Quotes from book
A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper

Name: A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper
Author: John Allen Paulos

In this lively volume, mathematician John Allen Paulos employs his singular wit to guide us through an unlikely mathematical jungle—the pages of the daily newspaper. From the Senate and sex to celebrities and cults, Paulos takes stories that may not seem to involve math at all and demonstrates how mathematical naïveté can put readers at a distinct disadvantage. Whether he's using chaos theory to puncture economic and environmental predictions, applying logic to clarify the hazards of spin doctoring and news compression, or employing arithmetic and common sense to give us a novel perspective on greed and relationships, Paulos never fails to entertain and enlighten.

“Rigid distinctions between the deep and the shallow are generally themselves quite superficial.”

John Allen Paulos book A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper

Section 5, “Food , Book Reviews, Sports, Obituaries” Introduction (p. 169)
A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995)

“In general, any differences between two groups will always be greatly accentuated at the extremes.”

John Allen Paulos book A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper

Section 2, “Local, Social, and Business Issues” Chapter 11, “Company Charged with Ethnic Bias in Hiring” (p. 60)
A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995)

“You can only predict things after they’ve happened.”

John Allen Paulos book A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper

Section 1, “Politics, Economics, and the Nation” Introduction (p. 7; quoting Eugene Ionesco)
A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995)

“Almost any bunkum has some partial validity, and we regularly read into the confusing mess what we want to see.”

John Allen Paulos book A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper

Conclusion (p. 202)
A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995)

“Always be smart; seldom be certain.”

John Allen Paulos book A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper

Conclusion (p. 201)
A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995)

“There is a fine line between public expressions of faith and aggressive declarations thereof, and religious tolerance is inversely proportional to the latter.”

John Allen Paulos book A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper

Source: A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995), Chapter 50, “Which Way Mecca?” (p. 198)

“There are, of course, innumerable abuses, countless possible misinterpretations, and depressingly many biased studies, but, done right, the process works; it yields knowledge.”

John Allen Paulos book A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper

Source: A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995), Chapter 42, “New Survey Reveal Changing Attitudes” (p. 180)

“The fashion pages have always puzzled me. In my smugly ignorant view, the articles appear to be so full of fluff and nonsense as to make the astrology columns seem insightful by comparison.”

John Allen Paulos book A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper

Source: A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995), Chapter 40, “Top Designs for the Busy Working Woman” (p. 173)

“Gullible citizens are a demagogue’s dream.”

John Allen Paulos book A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper

Section 4, “Science, Medicine, and the Environment” Chapter 38 “More Dismal Math Scores for U.S. Students” (p. 165)
A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995)

“Two dangers threaten the world—order and disorder.”

John Allen Paulos book A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper

Source: A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995), Chapter 27, “Special Investigator Says Full Story Not Told” (p. 123; quoting Paul Valéry)

“When the law’s on your side, pound the law. When the facts are on your side, pound the facts. And when neither is on your side, pound the table.”

John Allen Paulos book A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper

Section 3, “Lifestyle, Spin, and Soft News” Chapter 23, “Tsongkerclintkinbro Wins” (p. 106)
A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995)

“Even the most superficial of a newspaper reveals an important aspect of human psychology: our preoccupation with the short term.”

John Allen Paulos book A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper

Source: A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995), Chapter 21, “Researchers Look to Local News for Trends” (p. 96)

“One can and should debate whether the tests in question are appropriate for the purposes at hand, but one shouldn’t be surprised when normal curves behave normally.”

John Allen Paulos book A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper

Section 2, “Local, Social, and Business Issues” Chapter 11, “Company Charged with Ethnic Bias in Hiring” (p. 61)
A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995)

“Having been involved in a couple of lawsuits as an expert probability witness and having observed that a prudent skepticism is often less prized than an indefensible certainty, I turned down preliminary requests from both sides to testify.”

John Allen Paulos book A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper

Source: A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995), Chapter 9, “Fraud Alleged in Pennsylvania Senate Race” (p. 45)

“Our two most basic political ideals—liberty and equality—are, in their purest forms, incompatible. Complete liberty results in inequality, and mandatory equality leads to a loss of liberty.”

John Allen Paulos book A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper

Section 1, “Politics, Economics, and the Nation” Introduction (pp. 7-8)
A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995)

“It’s time to let the secret out: mathematics is not primarily a matter of plugging numbers into formulas and performing rote computations. It is a way of thinking and questioning that may be unfamiliar to many of us, but is available to almost all of us.”

John Allen Paulos book A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper

Introduction (p. 3)
A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995)