×
Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date.
For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now.

Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy
288
by Cathy O'NeilCathy O'Neil
Paperback
Choose Expedited Shipping at checkout for delivery by Tuesday, April 20
14.99
In Stock
Overview
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A former Wall Street quant sounds the alarm on Big Data and the mathematical models that threaten to rip apart our social fabric—with a new afterword
“A manual for the twenty-first-century citizen . . . relevant and urgent.”—Financial Times
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLIST • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • The Boston Globe • Wired • Fortune • Kirkus Reviews • The Guardian • Nature • On Point
We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives—where we go to school, whether we can get a job or a loan, how much we pay for health insurance—are being made not by humans, but by machines. In theory, this should lead to greater fairness: Everyone is judged according to the same rules.
But as mathematician and data scientist Cathy O’Neil reveals, the mathematical models being used today are unregulated and uncontestable, even when they’re wrong. Most troubling, they reinforce discrimination—propping up the lucky, punishing the downtrodden, and undermining our democracy in the process. Welcome to the dark side of Big Data.
“A manual for the twenty-first-century citizen . . . relevant and urgent.”—Financial Times
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLIST • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • The Boston Globe • Wired • Fortune • Kirkus Reviews • The Guardian • Nature • On Point
We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives—where we go to school, whether we can get a job or a loan, how much we pay for health insurance—are being made not by humans, but by machines. In theory, this should lead to greater fairness: Everyone is judged according to the same rules.
But as mathematician and data scientist Cathy O’Neil reveals, the mathematical models being used today are unregulated and uncontestable, even when they’re wrong. Most troubling, they reinforce discrimination—propping up the lucky, punishing the downtrodden, and undermining our democracy in the process. Welcome to the dark side of Big Data.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780553418835 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Crown Publishing Group |
Publication date: | 09/05/2017 |
Pages: | 288 |
Sales rank: | 8,913 |
Product dimensions: | 5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d) |
About the Author

Cathy O'Neil is a data scientist and author of the blog mathbabe.org. She earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard and taught at Barnard College before moving to the private sector, where she worked for the hedge fund D. E. Shaw. She then worked as a data scientist at various start-ups, building models that predict people’s purchases and clicks. O’Neil started the Lede Program in Data Journalism at Columbia and is the author of Doing Data Science. She is currently a columnist for Bloomberg View.
Read an Excerpt
1
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Weapons of Math Destruction"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Cathy O'Neil.
Excerpted by permission of Crown/Archetype.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Bomb Parts: What Is a Model? 15
Chapter 2 Shell Shocked: My Journey of Disillusionment 32
Chapter 3 Arms Race: Going to College 50
Chapter 4 Propaganda Machine: Online Advertising 68
Chapter 5 Civilian Casualties: Justice in the Age of Big Data 84
Chapter 6 Ineligible to Serve: Getting a Job 105
Chapter 7 Sweating Bullets: On the Job 123
Chapter 8 Collateral Damage: Landing Credit 141
Chapter 9 No Safe Zone: Getting Insurance 161
Chapter 10 The Targeted Citizen: Civic Life 179
Conclusion 199
Notes 219
Index 253
Customer Reviews
Related Searches
Explore More Items
High Rate of Author's students obtained Scores, from 90 to 99 Percentile, of SAT Math ...
High Rate of Author's students obtained Scores, from 90 to 99 Percentile, of SAT Math
Sections Of the Non-Redesigned Version. Book AD and Book BD are designed to provide more than 1,000 question types of categorized SAT math for the ...
This is collection of over 25 fun, creative projects for teaching math grades 3-8. Each ...
This is collection of over 25 fun, creative projects for teaching math grades 3-8. Each
lesson plan is complete with handout masters and answer keys. Students will have fun learning math as they build a rubber band race car, create ...
In today's fast-paced world, it's tough to find the time to read. But with Joosr ...
In today's fast-paced world, it's tough to find the time to read. But with Joosr
guides, you can get the key insights from bestselling non-fiction titles in less than 20 minutes. Whether you want to gain knowledge on the go ...
Aztec Math Jr. Hi. Book 1 is a creative way to teach many math concepts ...
Aztec Math Jr. Hi. Book 1 is a creative way to teach many math concepts
in grades 6-8. Most basic grade level math skills related to junior high school are covered: including equations, fractional parts, comparing fraction elements, reducing fractions, ...
Aztec Math Jr. Hi. Book 2 is a creative way to teach many math concepts ...
Aztec Math Jr. Hi. Book 2 is a creative way to teach many math concepts
in grades 6-8. Most basic grade level math skills related to junior high school are covered: including equations, fractional parts, comparing fraction elements, reducing fractions, ...
Aztec Math Primary Book 1 was designed to provide classroom teachers with motivational material that ...
Aztec Math Primary Book 1 was designed to provide classroom teachers with motivational material that
will fulfill the students' needs and interests in learning mathematics. Most basic K-3 grade level skills are covered in the 36 worksheet assignments to include: ...
Learn at home with help from The Wonder Years/Hallmark actress, math whiz, and New York ...
Learn at home with help from The Wonder Years/Hallmark actress, math whiz, and New York
Times bestselling author Danica McKellar using her acclaimed McKellar Math books! Addition and subtraction are as easy as 1+2+3 with this fun and accessible introduction ...
Math struggles? This book makes math fun again!Most math and study guides are as dry ...
Math struggles? This book makes math fun again!Most math and study guides are as dry
and difficult as the professors that write them. In The Humongous Book of Basic Math and Pre-Algebra Problems, author W. Michael Kelley enjoys being the ...