Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil
Published 2016 · 256 pages · 75,000 words · about 5 hours at an average pace · Media & Technology, Nonfiction, Science & Nature
How hard is Weapons of Math Destruction to read?
Weapons of Math Destruction scores 26 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: 30 out of 100
- Mathematical and data science concepts explained accessibly.
- Sentence structure: 28 out of 100
- Abstraction: 35 out of 100
- Mathematical concepts grounded in real-world consequences.
- Information density: 48 out of 100
- Dense with case studies, technical explanation, and policy implications.
- Narrative indirection: 100 out of 100
- Direct, case-by-case argument.
- Symbolic density: 15 out of 100
- WMDs as a metaphor for destructive algorithms.
- Ironic distance: 15 out of 100
- O'Neil writes with passion and controlled anger.
- Resolution withholding: 15 out of 100
- O'Neil diagnoses the problem and offers some solutions, but the issue is ongoing.
- Structural complexity: 20 out of 100
- Chapter-by-chapter case studies. Clear, progressive argument.
How Weapons of Math Destruction is regarded
Weapons of Math Destruction 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.