| A Numerate Life: A Mathematician Explores the Vagaries of Life, His Own and Probably Yours Contributor(s): Paulos, John Allen (Author) |
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ISBN: 1633881180 ISBN-13: 9781633881181 Publisher: Prometheus Books OUR PRICE: $15.30 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: November 2015 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Science & Technology - Mathematics | Essays - Biography & Autobiography | Personal Memoirs |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 2015023515 |
| Physical Information: 0.6" H x 6" W x 8.9" (0.55 lbs) 206 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Employing intuitive ideas from mathematics, this quirky "meta-memoir" raises questions about our lives that most of us don't think to ask, but arguably should: What part of memory is reliable fact, what part creative embellishment? Which favorite presuppositions are unfounded, which statistically biased? By conjoining two opposing mindsets--the suspension of disbelief required in storytelling and the skepticism inherent in the scientific method--bestselling mathematician John Allen Paulos has created an unusual hybrid, a composite of personal memories and mathematical approaches to re-evaluating them. Entertaining vignettes from Paulos's biography abound--ranging from a bullying math teacher and a fabulous collection of baseball cards to romantic crushes, a grandmother's petty larceny, and his quite unintended role in getting George Bush elected president in 2000. These vignettes serve as springboards to many telling perspectives: simple arithmetic puts life-long habits in a dubious new light; higher dimensional geometry helps us see that we're all rather peculiar; nonlinear dynamics explains the narcissism of small differences cascading into very different siblings; logarithms and exponentials yield insight on why we tend to become bored and jaded as we age; and there are tricks and jokes, probability and coincidences, and much more. For fans of Paulos or newcomers to his work, this witty commentary on his life--and yours--is fascinating reading. |