Innumeracy by John Allen Paulos
Published 1988 · 45,000 words · about 3 hours at an average pace · Education & Reference, Nonfiction, Science & Nature
How hard is Innumeracy to read?
Innumeracy scores 24 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it relatively accessible. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 32 out of 100
- Mathematical terms. Accessible to general readers.
- Sentence structure: 28 out of 100
- Abstraction: 40 out of 100
- Mathematical concepts illustrated through everyday examples.
- Information density: 48 out of 100
- Compressed. Dense with examples and arguments in a short book.
- Narrative indirection: 80 out of 100
- Direct, thesis-driven argument.
- Symbolic density: 100 out of 100
- Analytical. Examples serve as evidence.
- Ironic distance: 18 out of 100
- Exasperated, witty tone.
- Resolution withholding: 80 out of 100
- Proposes mathematical literacy as solution.
- Structural complexity: 20 out of 100
- Short thematic chapters. Simple structure.
How Innumeracy is regarded
Innumeracy holds a literary regard score of 44 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.