples of innumeracy in subjects like stock scams, choice of spouse, newspaper psychics, diet, medical claims, lottery, astrology, drug testing, insurance and law. At times the reader must patiently muster through detailed proofs. But, don't worry as Paulos promises "there won't be a test" (Paulos, xiv). Be patient, just rest and relax while reading "Innumeracy" then will you thoroughly enjoy it. If you are among the innumerate then simply read through the math formulas without a concern for grasping the conceptual depth. John Allen Paulos is flexing his numerate muscles giving Innumeracy greater strength.
The author's aim is to make each of us less intimidated by the numbers. He begins by familiarizing the reader with the basis of counting: how many people are in the US; how many people in the US are under 18, how many die each year; how many cigarettes are smoked each year; and how many words are there in a good sized novel?
Many of us believe incorrectly in the magic of coincidences. However, there are no coincidences instead statistical probabilities. For example in a room of 23 random people - 2 or more will have the same birthday. Another example is the old adage "everything comes in threes" (Paulos, 69). Again this is just statistical probability since if you wait long enough things will come in sets of three. Another misconception is the "why me?" attitude toward misfortunes. Bad things happen periodically, the probability is that they're going to happen to somebody, why not you?
"The tendency to attribute meaning to phenomena governed only by chance is ubiquitous" (Paulos, 114). The fruitful example the author uses to illustrate this concept is regression to the mean. Regression to the mean is the tendency for an extreme value of random quantity followed by a value closer to the mean. In this case he provides the example of very intelligent people who may have intelligent offspring, yet generally will be more likely to be less intelligent than their parents.
John Allen Paulos has an affinity to number ID over name as a means of identification since no two people can have the same ID number. However, he is appalled by the use of an excessive number of digits. In being numerate one would know that an identification number with 9 digits will have 109 (one billion) possible different numbers.
Innumeracy covers relative risk, which is a significantly large issue for Public Health and the future of health care. This interesting passage in the book proposes that a logarithmic safety index be used. In this way we would be measuring the relative safety against the relative danger adding on the likelihood of the endeavor.
Innumeracy is not a romantic beach read. Its meager attempt to be sexy is the argument over the "bell-curve" where "the urge to average can be seductive" (Paulos, 169). The appeal of this book comes from the nature of the author's experience in having studied philosophy, literature and mathematics. Paulos is a believer in the human condition, specifically the tendency to want it all. Numeracy will help people understand that there are going to be trade-offs. A romantic at heart he adamantly opposes the view that mathematics is esoteric and those that study numbers are "coldly rational". The author's desire is to stimulate numeracy and enhance the appreciation of the probabilistic nature of life. John Allen Paulos is a best selling author, public speaker, columnist for [...] and Guardian and a professor of math at Temple. He offers his web address and welcomes feedback [...]

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JOSE FLORES

GREAT READING

October 13, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

As the reader is able to acknowledge, numbers are everywhere in our lives, we can not deny them or think we can live without them. The proper leverage of numbers in our life will give us a complete feeling of fullfillness. Getting to know how to reason numbers is also very important for humanity in order to a quick reaction or in order not to.

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Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences (Vintage) First Vintage Books Edition Edition

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