Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences -- John Allen Paulos, Paperback

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.

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.

Author: John Allen Paulos
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Published: 08/18/2001
Pages: 208
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.42lbs
Size: 8.29h x 5.51w x 0.56d
ISBN: 9780809058402

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 11
Point Value: 10
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 149586 / Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences


Review Citation(s):
New Yorker (The) 02/02/2009 pg. 70

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.