This reviewer earns his living teaching that theory to non-scientists, and found material here that will show up in next term's lectures. Cole does not confine herself to the natural sciences. In the realm of human relations, she shows how mathematical thinking might lead us to fairer voting schemes and less acrimonious divorce proceedings. It can also demonstrate that the Golden Rule may still be the best strategy, even when you're dealing with a bunch of selfish rotters. She examines the problems faced by scientists serving as expert witnesses in trials, noting that this role is complicated by a clash of different standards of proof.
Human factors are also important in the tangled area of risk assessment.
Most of us know, at least on a rational level, that modern air travel has such a good safety record that the drive to the airport is probably the most dangerous stage of a trip. Yet once you are strapped into that airline seat, your fate is out of your hands, and Cole is sympathetic with the palpitations and sweaty palms that this realization engenders. In her final chapter, Cole introduces an important neglected figure of 20th-century science, German mathematician Emmy Noether. Back in the 1920s, Noether discovered a key connection between mathematics and physics. Given the same circumstances, the same thing will happen, whether it is now, an hour from now, or a billion years in the future.