We need to focus on the book title: How not to be wrong. Why did the author, Jordan Ellenberg, not say like: How to be right? This is because mathematical thinking is not the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Even though we equipped ourselves with concrete mathematical thinking, we cannot get the right answer to some problems we faced in the world. However, mathematical thinking helps us to correct our view based on a popular misconception and prejudice and to understand the structure of the world more clearly.
In this book, the author presents several mathematical misconceptions (more focused on statistics) that make the wrong decision and prediction, and show how mathematical thinking can overcome such kinds of obstacles. Since mathematical thinking is the extension of common sense by other means, the author said that we need more math majors for non-mathematician such as more math majors for non-mathematician such as math major doctors, high school teachers, CEOs, and politicians.
The following links are some quotations from the book with my thoughts.
(1) Do You Want to Be a Nonlinear Thinker?
(2) The Past is in the Past: the Law of Large Numbers
(3) Improbable Things Happen All the Time
(4) Can We Predict our Future in Chaos?
(6) The Triumph of Mediocrity: Do not Stumble on Your Success
Everybody makes DATA 