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79th out of 132 books
—
151 voters
Proofiness: The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception
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...more
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...more
Hardcover, 304 pages
Published
September 23rd 2010
by Viking Adult
(first published January 1st 2010)
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FINAL REVIEW: October 23, 2010
"Proofiness" by Charles Seife is a well-intentioned book that suffers a definite crisis of identity. The jacket blurb and author's introduction promise a guided tour of the seamy underworld of statistical malpractice, that is, an account of the most common ways data are misrepresented or misinterpreted in the media, either through carelessness or because of a deliberate effort to mislead. Seife is not the first author to consider the issue of misleading data analysi...more
"Proofiness" by Charles Seife is a well-intentioned book that suffers a definite crisis of identity. The jacket blurb and author's introduction promise a guided tour of the seamy underworld of statistical malpractice, that is, an account of the most common ways data are misrepresented or misinterpreted in the media, either through carelessness or because of a deliberate effort to mislead. Seife is not the first author to consider the issue of misleading data analysi...more
A quick read that will lead you to doubt the truth of pretty much everything besides numbers themselves. An interesting book if you like social economics topics like Predictably Irrational et al, but coming from a different angle.
Seife discusses different ways that data and numbers are misused and misinterpreted, either intentionally or not, and the severity of their impacts. He seems particularly focused on the ills of the current American democracy (and probably with good reason), but it lead...more
Seife discusses different ways that data and numbers are misused and misinterpreted, either intentionally or not, and the severity of their impacts. He seems particularly focused on the ills of the current American democracy (and probably with good reason), but it lead...more
This book ruined statistics for me. Which, even though it makes watching the news or reading magazines decidedly less fun, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But for such a (relatively) short read, Seife spent far too long explaining the basics and too little time going in-depth on the real-world implications of shoddy number-crunching. He could have used a read-through from someone more prone to sensation (even though part of his thesis is a condemnation of over-sensationalizing things). I think an...more
Did you know that there is a statistical basis for an unequivocal legal decision of how the Gore/Bush presidential election should have been decided? Have you ever heard a drug company or a politician or pundit make a claim involving numbers and had a nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right? Have you ever heard one of those claims and not really questioned it? People who want to make a points or reach a certain outcome use - and abuse - numbers all the time. In this entertaining, acces...more
Drags a little bit in the final chapter or two, but still an important (and entertaining) read. People hear statistics and take them as Gospel all the time without questioning them. Seife's book explains why most statistics and polls you hear are pretty much completely bogus.
In the end, the author posits that the only way to prevent people from being hoodwinked and manipulated by the statistics they here is through greater mathematical sophistication. Which is all well and good, but I guess I'm...more
In the end, the author posits that the only way to prevent people from being hoodwinked and manipulated by the statistics they here is through greater mathematical sophistication. Which is all well and good, but I guess I'm...more
This was a fun book. Seriously, how many books do you know which contain a formula for the perfect butt? I am not kidding. It's in the book! This is not a book for serious mathematicians and scientists (though the author has a solid background in both), rather, it's a worthwhile examination of the many ways numbers are used to "prove" things in everyday life. Think of any of the recent "studies" you hear about on the news and then ask how much more likely are you to believe those stories if they...more
I would say this is my MUST READ of the year. It's a witty exploration of the many ways numbers mislead us. We are programmed to believe numbers. If someone tells you that x is faster than y, well, that could be debatable. But if they tell you that x is 3 times faster than y, we accept it. We even accept people telling us that this group of people is 2 times happier than that group when happiness is something we don't even know how to measure. A spoonful of sugar may help the medicine go down, b...more
He doesn't prove that mathematics is essential for a democracy, but he certainly shows how the lack of proper use of mathematics can fray heavily at the edges!
This was a great book to have read over a long Fourth of July holiday. Though many people may realize some of the broad general concepts in the book it's great to have a better structure for talking about things like Potemkin numbers, disestimation, fruit packing, cherry picking, apple polishing, comparing apples to oranges, causuistry, ra...more
This was a great book to have read over a long Fourth of July holiday. Though many people may realize some of the broad general concepts in the book it's great to have a better structure for talking about things like Potemkin numbers, disestimation, fruit packing, cherry picking, apple polishing, comparing apples to oranges, causuistry, ra...more
A lighter-weight-than-it-should-be look at how the inappropriate (or downright deceitful) use of numbers and statistics (lies, damn lies, and ...) not only hurts us individually, but hurts our society. Pollsters, pundits, politicians, judges, and journalists all get raked over the coals for either inept use of math, numbers, and stats, or for using them selectively and dishonestly to attain their goals.
That's all good, and generally helpful, even if the end result is more popular than penetratin...more
That's all good, and generally helpful, even if the end result is more popular than penetratin...more
The basic premise of this one is how numbers and statistics are manipulated by the political establishment for their own gain, and how the public is manipulated as a result of that. It was quite a compelling read. What I particularly liked was Seife's non-partisan view. He described examples of both the left and right using numbers to skew thing toward their side.
