Book description
Why do even well-educated people often understand so little about maths - or take a perverse pride in not being a 'numbers person'?
In his now-classic book Innumeracy, John Allen Paulos answers questions such as: Why is following the stock market exactly like flipping a coin? How big is a…
Why read it?
2 authors picked Innumeracy as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
The author shows how our inability to deal rationally with data results in misinformed governmental policies, muddled personal decisions, and a heightened vulnerability to accepting baseless conclusions.
With examples from drug testing and sex discrimination to law and relative risk, and everything in between, the reader is shown how understanding numbers can improve society as a whole as well as better individual lives. I’ve handed out copies of this book to my students, friends, and academic associates.
From Martin's list on statistical insights into social issues.
This a slim but very interesting volume. As a mathematics professor Paulos sets out to explain how we can misunderstand statistics, and why this happens.
The book assumes no real serious mathematics ability on the part of the reader, but carefully guides us through the dangers and pitfalls of statistics. Myriad examples of wrong or poor use of statistics are given, and I found the book prompted me to look far more carefully at what a given statistic is telling me, or more accurately what it can’t tell me!
From Gerald's list on decisions bloody decisions.
If you love Innumeracy...
These Blue Mountains
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
Want books like Innumeracy?
Our community of 13,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Innumeracy.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,395
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like Innumeracy, you might also like...
Need to Know
The authoritative but accessible history of the birth of modern American intelligence in World War II that treats not just one but all of the various disciplines: spies, codebreakers, saboteurs.
Told in a relatable style that focuses on actual people, it was a New Yorker "Best of 2022" selection and…
Tsunami
On the morning of December 26, 2004, an undersea earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. The resulting tsunami killed an estimated 230,000 people across fourteen countries, from Indonesia to Sri Lanka to Thailand to the Maldives to India and all the way to East Africa.…
