ROBIN HOOD MATH

A cross between Thinking Fast & Slow and Weapons of Math Destruction (with some Freakonomics in there too), ROBIN HOOD MATH is both a guide for every citizen and consumerand a big idea book that will help you understand what's at stake in our age of big data.

If you've ever logged onto social media, applied for a mortgage, filed an insurance claim, looked up college rankings, or been advised to get a vaccine, then you've interacted with data-driven algorithms. Inescapable in today's world is the automated decision-making that companies use to sell you stuff and that government agencies use to make policies. What at first was a specialized business tool is now too big to ignore; data science is all around us, and it treats us as numbers. You can regain power by understanding how companies and government agencies make data-informed decisions. In ROBIN HOOD MATH, award-winning mathematician Noah Giansiracusa shows that data is for everyone, not just the MIT grads and economic elites. Brandishing the mighty weapon of math but reshaping it in new, easy to follow ways, Giansiracusa decodes math formulas and computer algorithms and teaches readers cool hacks to take charge. Spanning personal finance, healthcare, risk management, consumer practices, tech policy, and income inequality, this book isn't just about providing answers to these questionsit's about providing readers with the skills and confidence to answer the tricky questions they face in life. Giansiracusa shines as a math coach, showing readers how to survive and thrive in our data-driven world. And because our economy is bigger than our individual consumer choices, Giansiracusa uses surprisingly simple concepts to educate us as citizens about the big picture fundamentals of our data economyand why wealth has been funneling out of Main Street and into Wall Street and Silicon Valley. Noah Giansiracusa, PhD is Associate Professor of Mathematics and Data Science at Bentley University and the recipient of multiple research grants and a teaching award. His essays and opinion pieces have been published in Washington Post, Scientific American, TIME, Ms. Magazine, Barron's, Boston Globe, Wired, Slate, and others. The author of more than 30 academic papers, he's given talks at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and others. His first book, How Algorithms Create and Prevent Fake News, received praise from far and wide ("a joy to read a book by a mathematician who knows how to write," Nobel Prize-winner Paul Romer; "perfect starting point," Jonathan Rauch; "refreshingly impartial," Leda Braga; "dares take you behind the curtain," Jordan Ellenberg). ROBIN HOOD MATH is his first book for a general trade audience.