How to Make the World Add Up

Ten Rules for Thinking Differently About Numbers

By: Tim Harford

Narrated by: Tim Harford

The Sunday Times best seller.

When was the last time you read a grand statement, accompanied by a large number and wondered whether it could really be true? Statistics are vital in helping us tell stories - we see them in the papers, on social media and we hear them used in everyday conversation - and yet we doubt them more than ever.

But numbers - in the right hands - have the power to change the world for the better. Contrary to popular belief, good statistics are not a trick, although they are a kind of magic. Good statistics are not smoke and mirrors; in fact, they help us see more clearly. Good statistics are like a telescope for an astronomer, a microscope for a bacteriologist or an X-ray for a radiologist. If we are willing to let them, good statistics help us see things about the world around us and about ourselves - both large and small ­- that we would not be able to see in any other way.

In How to Make the World Add Up, Tim Harford draws on his experience as both an economist and presenter of the BBC's radio show More or Less. He takes us deep into the world of disinformation and obfuscation, bad research and misplaced motivation to find those priceless jewels of data and analysis that make communicating with numbers worthwhile. Harford's characters range from the art forger who conned the Nazis to the stripper who fell in love with the most powerful congressman in Washington, to famous data detectives such as John Maynard Keynes, Daniel Kahneman and Florence Nightingale. He reveals how we can evaluate the claims that surround us with confidence, curiosity and a healthy level of scepticism.

Using 10 simple rules for understanding numbers - plus one golden rule - this extraordinarily insightful book shows how if we keep our wits about us, thinking carefully about the way numbers are sourced and presented, we can look around us and see with crystal clarity how the world adds up.

(Published in the US as The Data Detective.)

©2020 Tim Harford (P)2020 Hachette Audio UK

Critic reviews

"If you aren't in love with stats before reading this book, you will be by the time you're done. Powerful, persuasive, and in these truth-defying times, indispensable." (Caroline Criado Perez, author of Invisible Women)

"...lucid, witty and authoritative.... Every politician and journalist should be made to [listen to] this book, but everyone else will get so much pleasure and draw so much strength from the joyful way it dispels the clouds of deceit and delusion." (Stephen Fry)

"Tim Harford is one of my favourite writers in the world. His storytelling is gripping but never overdone, his intellectual honesty is rare and inspiring and his ability to make complex things simple - but not simplistic - is exceptional. How to Make the World Add Up is another one of his gems. If you're looking for an addictive pageturner that will make you smarter, this is your book." (Rutger Bregman, author of Humankind)

must read

this is a must read for those who care about anything. basically, a sobering yet hopeful look at the world.

great book to spark the thinker in us all

This book is excellent content, both inspiring and practical. Suppose you are a casual nerd looking for lots of critical well-present data. This is for you. Suppose you are a serious engineer of data infographics and reports. This is for you. Suppose you are the typical person, the one who is at the exact mid-point of the bell curve. And suspect data is being used to make you think and feel in a way designed by some else. This is for you. Suppose you are the rest of the bell curve. This is for you.

Annoying political commentary

Interesting book about the value of statistics, ruined by the authors inabilty to keep his own bias and political opinions out of it.