Despite the ubiquity of countless apps, social media platforms, and so-called smart devices, and even considering the renewed and welcome focus on STEM subjects, societal innumeracy remains a critical driver of bad policy and bad thinking. Almost every major issue facing today's world is made more difficult by false interpretations, incorrect assumptions, or a general misunderstanding of how numbers inform narratives and statistics shape stories. New York Times-bestselling author and math popularizer John Allen Paulos has worked for decades to educate readers on not only the formal properties of the numbers, statistics, and probabilities behind news stories, but also what they mean and how they should be interpreted. When we use mathematics to describe the social world, we are always faced with questions: What are we trying to measure or count and how do we decide whom to include, exclude, or qualify? Who's Counting features selected columns from Paulos' well-known ABC News series of the same name collected here in book form for the first time, along with updates and brand-new original essays from the author. The result is a timeless and timely examination of how better understanding data improves our thinking and decision-making. With examples from government, mass media, natural disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic, conspiracy theories, climate change, "fake news," and popular culture, Paulos shows how mathematics and logic are, along with a humble respect for truth, our most basic and reliable guides to reality.

The preeminent explicator of mathematical logic to non-mathematicians, John Allen Paulos is familiar to general readers not only from his bestselling books but also from his media appearances, including The David Letterman Show and National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" and "Science Friday," as well as articles in "Newsweek, Nature, Discover, Business Week, the New York Times Book Review, The Nation, New York Review of Books, " and "The London Review of Books."

Paulos originally wrote this charming little book on analytic logic, its mathematics, and its puzzles in 1985. And as in his later books, he uses jokes, stories, parables, and anecdotes to elucidate difficult concepts, in this case, some of the fundamental problems in modern philosophy.

"[An] elegant ... Survival Manual ... Brief, witty and full of practical applications." - Stefan Kanfer, Time

Why do even well-educated people understand so little about mathematics? And what are the costs of our innumeracy? John Allen Paulos, in his celebrated bestseller first published in 1988, argues that our inability to deal rationally with very large numbers and the probabilities associated with them results in misinformed governmental policies, confused personal decisions, and an increased susceptibility to pseudoscience of all kinds. Innumeracy lets us know what we're missing, and how we can do something about it.

Sprinkling his discussion of numbers and probabilities with quirky stories and anecdotes, Paulos ranges freely over many aspects of modern life, from contested elections to sports stats, from stock scams and newspaper psychics to diet and medical claims, sex discrimination, insurance, lotteries, and drug testing. Readers of Innumeracy will be rewarded with scores of astonishing facts, a fistful of powerful ideas, and, most important, a clearer, more quantitative way of looking at their world.

Are there any logical reasons to believe in God? The mathematician and bestselling author John Allen Paulos thinks not. In "Irreligion" he presents the case for his own world view, organizing his book into twelve chapters that refute the twelve arguments most often put forward for believing in God's existence. Interspersed among these counterarguments are remarks on a variety of irreligious themes, ranging from the nature of miracles and creationist probability to cognitive illusions and prudential wagers. Special attention is paid to topics, arguments, and questions that spring from his incredulity 'not only about religion but also about others' credulity'. Despite the strong influence of his day job, Paulos says, there isn't a single mathematical formula in the book.

With a sound grasp of statistics, we can dramatically improve our understanding of everything from the weather forecast to our chances at poker. The world then becomes a far less random and fearful place. John Allen Paulos brings together many intriguing and practical examples to reveal the inherent beauty and power of mathematics - and to put the fun back into facts and figures.

John Allen Paulos cleverly scrutinizes the mathematical structures of jokes, puns, paradoxes, spoonerisms, riddles, and other forms of humor, drawing examples from such sources as Rabelais, Shakespeare, James Beattie, Rene Thom, Lewis Carroll, Arthur Koestler, W. C. Fields, and Woody Allen.
Jokes, paradoxes, riddles, and the art of non-sequitur are revealed with great perception and insight in this illuminating account of the relationship between humor and mathematics.--Joseph Williams, New York Times
'Leave your mind alone, ' said a Thurber cartoon, and a really complete and convincing analysis of what humour is might spoil all jokes forever. This book avoids that danger. What it does. . .is describe broadly several kinds of mathematical theory and apply them to throw sidelights on how many kinds of jokes work.--New Scientist
Many scholars nowadays write seriously about the ludicrous. Some merely manage to be dull. A few--like Paulos--are brilliant in an odd endeavor.--Los Angeles Times Book Review

From the author of the national bestseller Innumeracy, a delightful exploration and explanation of mathematical concepts from algebra to zero in easily accessible alphabetical entries. "Paulos . . . does for mathematics what The Joy of Sex did for the boudoir. . . ."--Washington Post Book World. First time in paperback.