George Shaffner is an entrepreneur and computer maven, so when he started writing
essays on mathematics he did it in a very practical way, to help people answer questions
such as "Should I stay in school?" or "Is there life after death?"
Soon he expanded into a whole book, but kept his focus on the practical:
Shaffner uses a light touch: most of his essays involve one or another member of two imagined Seattle families, the Sharpes and the DeNialls. Shaffner puts together an unusual but effective mix of humor, logic, statistics, and insight: he is probably correct that there would be less innumeracy if most math education was like this. --Mary Ellen Curtin |