John Allen Paulos
From Free net encyclopedia
John Allen Paulos is a professor of mathematics at Temple University in Philadelphia who has gained fame as a writer and speaker, usually on the topic of public ignorance about mathematics. He also has a great interest in newspapers, having served for two years on the editorial board of the Philadelphia Daily News, and an adjunct professor of journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is currently a columnist for ABCNews.com.
He received the 2003 AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology.
Paulos grew up in Chicago and Milwaukee and received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin. His academic work is mainly in mathematical logic and probability theory.
Bibliography
- A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market (2003)
- Once Upon a Number: The Hidden Mathematical Logic of Stories (1998)
- A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995)
- Beyond Numeracy: Ruminations of a Numbers Man (1991)
- Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences (1989)
- I Think Therefore I Laugh: The Flip Side of Philosophy (1985)
- Mathematics & Humor (1980)
- Mathsemantics: making numbers talk sense by Edward MacNeal, (1994, 1995 Penguin paperback). A valuable discussion -- influenced by MacNeal's study of General Semantics -- complementary to Paulos's books.