Overview

The bestselling author of ""Zero"" shows how mathematical misinformation pervades-and shapes-our daily lives. According to MSNBC, having a child makes you stupid. You actually lose IQ points. ""Good Morning America"" has announced that natural blondes will be extinct within two hundred years. Pundits estimated that there were more than a million demonstrators at a tea party rally in Washington, D.C., even though roughly sixty thousand were there. Numbers have peculiar powers-they can disarm skeptics, befuddle journalists, and hoodwink the public into believing almost anything. ""Proofiness,"" as Charles Seife explains in this eye-opening book, is the art of using pure mathematics for impure ends, and he reminds readers that bad mathematics has a dark side. It is used to bring down beloved government officials and to appoint undeserving ones (both Democratic and Republican), to convict the innocent and acquit the guilty, to ruin our economy, and to fix the outcomes of future elections. This penetrating look at the intersection of math and society will appeal to readers of ""Freakonomics"" and the books of Malcolm Gladwell.

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9780670022168

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Reviews

A delightful and remarkably revealing book that should be required reading for . . . well, for everyone. <br> - Booklist (Starred review)<br><br>

Sprightly written, despite its sobering message. <br> - Kirkus Reviews <br> A delightful and remarkably revealing book that should be required reading for . . . well, for everyone. <br> - Booklist (Starred review)

. .. passionate ... This is more than a math book; it's an eye-opening civics lesson. <br> - The New York Times Book Review <br><br> Seife's book is an admirable salvo against quantitative bamboozlement by the media and the government. <br> - Boston Globe <br><br> Seife's coinages, humor, and curious tidbits keep readers engaged as the book gradually moves from a description of techniques to their practical application. <br> - Philadelphia Inquirer <br><br> If Stephen Colbert had had time to write a math book, he surely would have written Proofiness . <br> - Dallas Morning News <br><br> Sprightly written, despite its sobering message. <br> - Kirkus Reviews <br><br> A delightful and remarkably revealing book that should be required reading for . . . well, for everyone. <br> - Booklist (Starred review)

Author Information

Charles Seife is the author of five previous books, including ""Proofiness"" and ""Zero, "" which won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for first nonfiction and was a ""New York Times"" notable book. He has written for a wide variety of publications, including ""The New York Times, Wired, New Scientist, Science, Scientific American, "" and ""The Economist."" He is a professor of journalism at New York University and lives in New York City. ""

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