Meet Norm. He's 31, 5'9", just over 13 stone, and works a 39 hour week. He likes a drink, doesn't do enough exercise and occasionally treats himself to a bar of chocolate (milk). He's a pretty average kind of guy. In fact, he is the average guy in this clever and unusual take on statistical risk, chance, and how these two factors affect our everyday choices. Watch as Norm (who, like all average specimens, feels himself to be uniquely special), and his friends careful Prudence and reckless Kelvin, turns to statistics to help him in life's endless series of choices - should I fly or take the train? Have a baby? Another drink? Or another sausage? Do a charity skydive or get a lift on a motorbike?
Because chance and risk aren't just about numbers - it's about what we believe, who we trust and how we feel about the world around us. From a world expert in risk and the bestselling author of The Tiger That Isn't (and creator of BBC Radio 4's More or Less), this is a commonsense (and wildly entertaining) guide to personal risk and decoding the statistics that represent it.
Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
ISBN: 9781846686214
Number of pages: 336
Weight: 233 g
Dimensions: 198 x 130 x 22 mm
Edition: Main
Fascinating - Daily Mail
Helping people make sense of the barrage of confusing (and often misrepresented) statistics that riddle every day is a noble goal. - Economist
A fast-paced, whizz-bang style - The Times
Witty and illuminating, essential reading for anyone wanting to know whether they should try skydiving, or accept that third glass of wine - Financial Times
Accessible yet deep, The Norm Chronicles explains how statistical regularities and irregularities are central to every aspect of our lives. If Jonathan Coe and Gerd Gigerenzer were to collaborate on a sardonic self-help book, this is what it might look like. - Andrew Gelman, Professor of Statistics and Political Science, Columbia University
With The Norm Chronicles, Michael Blastland and David Spiegelhalter have set out to discover whether numbers can help the [fictional] infant Norm avoid the many pitfalls of the average life. They analyse the risks and... More
Are you the sort of person who unblinkingly believes every scare story on the front of the Daily Mail? Or do you view a 1 in 100 chance of something bad happening as a 99% chance that it won't actually happen and... More
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