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Title: Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences by John Allen Paulos ISBN: 0809058405 Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub Pub. Date: 18 August, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.18
Rating: 5
Summary: lifting the shackles of cultural innumeracy
Comment: I read this book several years ago and believe it to be a classic that would enhance any mathematics study course by making it topical and a part of the reader/student's everyday environment. What mathematics teaching needs is humanising - this book could go some way towards doing this.
This short review follows a review I have just written for 'I Think Therefore I Laugh' - another of Mr Paulos' books. Because I rate 'Innumeracy' so highly I decided to look at Customer Reviews for it, and found some clashed with my own assessment.
Some reviewrs are offended by Mr Paulos' perceived attitude towards the innumerate - believing that he is condescending in an off-putting way. I don't see it that way except inasmuch as we are all innumerate at some level and have to learn to become more numerate - just as a golfer has to learn to read the cut of the green if they want to be a good putter. And numeracy skills will certainly enhance the way we see the world and respond to its mysteries as Mr Paulos shows so cleary.
Rating: 3
Summary: Not bad, but befinitely over-rated
Comment: The book did nothing more than explaining some basic probability concepts (law of multiplicity, conditional probability, binomial distribution) and expressing the author's "anger" over innumeracy.
However, because of author's academic background and his condescending attitude towards the innumerates, the writing style could be quite intimidating to the general audience, who was supposed to be the target audience of the book.
Consequently, the stated objective of the book - to try to instill mathematical thinking to the general public has not been achieved.
For some who is interested in mathematics, this could be a good read. However, smart ones definitely are not going to gain much insight from this book.
There are other 2 books by Paulos. "Mathematician reads newspaper" is not bad (probably as good as this could get.) "Once upon a number" is a complete waste of time...
Rating: 3
Summary: interesting, witty
Comment: As a shamed mamber of the "innumerate" (as Paulos refers to us), I read his book with interest. His point - that the majority of us do not have "number sense" - is well taken. Many of the examples he disucsses as symptoms of innumeracy (not having a clear understanding of just how big big numbers are, making ridiculous statements regarding probability) I have seen and even made myself.
Yet there is very little by way of addressing the problem - some of us "innumerates" got to be that way from bad experiences in school; others have an irrational fear of numbers, some just struggle with the abstractness of mathematics; in any case, it would have been helpful had some concrete solutions been presented.
Nonetheless I found the book written with humor and wit - for a book about numbers, it was not dry, but rather fascinating. Too bad it seems that it reaches a rather narrow audience.
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Title: A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper by John Allen Paulos ISBN: 038548254X Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: April, 1996 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market by John Allen Paulos ISBN: 0465054803 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 13 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Beyond Numeracy: Ruminations of a Numbers Man by John Allen Paulos ISBN: 067973807X Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: April, 1992 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Once Upon a Number : The Hidden Mathematical Logic of Stories by John Allen Paulos ISBN: 0465051596 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Obvious Adams: The Story of a Successful Businessman by Robert R. Updegraff ISBN: 0961320303 Publisher: Updegraff Pr Pub. Date: June, 1953 List Price(USD): $5.00 |
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