I loved this book. Ellenberg does a great job of leading the reader through his system of mathematical reasoning. He also takes the time to dismantle the myth of the lone mathematical genius. Specifically he outlines the idea that most people are probably better at math than they realize, they were probably burned at a young age or taught incorrectly. Lastly, I feel more confident after reading this book because now I know that I am never wrong.

This book should be required reading for high school and college students. The every day wording choices, explanations, and real-world illustrations make math less mysterious or intimidating (and I say this as someone who got a BA in Mathematics years ago). It not only removes the fear of (or even stigma about) math, but would likely inspire additional students to pursue math-related degrees, courses, and interests at a time when we surely could use them.

Great book but fuck me, the math was complex. Now that I know geometry and Powerball numbers are linked, I expect huge gains on my altcoins.

I had just finished reading "Being Wrong" by Kathryn Schulz and I was looking at my backlog as to what to read/listen to next and this book just jumped out at me. The irony of reading a book about accepting and embracing "being wrong" and then immediately reading a book about "how not to be wrong" was just too good.

The most delightful thing about this book is that it embraces the same philosophy of Schulz's book. The twist at the end is that we should embrace being wrong and the enlightening thing about Math is not that it makes sure we are never wrong but that it can show us where we are wrong and quantify that uncertainty.

This book touches everything, politics, religion, philosophy, all kinds of fun stuff. One of the big things I gained from the book was its critique of Instant Runoff Voting, of which I am a big fan of. He really pointed out its limitations and brought to light the main problem that it is trying to fix and how it may very well be unfixable.

I personally loved this book, but I would only recommend it to Math nerds like myself. He makes everything Very accessible, but I just cannot imagine someone really caring for his examples or what he is talking about unless you really enjoy the mathematical nature of it all. Really, if you like the YouTube series "Numberphile" you will LOVE this book as it is much more practical than the show can be.

This is not an easy popular science book to read, so for people who are not into math, it may be difficult to read. But, it’s a perfect book for people who are interested in maths but don’t normally have chance to read about it. I especially enjoyed the last section about dealing with uncertainty and being comfortable with it.

Couldn’t finish. Great content and arguments, but too verbose…couldn’t hold my attention

An interesting read, there were times where I got lost in his long-winded explanations. Some of the analogies that Ellenberg used just confused me when I already had a decent understanding of the concept. There was some interesting history and I learned some new things which is all you can ask for at the end of the day. A well deserved four stars.