Perplexing Paradoxes
Unraveling Enigmas in the World Around Us
-
- $14.99
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
Why does it always seem like the elevator is going down when you need to go up? Is it really true that 0.99999 . . . with an infinite number of 9s after the decimal point, is equal to 1? What do tea leaves and river erosion have in common, per Albert Einstein? Does seeing a bed of red flowers help prove that all ravens are black? Can we make sense of a phrase like “this statement is unprovable”?
Exploring these questions and many more, George G. Szpiro guides readers through the puzzling world of paradoxes, from Socratic dialogues to the Monty Hall problem. Perplexing Paradoxes presents sixty counterintuitive conundrums drawn from diverse areas of thought—not only mathematics, statistics, logic, and philosophy but also social science, physics, politics, and religion. Szpiro offers a brisk history of each paradox, unpacks its inner workings, and considers where one might encounter it in daily life. Ultimately, he argues, paradoxes are not simple brain teasers or abstruse word games—they challenge us to hone our reasoning and become more alert to the flaws in received wisdom and common habits of thought.
Lighthearted, witty, and conversational, Perplexing Paradoxes presents sophisticated material in an accessible way for all readers interested in the world’s boundless possibilities—and impossibilities.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this lackluster outing, Swiss mathematician Szpiro (Numbers Rule) investigates 60 paradoxes from economics, philosophy, politics, and other disciplines. He notes the contradictory nature of Socrates's apocryphal pronouncement, "I know that I know nothing," and elucidates the statistical reasoning behind why contestants on Let's Make a Deal, when given the option to pick which of three doors holds a prize inside, should always change their guess after the host eliminates one of the incorrect options. Other "paradoxes" might more reasonably be described as unintuitive facts, as when Szpiro explains that the perception that one's friends are more popular than oneself is often accurate because "people with lots of friends are more likely to be among your circle of friends." The economic paradoxes are particularly contrived, such as when Szpiro unconvincingly contends that the incentives felt by competing companies to undercut each other's prices somehow contain a contradiction. Elsewhere, math-heavy paradox explanations are likely to elude the general reader; for instance, a particularly arcane discussion draws on "the theory of combinatorics" and Bayes's theorem to explain why mathematicians disagree over whether slight differences in the proportion of newborn girls and boys constitutes a 50-50 split. The real enigma is how such a promising book idea came up so short.
