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The Tyranny of Numbers: Why Counting Can’t Make Us Happy
By (author)
David Boyle
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normal price: R 290.95
Price: R 275.95
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| book description |
Never before have we attempted to measure as much as we do today. Why are we so obsessed with numbers? What can they really tell us? Too often we try to quantify what can’t actually be measured. We count people, but not individuals. We count exam results rather than intelligence, benefit claimants instead of poverty. The government has set itself 10,000 new targets. Politicians pack their speeches with skewed statistics: crime rates are either rising or falling depending on who is doing the counting. We are in a world in which everything designed only to be measured. If it can’t be measured it can be ignored. But the big problem is what numbers don’t tell you. They won’t interpret. They won’t inspire, and they won’t tell you precisely what causes what. In this passionately argued and thought-provoking book, David Boyle examines our obsession with numbers. He reminds us of the danger of taking numbers so seriously at the expense of what is non-measurable, non-calculable: intuition, creativity, imagination, happiness… Counting is a vital human skill. Yardsticks are a vital tool. As long as we remember how limiting they are if we cling to them too closely. Americans who claim to have been abducted by aliens = 3.7 million Average time spent by British people in traffic jams every year = 11 days Number of Americans shot by children under six between 1983 and 1993 = 138, 490
| product details |
Normally shipped |
Available from overseas. Dispatched in aprox 4-8 weeks as local supplier is out of stock
Publisher |
HarperCollins Publishers
Published date |
3 Dec 2001
Language |
Format |
Paperback / softback
Pages |
256
Dimensions |
198 x 129 x 14mm (L x W x H)
Weight |
185g
ISBN |
978-0-0065-3199-9
Readership Age |
BISAC |
business & economics / statistics
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Fifteen Dogs
André Alexis
Paperback / softback
176 pages
was: R 280.95
now: R 252.95
Available from overseas. Dispatched in aprox 4-8 weeks as local supplier is out of stock
A pack of dogs are granted the power of human thought - but what will it do to them? A surprising and insightful look at the beauty and perils of consciousness.
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Bonsai Success in Southern Africa
Carl Morrow
Paperback / softback
176 pages
was: R 320.95
now: R 288.95
Stock is usually dispatched in 6-12 days from date of order
In this uniquely Southern African book, Carl Morrow and Keith Kirsten guide readers step by step into the magical realms of bonsai as a hobby, horticultural practice and art form.
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The Ballerina and the Bull: Anarchist Utopias in the Age of Finance
Johanna Isaacson
Paperback / softback
288 pages
was: R 314.95
now: R 283.95
This title will take longer to obtain, and should be delivered in 6-8 weeks
Our moment has seen the resurgence of an anarchist sensibility, from the uprisings in Seattle in 1999 to the Occupy movement of 2011.
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