[5]: 133, 213  He looks at real-world examples in stock scams, psychics, astrology, sports records, elections, sex discrimination, UFOs, insurance and law, lotteries, and drug testing.

[1] Paulos discusses innumeracy with quirky anecdotes, scenarios, and facts, encouraging readers in the end to look at their world in a more quantitative way.

[8] As a reason for writing the book he states:[1] Innumeracy, an inability to deal comfortably with the fundamental notions of number and chance, plagues far too many otherwise knowledgeable citizens.

The same people who cringe when words such as "imply" and "infer" are confused react without a trace of embarrassment to even the most egregious of numerical solecisms.

"[14] The Chicago Tribune wrote "Despite the title, which suggests yet another learned report documenting the sorry state of America's educational system, what Paulos provides is a readable romp across a varied mathematical landscape.

"[15] The Los Angeles Times review noted "Paulos is very good at explaining all of this, though sometimes with a hectoring, bitter tone, for which he apologizes at the very end.