How to Read Numbers: A Guide to Statistics in the News (and Knowing When to Trust Them)

Name: How to Read Numbers: A Guide to Statistics in the News (and Knowing When to Trust Them)
Rating: 4 (1 reviews)

Tom Chivers · David Chivers

Mar 2021 · Hachette UK

4.0

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208

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About this ebook

Every day, most of us will read or watch something in the news that is based on statistics in some way. Sometimes it'll be obvious - 'X people develop cancer every year' - and sometimes less obvious - 'How smartphones destroyed a generation'. Statistics are an immensely powerful tool for understanding the world, but in the wrong hands they can be dangerous.

Introducing you to the common mistakes that journalists make and the tricks they sometimes deploy, HOW TO READ NUMBERS is a vital guide that will help you understand when and how to trust the numbers in the news - and, just as importantly, when not to.

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4.0

1 review

About the author

Tom Chivers is a science writer and author. He was given Royal Statistical Society 'Statistical Excellence in Journalism' awards in 2018 and 2020, and was declared the Science Writer of the Year by the Association of British Science Writers in 2021. His two previous books are The Rationalist's Guide to the Galaxy and How to Read Numbers (with David Chivers).

DAVID CHIVERS is an assistant professor of economics at Durham University. Before this post he was a lecturer at the University of Oxford and completed his PhD at the University of Manchester, funded by the ESRC. He has published in academic journals such as Review of Economic Dynamics, Economic Theory and Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation. His research interests involve topics relating to inequality, growth and development.

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