If you’ve ever used America’s most popular sort-of-illegal psychotropic substance, you know what it feels like to have too-flat priors. Every single stimulus that greets you, no matter how ordinary, seems intensely meaningful. Each experience grabs hold of your attention and demands that you take notice. It’s a very interesting mental state to be in. But it’s not conducive to making good inferences.
Jordan Ellenberg covers several topics of mathematics and model thinking through colourful stories, diagrams, and great humour throughout. I only recently found out ranked ballots are a real thing in the world, so it was great to see a breakdown on different voting systems, using the Bush/Gore/Nader Florida ballot in the 2000 election as a case study.
It’s the second book I’ve read in the past year that references Claude Shannon’s The Mathematical Theory of Communication, so I will have to add that my list.