Seife details several ways in which numbers are used to deceive or warp the truth and gives some information of things to beware of....more
Seife details several ways in which numbers are used to deceive or warp the truth and gives some information of things to beware of....more
Having taken physics courses in high school and as an undergrad, I realized that I've been taking one aspect of numbers lightly: how easy it is to misunderstand what they stand for. Proofiness reads like an introduction to a global issue, bringing in specific cases and introducing jargon to identify each issue. (As a tip to Barney Stinson, some of the terms demonstrated the author's visiativity.) Most of these issues with the so-called "dark arts" have been stressed out of me by my education, so...more
This title of this book is a play on Stephen Colbert's concept of "truthiness." The author defines proofiness as manipulating numbers to prove something that you know in your gut to be true. Numbers are generally associated with factual information, so it is an easy way to promote an agenda. It was an interesting premise, but I was really disappointed in how it panned out.
The first half of the book was not very interesting or ground-breaking. The author gives real life examples of how numbers ha...more
The first half of the book was not very interesting or ground-breaking. The author gives real life examples of how numbers ha...more
An easy to read, amusing tour of some basic statistical ideas applied to a variety of situations. Seife focuses on concepts such as systematic error, statistical error, apple polishing, and other tricks as they affect polling, elections, and justice. He comes to the astonishing conclusion that the winner of very close races, such as recently see in the Minnesota senate race and in the Bush vs Gore race in Florida were not really winners. These elections, due to statistical error, were actually t...more
Certainly an thought provoking subject. The author does write in an easy to read way and the explanations of the different types of "proofiness" are for the most part understandable and clear. The author's use of neologisms is at times amusing (randumbness) and at times cringe-worthy (causuistry). My objections are at the rather journalistic preference for witty one worded style over clarity of concept. This is particularly obvious when he defines causuistry as a subset of causistry which just m...more
Critics were particularly impressed by the way Seife presented complex mathematical concepts without seeming condescending, overbearing, or dull. He accomplishes this through accessible examples and a humorous style. His examples of false "proofiness" are memorable because he ties them to clever coinages like "electile dysfunction." A few reviewers found Seife to be a little too clever for his own good and wished he would have included more mathematical content instead of humorous neologisms and...more
After a promising start, this book ended up disappointing. The long chapters on American politics (the Franken vs Coleman & the Gore vs Bush cases) dragged on me. Except maybe for the hilarious section on the "Lizard People" in Minnesota.
It seems to me this book is less about mathematics and more about numbers which is like comparing literature to words. Politicians and journalists alike take most of the blame for the writer (which is ironic considering his background: or is it? after all Se...more
It seems to me this book is less about mathematics and more about numbers which is like comparing literature to words. Politicians and journalists alike take most of the blame for the writer (which is ironic considering his background: or is it? after all Se...more
This was a very easy to read book about the misuse/abuse of numbers with particular focus on U.S. politics and journalistic practices. Written in an entertaining style the book provides an easy to understand explanation of many of the abused statistical analyses used by journalists, politicians, and interest groups. The examples Seife presents are fascinating in their detail and analysis. My only reservation about the book is that Seife occasionally seems to be somewhat of a "scare-monger" conce...more
A journalists take on how numbers and facts are stretched, made up, and generally misunderstood in the media and in the courts. He uses a lot of his own terminology to describe some of these tricks (Potemkin numbers, casuistry), that I had a hard time following. The concepts made sense, but the anmes for these phenomenon didn't really resonate.
I thought that sections on prosecutors and defenders play with probabilities to sway judges and juries was downright scary. His description of how these t...more
I thought that sections on prosecutors and defenders play with probabilities to sway judges and juries was downright scary. His description of how these t...more
This book is not for those who find politics or business mind-numbingly dull. However, Seife does a remarkable job of making mathematical issues easy to understand for those of us who haven't taken a math class since high school. It's almost frightening to see how much bad math influences the world, and will certainly make you more aware of how much you trust silly arguments as long as they're presented in mathematical figures. Perhaps what I like best about Seife's writing is that I'm now so wa...more
A disturbing but important look at how numbers are manipulated by politicians, lawyers, and others to make us believe falsehoods. An educational peek into voting, gerrymandering, the census, and some Supreme Court decisions, and other topics that show how our democracy is being eroded by deliberate twisting of facts and figures, cherry-picking numbers and taking them out of context, etc. Highlights the importance of questioning "facts" or data that's presented in numerical form and having the ab...more
Remember snickering when you first read that some medieval philosophers argued about how many angels could dance on the head of a pin? This book is a modern day equivalent to those silly discourses. Seife is the sort of fellow who's evidently so smart that he's carried his brilliant arguments to nonsense. He begins well enough, discussing "fruit packing" and standard error among other topics pertinent to evaluating data. But then he falls in a well, spouting claims that aren't supported (at leas...more
I liked the first couple of chapters, although there was actually less math that I thought there would be. Most of it is just common sense, learning to spot the ways that statistics can be manipulated to proof a point, sell something, deceive. After the first couple of chapters, however, there's less math and more discussion of how the political process (polls, elections, vote-counting) are manipulated through various means. If nothing else, this book should teach you to be mistrustful of any co...more
Everyone should be required to read this book. In these days of political machinations, media with its obsession with polls, and questions of global warming and environmental health threats, all of us need to understand that numbers—which seem so objective—really can too easily be falsified, manipulated and misinterpreted, depending on the understanding or the agenda of those communicating the numbers. The book is really readable, with copious contemporary examples and a touch of history. (And y...more
A newer, wittier, more political "How to Lie with Statistics". Seife's penchant for silly neologisms will leave you rolling your eyes, but his examples of numerical chicanery frequently made me grin--or smirkringe, which, in the Seifian tradition, I will define as a combination of amusement and despair at the blatant misuse of statistics and statistical reasoning. For those already acquainted with its spiritual predecessors, Proofiness's first few chapters will not present many new concepts, but...more
Another book read in iBooks, mostly on the T last month. Brief but interesting. I hope that the author's blatant liberal bias doesn't distract from the mathematical examples he provides (and similarly, that he didn't engage in some selection bias himself in choosing those examples). I had a general idea of the sorts of fallacies he describes, but it's nice to learn the technical terminology and get some clear examples. Hopefully it will help me avoid making these errors in the future while simul...more
I wanted to love this. It had so much potential but way too much emphasis on the manipulation of political data. I mean...really? I guess I'm too cynical but this is just a given for me, of course people manipulate data for their own means....ESPECIALLY for political means.
