How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking
Ratings36
Average rating4
Bleh. I was NOT smart enough for this book! I thought it looked interesting and would have some cool insights into practical applications of math and statistics and such. Then 75% of the book ended up being proofs (simplified, of course) of the topics he was talking about and it was just way too much. The “real-world” applications weren't interesting enough to make it worth it.
Then, I started comparing it to Thinking Fast and Slow, which has a similar vibe but from a behavioral economics standpoint instead of pure math. Compared to that, there was no point at all of reading this book.
I was looking forward to the hype I had read about this book. Unfortunately, the author constantly chose to make his points by telling political anecdotes, mostly anti-Republican. He also writes in a snarky, arrogant manner. I wonder if he'll look back in twenty years and be proud of this.
A fun tour of important concepts in statistics, probability, and other areas of math, with effective storytelling and connecting concepts through mathematician biographies and modern applications. A highlight was the story of the MIT Cash WinFall lottery team that rivals stories of the MIT Blackjack Club.
Amalgam of interesting examples that teach you to not too easily fall for seemingly convincing numbers and data representations. We are wired to make logical mistakes and misunderstand statistics. But we won't all be dead by 2050 despite there being a seemingly straight line going up on that graph. And even the most unpredictable event will be predicted, if there are enough people making predictions.
I quite liked the concept of calculating your life based on utility - how many wasted hours spent on airports arriving early are worth 1 missed plane? And in the light of recent political events it was interesting to read about how the same votes could lead to 3 different outcomes, depending on voting method used (traditional vs instant-runoff vs head-to-head matchup).
All in all a good book, yet I am debating btw 3 and 4 stars, because the 2nd half of the book got partially very abstract - discussing geometry - and therefore harder to read.