{"product_id":"book-bu02","title":"A Numerate Life","description":"Employing intuitive ideas from mathematics, this quirky \"meta-memoir\" raises questions about our lives that most of us don't think to ask, but arguably should: What part of memory is reliable fact, what part creative embellishment? Which favorite presuppositions are unfounded, which statistically biased? By conjoining two opposing mindsets-the suspension of disbelief required in storytelling and the skepticism inherent in the scientific method-bestselling mathematician John Allen Paulos has created an unusual hybrid, a composite of personal memories and mathematical approaches to re-evaluating them.Entertaining vignettes from Paulos's biography abound-ranging from a bullying math teacher and a fabulous collection of baseball cards to romantic crushes, a grandmother's petty larceny, and his quite unintended role in getting George Bush elected president in 2000. These vignettes serve as springboards to many telling perspectives: simple arithmetic puts life-long habits in a dubious new light; higher dimensional geometry helps us see that we're all rather peculiar; nonlinear dynamics explains the narcissism of small differences cascading into very different siblings; logarithms and exponentials yield insight on why we tend to become bored and jaded as we age; and there are tricks and jokes, probability and coincidences, and much more.For fans of Paulos or newcomers to his work, this witty commentary on his life-and yours-is fascinating listening.","brand":"Ascent Audio","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49386146791728,"sku":"BDbu02","price":29.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD","offer_id":49386146824496,"sku":"ZEbu02","price":39.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio MP3-CD","offer_id":49386146857264,"sku":"ZMbu02","price":45.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD [ZP]","offer_id":49386146890032,"sku":"ZPbu02","price":66.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/bu02-Square-cover.jpg?v=1778652134","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-bu02","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}