George G. Szpiro is an author and journalist who was a longtime correspondent for the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung. His many books include Numbers Rule: The Vexing Mathematics of Democracy, from Plato to the Present (2010) and Risk, Choice, and Uncertainty: Three Centuries of Economic Decision-Making (Columbia, 2020). Szpiro was on the faculty at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Introduction
Part I. Quotidian Riddles: Making Sense of the Silly and Surprising
1. My Friends Are More Popular Than I Am: The Friendship Paradox
2. Waiting for Godot: The Elevator Paradox
3. The Pursuit of Happiness: The Paradox of Hedonism
4. Tip Now or Tip Later? The Good Service Paradox
5. Don't Work Out to Lose Weight: The Exercise Paradox
Part II. Language Is Tricky: It's Not What You Say, It's What They Hear
6. Can't Get No Satisfaction: Morgenbesser's Double Negatives
7. Don't Trust Friends: False Friends
8. Janus Words: The Antagonym Paradox
9. Pentasyllabic Has Five Syllables: The Grelling-Nelson Paradox
10. A Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose: The Langford-Moore Paradox
Part III. Unbelievable but True: There's More Than Happy Endings
11. Whodunit? He Done It! The Paradox of Suspense
12. To Wallow in Sorrow: The Paradox of Tragedy
13. Moved to Tears: The Paradox of Fiction
14. Hidden by Quotation Marks: The Quinification Paradox
15. All Remaining Errors Are My Own: The Preface Paradox
Part IV. You Do the Math: Numbers Don't Lie-Go Figure!
16. Chocolates from the Trays: The Axiom of Choice
17. Rounding Crooked Numbers: 0.999 . . .
18. On or Off? Thomson's Lamp
19. Randomness Is Not Random: The Random Numbers Paradox
20. Zero or One? That Is the Question: Grandi's Paradox
Part V. Let's Get Physical
21. Why Is It Dark at Night? Olbers's Paradox
22. Gathering in the Middle: The Tea Leaves Paradox
23. Shaken, Not Stirred! The Brazil Nut Effect
24. Cold and Colder: The Mpemba Paradox
25. Suck or Spout? The Sprinkler Paradox
Part VI. The Possibility of Probability . . . and Then There's Statistics
26. A Cadillac or a Goat? The Monty Hall Paradox
27. To Treat or Not to Treat? Simpson's Paradox
28. A Holistic Approach: The Two Envelopes Problem
29. Silver and Gold? Bertrand's Probability Paradox
30. Are More Than Half the Babies Boys? Lindley's Paradox
Part VII. Footloose Philosophy: Give It Some Thought
31. To Shave or Not to Shave . . . Oneself: Russell's Barber Paradox
32. I Don't Believe It: Moore's Paradox
33. Known Knowns, Known Unknowns: Fitch's Paradox
34. No ATM in the Desert: Parfit's Hitchhiker
35. Plus, or Quus? The Kripkenstein Paradox
Part VIII. Loopy Logic: Making Sense of Seeming Nonsense
36. God Exists and the Moon Is Made of Cheese: Curry's Paradox
37. To Know Nothing: Socrates's Paradox
38. Is There a Point in Asking the Question? Meno's Paradox
39. The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth: Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem
40. Are All Ravens Black? Hempel's Paradox
Part IX. Questions of Faith: The Small Print of Holy Texts
41. In the Name of the Lord, Your God: The Third Commandment
42. A Stone So Heavy . . . : The Omnipotence Paradox
43. Accumulate Wealth . . . but Don't Spend It: The Paradox of Asceticism
44. Thou Mayest Steal: The Sermon on the Mount
45. All Is Perfect: The Smarandache Paradox
Part X. Legal Liabilities: Terms and Conditions Apply
46. When Two Rights Make a Wrong: The Blackmail Paradox
47. Guilty Until Proven Innocent: The Prosecutor's Fallacy
48. The Right to Remain Silent: The Fifth Amendment
49. When in Doubt, Acquit: The Unspecified Offense Paradox
50. Can Two Wrongs Make a Right? The Holistic Trial Paradox
Part XI. The Economics of the Unexpected: It Stacks Up . . . but Does It Balance?
51. Sell a Lot and Make No Profits: Bertrand's Economics Paradox
52. Doing More with Less: Jevons's Paradox
53. Optimal Liberalism: Sen's Paradox
54. Private Vices, Publick Benefits: Mandeville's Paradox
55. Tightening One's Belt: The Paradox of Thrift
Part XII. Puzzling Politics: The Vexing Mathematics of Democracy
56. Who Should Win? Condorcet Cycles
57. More Seats or Fewer? The Alabama Paradox
58. To Abstain from Elections: The Nonvoting Paradox
59. Packing and Cracking: Gerrymandering
60. How Can One Be a Democrat? Wollheim's Paradox
Epilogue
Postscript
Bibliographic Notes
Index