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Title details for A Numerate Life by John Allen Paulos - Available

A Numerate Life

by John Allen Paulos
Audiobook
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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 listening.
Expand title description text
Publisher: Ascent Audio Edition: Unabridged

OverDrive Listen audiobook

  • ISBN: 9781469095226
  • File size: 195156 KB
  • Release date: December 1, 2015
  • Duration: 06:46:34

MP3 audiobook

  • ISBN: 9781469095226
  • File size: 195445 KB
  • Release date: December 1, 2015
  • Duration: 06:38:31
  • Number of parts: 7
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Formats

OverDrive Listen audiobook
MP3 audiobook

subjects

Biography & Autobiography Self-Improvement Nonfiction

Languages

English

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 listening.
Expand title description text
Biography & Autobiography Self-Improvement Nonfiction
  • Details

    Publisher:
    Ascent Audio
    Edition:
    Unabridged

    OverDrive Listen audiobook
    ISBN: 9781469095226
    File size: 195156 KB
    Release date: December 1, 2015
    Duration: 06:46:34

    MP3 audiobook
    ISBN: 9781469095226
    File size: 195445 KB
    Release date: December 1, 2015
    Duration: 06:38:31
    Number of parts: 7

  • Creators
  • Formats
    OverDrive Listen audiobook
    MP3 audiobook
  • Languages
    English
  • Reviews
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