The Norm Chronicles: Stories and numbers about danger Main Edition
Author(s): David Spiegelhalter (Author), Michael Blastland (Author)
Publisher: Profile Books
Publication Date: 30 May 2013
Edition: Main
Language: English
Print length: 336 pages
ISBN-10: 9781846686207
ISBN-13: 1846686202
Book Description
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. What we do, or don’t do, has as much do with gut instinct as hard facts, with enjoyment as understanding. If you’ve ever wondered what the statistics in tabloid scare stories really mean, how dangerous horse-riding is compared to class-A drugs, or what governs coincidence, you will find it all here.
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.
Editorial Reviews
Review
A very funny book … this is one of those maths books that claims to be self-help, and on the evidence presented here, we are in dire need of it ― Telegraph
Praise for Joe, the Only Boy in the World:
‘From this careful, serious book emerges a man with a quick wit and far-seeing eye for what makes life so peculiar … Joe stands out as a work of rare enlightenment
― Seven
A witty, insightful, educational and wholly original book – and a wonderful achievement. Read it! — Tim Harford, author of “The Undercover Economist” and presenter of “More or Less” on BBC Radio 4 Published On: 2013-05-08
Fascinating — John Harding ― Daily Mail Published On: 2013-06-14
A fast-paced, whizz-bang style — Iain Finlayson ― The Times Published On: 2013-06-08
Helping people make sense of the barrage of confusing (and often misrepresented) statistics that riddle every day is a noble goal. Making the process enjoyable is a real achievement. ― The Economist Published On: 2013-06-22
The statistics are presented with admirable lucidity, using an ingenious method devised by the authors, and may serve to reassure more neurotic readers … Witty and illuminating, The Norm Chronicles is essential reading for anyone wanting to know whether they should try skydiving, or accept that third glass of wine — Orlando Bird ― Financial Times Published On: 2013-07-13
Illuminating … eye-catching … a real achievement ― The Economist Published On: 2013-06-22
Book Description
A far from average book: the real story behind the statistics on risk, chance and choice.
About the Author
David Spiegelhalter OBE is Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk in the Statistical Laboratory, University of Cambridge. He is a fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge and the Royal Society. In 2014 David Spiegelhalter received a knighthood at the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to statistics.
Michael Blastland was born in Glasgow. A journalist all his professional life, he started on weekly newspapers before moving to the BBC where he makes current affairs programmes for Radio 4, such as Analysis, More or Less and the historical series Why Did We Do That? He lives in Hertfordshire, often with his daughter Cait, less often and less quietly with his son Joe, when he’s at home.
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