A Field Guide to Lies and Statistics: A Neuroscientist on How to Make Sense of a Complex World - Hardcover

Levitin, Daniel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0241239990 ISBN 13: 9780241239995

Publisher: Viking, 2017

Synopsis

A guide to critical thinking in the 'post-truth' era, from the author of Sunday Times best-seller The Organized Mind

We live in a world of information overload. Facts and figures on absolutely everything are at our fingertips, but are too often biased, distorted, or outright lies. From unemployment figures to voting polls, IQ tests to divorce rates, we're bombarded by seemingly plausible statistics on how people live and what they think. Daniel Levitin teaches us how to effectively ask ourselves: can we really know that? And how do they know that?

In this eye-opening, accessible guide filled with fascinating examples and practical takeaways, acclaimed neuroscientist Daniel Levitin shows us how learning to understand statistics will enable you to make better, smarter judgements on the world around you.

About this title

Review:

In a post-truth world, Levitin's book is an invaluable primer on how to sort the fact from the fiction (Sunday Times)

As a lucid guide to critical thinking about statistics, information and assertion it is profoundly welcome (Observer)

The world is awash with data, but not always with accurate information. A Field Guide to Lies does a terrific job of illustrating the difference between the two with precision-and delightful good humour (Charles Wheelan, author of 'Naked Economics')

Daniel Levitin's field guide is a critical thinking primer for our shrill, data-drenched age. From the way averages befuddle to the logical fallacies that sneak by us, every page is enlightening (Charles Duhigg, author of 'The Power of Habit' and 'Smarter, Faster, Better')

A guide for those who wish to test the authenticity of information that inundates us from every corner, dark and light, of the Web (Washington Post)

A Field Guide to Lies by the neuroscientist Daniel Levitin lays out the many ways in which each of us can be fooled and misled by numbers and logic, as well as the modes of critical thinking we will need to overcome this (Wall Street Journal)

Smart, timely, and massively useful (Globe and Mail, Toronto)

Much like Nate Silver's (New York Times bestselling!) The Signal and the Noise, Levitin's is that rare book that makes statistics both understandable and at times even intriguing (MacLean's)

A valuable primer on critical thinking that convincingly illustrates the prevalence of misinformation in everyday life (Publishers Weekly)

The timing could not be better...a survival manual for the post-factual error. Levitin offers a set of intellectual tools to help distinguish the real from the unreal, and often surreal ... both engaging and rewarding (Literary Review of Canada)

From the Back Cover:

'It is easy to lie with statistics and graphs because few people take the time to look under the hood and see how they work. I aim to fix that.'

"The world is awash with data, but not always with accurate information. A Field Guide to Lies does a terrific job of illustrating the difference between the two with precision-and delightful good humour." Charles Wheelan, author of Naked Economics

Praise for The Organized Mind:

'More insights per page than any other neuroscientist I know... smart, important, exquisitely written.' Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness

'Deservedly a bestseller...' Independent

'Thought-provoking and practical... Good advice based on sound neuroscientific principles' Sunday Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0241239990
• ISBN 13: 9780241239995
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304