| Introduction | 1 |
| Section 1: Politics, Economics, and the Nation | |
| Lani "Quota Queen" Guinier | |
| Voting, Power, and Mathematics | 9 |
| Bosnia: Is it Vietnam or World War II? | |
| Psychological Availability and Anchoring Effects | 14 |
| Recession Forecast If Steps Not Taken | |
| Unpredictability, Chaos, and Pooh-Poohing the Pooh-Bahs | 19 |
| Afta Nafta, Lafta; Free Traders Exult | |
| Headlines and the Inverted Pyramid | 27 |
| Pakistan's Bhutto Gambles in Trade Negotiations | |
| On Dice and Bluffing | 30 |
| Clinton, Dole in Sparring Roles | |
| Who's News and Grammar Checkers | 34 |
| Iraqi Death Toll Unknown | |
| Benchmark Figures in War, Crisis, and the Economy | 38 |
| D'Amato Agrees Hillary Most Honest Person Clinton Knows | |
| Ambiguity and Nonstandard Models | 42 |
| Fraud Alleged in Pennsylvania Senate Race | |
| Political and Mathematical Regression | 45 |
| Cult Members Accuse Government of Plot | |
| Newspapers, Coincidences, and Conspiracy Theories | 49 |
| Section 2: Local, Business, and Social Issues | |
| Company Charged with Ethnic Bias in Hiring | |
| Test Disparities Need Not Imply Racism | 59 |
| SAT Top Quartile Score Declines | |
| Correlation, Prediction, and Improvement | 63 |
| Guns Will Soon Kill More Than Cars | |
| Comparability and Intensity | 67 |
| Abortion Activists Bomb Clinic | |
| Prohibitions and Arithmetical Arguments | 69 |
| DNA Fingers Murderer | |
| Life, Death, and Conditional Probability | 72 |
| Darts Trounce the Pros | |
| Luck and the Market | 74 |
| Cellular Phones Tied to Brain Cancer | |
| Multiplication, Health, and Business | 79 |
| GM Trucks Explode on Side Collision | |
| From Pity to Policy | 83 |
| The $32 Billion Pepsi Challenge | |
| Advertising and Numencal Craftiness | 86 |
| Brief Fads Dominate Toy Industry | |
| S-Curves and Novelty | 90 |
| Area Residents Respond to Story | |
| Repetition, Repetition, Repetition | 94 |
| Researchers Look to Local News for Trends | |
| The Present, the Future, and Ponzi Schemes | 96 |
| Section 3: Lifestyle, Spin, and Soft News | |
| A Cyberpunk Woody Allen | |
| How to Write a Profile of the Fledgling Celebrity | 101 |
| Tsongkerclintkinbro Wins | |
| Everybody's Got an Angle | 104 |
| Florida Dentist Accused of Intentionally Spreading AIDS | |
| Rumors, Self Fulfilling Prophecies, and National Obsessions | 107 |
| Interlude: Selves, Heroes, and Dissociation | 110 |
| Candidates Contradict Each Other's Denials | |
| Self Reference, Intentions, and the News | 113 |
| Special Investigator Says Full Story Not Told | |
| Compressibility and the Complexity Horizon | 120 |
| Newspaper Circulation Down | |
| Factoids on Tabloids | 126 |
| Computers, Faxes, Copiers Still Rare in Russia | |
| Information and the Commissars | 128 |
| Section 4: Science, Medicine, and the Environment | |
| Ranking Health Risks: Experts and Laymen Differ | |
| The Dyscalculia Syndrome | 133 |
| Asbestos Removal Closes NYC Schools | |
| Contaminated Mountains Out of Mole Spills | 140 |
| Super Collider a Waste of Money | |
| Science Journalism and Advocacy | 144 |
| Harvard Psychiatrist Believes Patients Abducted by Aliens | |
| Mathematically Creating One's Own Pseudoscience | 147 |
| FDA Caught Between Opposing Protesters | |
| Statistical Tests and Confidence Intervals | 151 |
| Senators Eye Hawaii Health Care Plan | |
| Scaling Up Is So Very Hard to Do | 154 |
| Breakthrough Forecast by End of Decade | |
| You Can't Know More Than You Know | 157 |
| Rodent Population Patterns Difficult to Fathom | |
| Ecology, Chaos, and the News | 160 |
| More Dismal Math Scores for U.S. Students | |
| X,Y,andU | 164 |
| Section 5: Food, Book Reviews, Sports, Obituaries | |
| 761 Calories, 428 Mgs. Sodium, 22.6 Grams of Fat per Serving | |
| Meaningless Precision | 171 |
| Top Designs for the Busy Working Woman | |
| Fashion, Unpredictability, and Toast | 173 |
| Agassi Wins Again | |
| Scoring and Amplifying Differences | 176 |
| New Survey Reveals Changing Attitudes | |
| Societal Gas Laws | 178 |
| Near Perfect Game for Roger Clemens | |
| How Many Runs in the Long Run | 181 |
| Bucks County and Environs | |
| A Note on Maps and Graphic Games | 184 |
| Ask About Your Mother-in-Law's Lladro | |
| Explanations, Advice, and Physics | 186 |
| Garden Club Gala | |
| Incidence Matrices on the Society Pages | 189 |
| Ten Reasons We Hate Our Bosses | |
| Lists and Linearity | 191 |
| Stallone on Worst-Dressed List | |
| Traits and Rates | 193 |
| New Biography Fills Much-Needed Gap | |
| Books and News | 195 |
| Which Way Mecca? | |
| Religion in the Paper | 197 |
| R. L. Vickler, 85, Aide to Truman | |
| The Length of Obituaries | 199 |
| Conclusion | 201 |
| Bibliography | 205 |
| Index | 207 |