Bibliograph

A numerate life, a mathematician explores the vagaries of life, his own and probably yours, John Allen Paulos

Type

Label

A numerate life, a mathematician explores the vagaries of life, his own and probably yours, John Allen Paulos

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-197) and index

resource.biographical

autobiography

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

A numerate life

Medium

electronic resource eBook

Nature of contents

dictionariesbibliography

Responsibility statement

John Allen Paulos

Sub title

a mathematician explores the vagaries of life, his own and probably yours

Summary

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

Table Of Contents

Bully teacher, childhood math -- Bias, biography, and why we're all a bit far-out and bizarre -- Ambition versus nihilism -- Life's shifting shapes -- Moving toward the unexpected middle -- Pivots- past to present -- Romance among trans-humans and us cis-humans -- Chances are that chances are -- Lives in the era of numbers and networks -- My stock loss, hypocrisy, and a card trick -- Biographies : verstehen or superficial -- Trips, memories, and becoming jaded

Contributor