Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences 1st Edition

by John Allen Paulos (Author)

159 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0809058402

ISBN-10: 0809058405

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Why do even well-educated people understand so little about mathematics? And what are the costs of our innumeracy? John Allen Paulos, in his celebrated bestseller first published in 1988, argues that our inability to deal rationally with very large numbers and the probabilities associated with them results in misinformed governmental policies, confused personal decisions, and an increased susceptibility to pseudoscience of all kinds. Innumeracy lets us know what we're missing, and how we can do something about it.

Sprinkling his discussion of numbers and probabilities with quirky stories and anecdotes, Paulos ranges freely over many aspects of modern life, from contested elections to sports stats, from stock scams and newspaper psychics to diet and medical claims, sex discrimination, insurance, lotteries, and drug testing. Readers of Innumeracy will be rewarded with scores of astonishing facts, a fistful of powerful ideas, and, most important, a clearer, more quantitative way of looking at their world.

Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Our society would be unimaginably different if the average person truly understood the ideas in this marvelous and important book.” ―Douglas Hofstadter

“[An] elegant ... Survival Manual ... Brief, witty and full of practical applications.” ―Stefan Kanfer, Time

About the Author

John Allen Paulos, professor of mathematics at Temple University and the author of several other popular books on mathematics, is a regular contributor to national publications, including The New York Times and Newsweek. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Grade Level: 09 - 12
Paperback: 180 pages
Publisher: HOLT MCDOUGAL; 1 edition (August 18, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0809058405
ISBN-13: 978-0809058402
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 16.1 x 207 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 159 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #37 in Books > Education & Teaching > Schools & Teaching > Instruction Methods > Social Studies
- #156 in Books > Textbooks > Science & Mathematics > Mathematics > Statistics
- #236 in Books > Science & Math > Mathematics > Applied > Probability & Statistics

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Customer reviews

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Top customer reviews

Innumeracy - the book

ByAmazon Customeron 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...

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

GOOD ANALYSIS, GREAT ANECDOTES ABOUT THE VALUE OF NUMERACY

ByDenis Benchimol Minevon April 3, 2004

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

In this short book, Paulos does an outstanding job of pointing out what lack of number intimacy can do to a person. The anecdotes are outstanding, especially the ones on large numbers and on probability. For example, he shows how one is fooled by probability: If we have 23 people in a room, what is the probability that two of them have the same birthday? 50%!! Very conterintuitive.
The author also tries to understand why it is almost considered acceptable for a person to admit that one is "bad with numbers", while it not being ok to be "bad with words". The realm of psychology is not his forte, but the ideas he points to are interesting.
Overall, this is an easy to read book, much easier even to one literate with numbers. I was done with it in 3 hours, and was left wanting more, so much so that I am now buying some more of his works. If they are half as good as Innumeracy, then they will be good enough.

55 comments 88 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Excellent writer and thinker

Byemrmon April 4, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Loved his writing style. Breezy and entertaining, though all about a dreaded subject (for me)... math! I have been an innumerate, but this book sparked a lot of thought and I also understood most of the 'mathy' stuff he broke down. Though the book is not at all technical and, in fact, mostly is common sense. (Though there are areas where we need to use numbers to break things down- since not everything is common sense and we humans do sometimes get things mixed up-- in the areas of statistics and probability, especially.) I would read other books written by John Allen Paulos.

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Good book for folks with brains

ByJosh Olsonon January 30, 2011

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Generally I found Innumeracy to be a good book. It does a good job pointing out common errors people make with numbers, probability and basic logic. He uses familiar and perhaps useful examples to make his points. Examples include the likelihood of how one would die, gambling related probabilities, baseball batting averages, DNA evidence and much more. He also delves into pseudoscience like astrology.

Certain parts of the book require basic math knowledge (exponents, division, percents, etc). Paulos does his best to dumb down the math and he does so effectively but unfortunately I fear there is a decent swath of people that should be reading this book that probably could not comprehend parts of it. Thankfully those parts are not too frequent.

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An Interesting Read

BySeth J. Bournon September 23, 2008

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This was an interesting book that I would highly recommend to anyone NOT number-savvy. I had heard good things about it, and as someone who appreciates the importance of math, I thought it would be great to check out. It was written with the lay-person as its target audience, so being someone who already knows a great deal of mathematics, I was underwhelmed. The book is clearly written, and explains concepts slowly and carefully as it illustrates every-day math for the common person.

Honestly, this book felt a bit like "See Spot Run," but for mathematics instead of the English language. Even though it was a bit boring for the mathematically inclined, I highly recommend it for anyone suffering from "Mathematical Illiteracy." If you have ever said to yourself "I'm not a numbers person," then this book is for you.

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Well written, thought-provoking exposition of the depressingly common fallacies ...

ByBobon November 8, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Well written, thought-provoking exposition of the depressingly common fallacies and misconceptions which befall nearly everyone. The discussions and examples of relative risk, magical thinking, and misunderstanding of basic mathematics and statistics are reasonably thorough, but understandable, without the need for any mathematics beyond basic algebra. This should be required reading at the middle school level, for everyone!

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Common sense book explaining math

ByAmazon Customeron December 3, 1998

Format: Audio CassetteVerified Purchase

I did not read the book but heard the author on a Public Broadcast program. The program discussed many of Paulos's books.
Paulos explained the errors people make when evaluating statistics or the results of studies. The book helps people become aware of numbers and math in a way that makes sense.
He explained how people mistake correlations and causal relationships in statistics. One example, The participants in a spelling bee -- people with large feet are better spellers. It is not because the people have large feet that makes them better spellers it is because they are older.
Other topics included how people can become better aware of numbers like million, billion, trillion. He explains probability. Random numbers etc.
I will buy this book.

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It's good.

ByAmazon Customeron September 12, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I've read a number of skeptic books. This one doesn't break any new ground but it's a good addition to a skeptic library.

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Most recent customer reviews

persistence id required iin certain chapters.. It worthwhile ...

persistence id required iin certain chapters.. It worthwhile reading but I fear the book could not be understood by an inumerate person.

Published 4 months ago by L Michael Szendrey

You owe it to yourself to have this book.

Awesome book. An absolute classic.

Published 9 months ago by Timothy T. Bond

Five Stars

Really great book - everyone should read.

Published 11 months ago by WEF

One Star

I hate math and this didn't change my mind.

Published 11 months ago by Amazon Customer

A great book for those with sharply mathematical minds

This is an informative book. It is well-written and interesting, but will appeal to the mathematically inclined most.Read more

Published 1 year ago by Tom the Tinker

Five Stars

this book got me interested in learning more about math and statistics

Published 1 year ago by Sam Sprague

Five Stars

Required reading for everybody

Published 1 year ago by robert knudsen

Could be much better

I like the idea of this book, but it just isn't very much fun to read. The math guy should have asked for assistance from a language guy to write this.

Published 1 year ago by Ursie

Some examples are simplified to a point they are no ...

Some examples are simplified to a point they are no longer accurate. A sub-par attempt, possibly for self-indulgent entertainment.

Published 1 year ago by Anastasia

Five Stars

Hummmmm Numbers.

Published 1 year ago by Amazon Customer

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