Winner of 2017 Independent Publishers IPPY GOLD and 2016 Foreword Reviews INDIE SILVER

BETTER NUMERICAL LITERACY ISN'T JUST DESIRABLE; IT'S ESSENTIAL TO SUSTAINING A CIVIL, DEMOCRATIC, AND FREE SOCIETY In the public sphere, numbers are supposed to be more solid than words, less subjective. They are not. The numbers don't lie, say experts. Yet they very often do. Numerical results are used to further the political, business, academic, and personal objectives of those who wield them.

In PAINTING BY NUMBERS, you get wisdom, humor, and twelve commandments anyone can apply to separate numerical BS from valid results. It will raise your numerical literacy, and that of your friends, family, colleagues, and students. Even PhDs have called PAINTING BY NUMBERS a refreshing refresher, and something every literate person needs to understand. Given polling controversies in the recent election, vociferous debate over climate change, economic meltdowns caused by bogus and fraudulent financial models, medical and health trends driven by dubious results from trials, even sports now managed by numbers guys, better numerical literacy isn't just desirable; it's essential to sustaining a civil, democratic, and free society.

Jason Makansi, author of four non-fiction books relating to business, energy/environmental issues, and mathematical modeling, has published short stories in a variety of literary journals and collections. He is a 2009 alumnus of the Sewanee Writers Conference, has reviewed short story collections for The Short Review, and is currently a contributing editor for River Styx literary journal and Associate Editor for December literary magazine. In his spare time, he plays the viola in community orchestras, plays piano for fun, and rides his bike as often as he can.

Elena graduated from Oberlin College where she majored in Environmental Studies. She is currently pursuing an MFA in illustration & Design from the University of Arizona. She is a writer, artist, and vegan/vegetarian cook. She is part of the K. Makansi trio of writers of THE SEEDS TRILOGY (currently optioned for film by an award-winning independent production company), and is working on her first solo novel, LUNA AND THE MIDNIGHT CAFE. She blogs and runs a Facebook page about vegetables and cooking and works part-time for an organization promoting farmers markets and local artisans. She has worked on illustrations for several non-fiction titles and has designed many book covers. THE SECRET OF THE SANTA BOX is her first children's picture book.