num_pages: 210
description: The Strunk &amp; White of statistics team up to help the average person navigate the numbers in the news. Drawing on their hugely popular BBC Radio 4 show More or Less journalist Michael Blastland and internationally known economist Andrew Dilnot delight amuse and convert American mathphobes by showing how our everyday experiences make sense of numbers. The radical premise of The Numbers Game is to show how much we already know and give practical ways to use our knowledge to become cannier consumers of the media. In each concise chapter the authors take on a different themesuch as size chance averages targets risk measurement and dataand present it as a memorable and entertaining story. If youve ever wondered what average really means whether the scare stories about cancer risk should convince you to change your behavior or whether a story you read in the paper is biased (and how) you need this book. Blastland and Dilnot show how to survive and thrive on the torrent of numbers that pours through everyday life. Its the essential guide to every cause you love or hate and every issue you follow in the language everyone uses.
language: English
title: The Numbers Game: The Commonsense Guide to Understanding Numbers in the News, in Politics, and in Life
publisher: Gotham