Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil

book jacket with skull and bones bright yellowWeapons of Math Destruction: How big data increases inequality and threatens democracy by Cathy O’Neil (2016)

This is a MUST READ book. Actually, buy it and actively share. Some of you may know about how computerized algorithms have caused chaos and massive profits in the financial sector — and crashes. Some of you may have been adversely impacted by computerized credit risk calculations. It is due to a math algorithm that airlines are able to juggle the price-fixing of their airplane tickets so you can never plan or know what the price for any given run or airline might be, making it tedious in the extreme for consumers to get the best price for any flight, other than you know that if you have to go somewhere last minute you will be screwed. The author is a genius at math in my opinion and a darn good writer. This book addresses some of the ways that we are being harmed by the use for math in ways that are destructive to us and commerce and our nation.

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Overdue and Out of Renewals for Darn Good Books

I have completely gotten bogged down due to issues with my eyes. There may be a need for me to get a reading machine at this rate. I am going to have to give a bunch up and then come back to this page to re-reserve when I get down to a handful, 90 is simply too many to juggle! I need to stop hitting the reserve every time I see something on BookTV and just do a future to read page so I don’t forget them. A few have already slipped by but a few more I did remember to make a note of them to read later.

book jacket with graphic of ear of cornBetting on Famine: why the World STILL Goes Hungry by Jean Ziegler (2013) is a compelling read, and I want to do it justice. The pages I did read are terrifying and mortifying. There is considerable discussion about the fact that the Nazi’s deliberately starved people in the concentration camps before they killed them. Since I have seen horrible images of the survivors, I know this to be true. Unbelievably wicked but everywhere everyday children and adults are dying from hunger. Fewer people would be a good start to avoiding the problem in the first place, but that is never going to happen since the various religions believe having children is the whole point of women’s lives.

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