How Not to Be Wrong
The Power of Mathematical Thinking
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How Not to Be Wrong
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Narrated by:
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Jordan Ellenberg
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Written by:
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Jordan Ellenberg
About this listen
The Freakonomics of math - a math-world superstar unveils the hidden beauty and logic of the world and puts its power in our hands.
The math we learn in school can seem like a dull set of rules, laid down by the ancients and not to be questioned. In How Not to Be Wrong, Jordan Ellenberg shows us how terribly limiting this view is: Math isn’t confined to abstract incidents that never occur in real life, but rather touches everything we do—the whole world is shot through with it.
Math allows us to see the hidden structures underneath the messy and chaotic surface of our world. It’s a science of not being wrong, hammered out by centuries of hard work and argument. Armed with the tools of mathematics, we can see through to the true meaning of information we take for granted: How early should you get to the airport? What does “public opinion” really represent? Why do tall parents have shorter children? Who really won Florida in 2000? And how likely are you, really, to develop cancer?
How Not to Be Wrong presents the surprising revelations behind all of these questions and many more, using the mathematician’s method of analyzing life and exposing the hard-won insights of the academic community to the layman—minus the jargon. Ellenberg chases mathematical threads through a vast range of time and space, from the everyday to the cosmic, encountering, among other things, baseball, Reaganomics, daring lottery schemes, Voltaire, the replicability crisis in psychology, Italian Renaissance painting, artificial languages, the development of non-Euclidean geometry, the coming obesity apocalypse, Antonin Scalia’s views on crime and punishment, the psychology of slime molds, what Facebook can and can’t figure out about you, and the existence of God.
Ellenberg pulls from history as well as from the latest theoretical developments to provide those not trained in math with the knowledge they need. Math, as Ellenberg says, is “an atomic-powered prosthesis that you attach to your common sense, vastly multiplying its reach and strength.” With the tools of mathematics in hand, you can understand the world in a deeper, more meaningful way. How Not to Be Wrong will show you how.
©2014 Jordan Ellenberg (P)2014 Penguin AudioWhat the critics say
"Brilliantly engaging...Ellenberg’s talent for finding real-life situations that enshrine mathematical principles would be the envy of any math teacher. He presents these in fluid succession, like courses in a fine restaurant, taking care to make each insight shine through, unencumbered by jargon or notation. Part of the sheer intellectual joy of the book is watching the author leap nimbly from topic to topic, comparing slime molds to the Bush-Gore Florida vote, criminology to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The final effect is of one enormous mosaic unified by mathematics." (Manil Suri, The Washington Post)
"Easy-to-follow, humorously presented.... This book will help you to avoid the pitfalls that result from not having the right tools. It will help you realize that mathematical reasoning permeates our lives - that it can be, as Mr. Ellenberg writes, a kind of 'X-ray specs that reveal hidden structures underneath the messy and chaotic surface of the world'." (Mario Livio, The Wall Street Journal)
"Witty, compelling, and just plain fun to read.... How Not to Be Wrong can help you explore your mathematical superpowers." (Evelyn Lamb, Scientific American)
What listeners say about How Not to Be Wrong
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Steven
- 2021-05-11
Meant for general public, slow to get to point
A bit boring if you have some postsecondary math knowledge as most of the actual math is pretty basic.
Should include PDF summary. Includes stories that explain the point that could be skipped over if reading the text.
Should start with an intro of what the topic is so that way if the listener is already familiar it could be skipped rather than having to listen through.
If someone only knows high school level math and interested in little tidbits rather than rigorous math it would be excellent
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Louis-Simon
- 2022-01-31
great and informative
The book is very dense in some parts due to the media, but it is a must read for anyone who is interested in pure mathematics and economics
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Kaitlin Thistle
- 2021-03-04
Good book
I think the hard copy would be better to read than listening to the audiobook. There are a number of incidences where the author throws a lot of numbers at you. I haven’t read the hard copy but I tend to absorb numbers better when reading.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Sam
- 2024-10-27
Difficult to follow
While this book offers valuable insights, I found it challenging to follow in an Audible format. The complex ideas and detailed explanations seem better suited to a hard copy, where pausing, re-reading, and absorbing the information would be easier. I recommend getting a physical or e-book version to make the most of this read!"
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Justin
- 2018-06-01
Everyone should think like this.
Some equations and numbers are hard to follow while listening but the idea comes through if you listen.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Jeff S. Wiebe
- 2023-02-11
A Math Book for Non-Math Folks Interested in Math
This is a book about math, written by a mathematician for non-math folks interested in math. If you are a non-math person who is interested in math, this is a good book. If you are a math person already, or are not interested in math at all, it probably won't please you.
I state things this way because some other reviews seem be annoyed that the book isn't something other than what it is. I empathize, as it's disappointing to select and listen to a book that isn't what you expected. I was looking for a book to accomplish exactly what this book set out to accomplish, and I give it 4/5.
The one star shortfall comes partially because the author is such a natural at math that, despite his best efforts, there are times that even his very finely chopped explanations still are a little fuzzy for this listener. The audio format exacerbates things, as some others have noted. A lot of verbal numbers quickly produce a 'cloud of unknowing' (nothing like the medieval mystic manual of that title, either, in that understanding overwhelmed does not produce any sort of serene or sublime state. It's just straightforward deer-in-headlights disorientation and cognitive paralysis.) Usually the flow of numbers is brief and the reasoning and explanations continue soon enough to get your bearings again. Anf the audio format also allows/pushes the listener not to get bogged down by portions that go over your head, but to press on. This is helpful as the author keeps bringing things back into focus (so to speak) for the non-math listener regularly enough that the material missed isn't damaging to the overall slow growth of a generally increased comfortability with mathematics. Maybe part of that is coming to see that confusion with the numbers will always be what happens when the reasoning about what the numbers represent is unclear. And that, I think, is the main point the author is making. He makes it pretty well.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Bluetagz1914
- 2021-02-07
scattered message
didn't like this read at all. just sounded like ramblings. unless you are really into math I would not recommend
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