adnielsen's review against another edition

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4.0

Contrary to the title, this book is really more about how to properly and improperly use statistics. It hits on topics like regression to the mean, linearity, and expected value by examining a number of historical cases. While interesting and fairly engrossing, sometimes it is hard to make connections between a number of examples and the overall theme of the chapter. This was a fun read but unlike Bill Gates, this is not one of my top ten favorite books of all time though it probably is in the ten best I've read this year.

jasperburns's review against another edition

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2.0

View my best reviews and a collection of mental models at jasperburns.blog.

duparker's review against another edition

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4.0

Very interesting book, the idea being that math is more than just a+b=c. The examples and scenarios given are well thought out and the quite appropriate. The author writes with both authority and commonality. The book has a complex theme and is about mathematics, but is more of a philosophy book.

maxvandervelden's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Echt een geweldig boek over wiskundig denken zonder veel cijfers. De schrijver weet wiskunde te romantiseren voor een everyday person. 

jessicarchibald's review against another edition

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5.0

Made my brain hurt but in a good way. The world would be a better place if we all understood more math!

ecogator's review against another edition

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informative slow-paced

2.5

Book could have been ⅓ as long. Author keeps saying the same thing over in different ways. The chapters felt more like podcasts than a book.  

mw1994's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

As someone who worked at a university research institute, took a couple years off to try another career, and is now heading back to work in data analytics, I really appreciated this book. I know there’s probably a good deal of criticism out there that pop science books as a genre fail to balance conceptual rigor with Gladwell-style vacuous anecdotes—I think this book really found a good balance between theory and storytelling. The author has a great sense of humor and it’s nice to read a basic, high-level re-introduction to things like p-values and Bayesian inference to get myself back into the mindset of reporting statistics again. I would definitely recommend this book as an example of what pop science should be. 

konradp's review against another edition

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5.0

read this book if you want a nice glimpse behind the curtain of mathematical thinking. it’s very well written, a pleasure to read and takes you down countless real life conundrums and adding a framework for better interpreting results.

bupdaddy's review against another edition

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5.0

Ellenberg explains lots of real-world situations that math can help understand, and he does it really well.

I'm sure lots of people have compared this to Nate Silver's [b:The Signal and the Noise|13588394|The Signal and the Noise Why So Many Predictions Fail—But Some Don't|Nate Silver|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1355058876l/13588394._SY75_.jpg|19175796] and I will too. Both of these need to be required reading for everyone.

Don't be intimidated - he's a great writer and tailors this toward a non-mathy audience.

Somehow I missed that he's been writing for Slate for many years, too. I've got a lot of catching up to do.

blairconrad's review against another edition

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4.0

Quite good. Ellenberg's style is fun and funny and easy. I enjoyed most of the bits. Especially the lottery ones. I thought the book started meandering just a little bit a the end, and deviated from the title, but it never got completely unfun.
Still, if you've any interest in math (even if you think you have no aptitude), pick it up.