The Norm Chronicles: Stories and numbers about danger

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. From a world expert in risk and the bestselling author of The Tiger That Isn't, this is a commonsense (and wildly entertaining) guide to personal risk and decoding the statistics that represent it.

Michael Blastland is an author, journalist, and BBC Radio 4 broadcaster.He co-authored, with Andrew Dilnot, Profile's best-selling The Tiger that Isn't [9781861978394]. 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.

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