I wanted more surprising, unusual stories. Also, not enough about math/numbers. So weird for a TOTAL humanities person to be saying thus but I was oddly ready for it to be super "math/nerdy". I'm thinking his other books may b...more
I wanted more surprising, unusual stories. Also, not enough about math/numbers. So weird for a TOTAL humanities person to be saying thus but I was oddly ready for it to be super "math/nerdy". I'm thinking his other books may b...more
Seife defines "proofiness" as the art of using bogus mathematical arguments to prove something that you know in your heart is true - even when it's not. The term, obviously, is inspired by Stephen Colbert's "truthiness". The problem with this book for me, is that I didn't learn very much. I liked the chapter on risk tremendously - insurance, banking etc. But much of the rest, I learned either at school, college or graduate school. Seife writes about statistics - comparing apples to oranges, samp...more
Not bad. The opening chapters give a great breakdown of basic statistical fallacies including how to make them and how to find them. The middle chunk of the book is devoted to understanding manipulation of numbers during elections, specifically the 2004 US presidential election (Bush v. Gore). It was all good information, as far as I know, and it was enlightening to me to see how some of the numbers were manipulated but it felt out-of-place in this book. Later chapters got back on track, and I w...more
A bizarre book. The early chapters are full of amusing and enlightening info about numbers, especially statistics and probability. But around the middle of the book the author goes off on a liberal screed. In one section not more than two pages go by for an entire chapter where he doesn't call Justice Antonin Scalia every nasty name he can dredge up. Too bad. We all need to know more about numbers and the author has the knack of explaining things mathematical and arithmetical. A good book ruined...more
This was a quick fun read. It was basically about misuse or outright fabrication of statistics especially in the press. He has lots of interesting examples or ridiculous numbers that get into the popular press but are based on numbers that someone just made up. For instance the assertion that driving a Hummer is more environmentally responsible than driving a Prius. This rumor was based on the assumption, based on no evidence, that the average Prius would be driven far fewer miles for fewer year...more
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CHARLES SEIFE is a Professor of Journalism at New York University. Formerly a journalist with Science magazine, has also written for New Scientist, Scientific American, The Economist, Science, Wired UK, The Sciences, and numerous other publications. He is the author of Zero: The Biography Of A Dangerous Idea, which won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction. He holds an M.S. in mathemat...more
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“There are many ways to generate numerical falsehoods from data, many ways to create proofiness from even valid meaurements. Causuistry distorts the relationships between two sets of numbers. Randumbness creates patterns where none are to be found. Regression to the moon disguises nonsense in mathematical-looking lines or equations or formulae, making even the silliest ideas seem respectable. Such as the one described by this formula:
Callipygianness=(S+C)x(B+F)/T-V)
Where S is shape, C is circularity, B is bounciness, F ir firmness, T is texture, and V is waist-to-hip ratio. This formula was devised by a team of academic psychologists after many hours of serious research into the female derriere. Yes, indeed. This is supposed to be the formula for the perfect butt.
It fact, it's merely a formula for a perfect ass”
—
3 people liked it
Callipygianness=(S+C)x(B+F)/T-V)
Where S is shape, C is circularity, B is bounciness, F ir firmness, T is texture, and V is waist-to-hip ratio. This formula was devised by a team of academic psychologists after many hours of serious research into the female derriere. Yes, indeed. This is supposed to be the formula for the perfect butt.
It fact, it's merely a formula for a perfect ass”
“Just as it's important to take the changing value of a dollar into account when comparing spending over time, it's important to take doctors' changing diagnoses into account when looking at disease trends”
—
1 person liked it
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