Counting: How We Use Numbers to Decide What Matters - Hardcover

Deborah Stone

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1631495925 ISBN 13: 9781631495922

Publisher: Liveright, 2020

Synopsis

Early in her extraordinary career, Deborah Stone wrote Policy Paradox, a landmark work on politics. Now, in Counting, she revolutionises how we approach numbers and shows how counting shapes the way we see the world. Most of us think of counting as a skill so basic that we see numbers as objective, indisputable facts. Not so, says Stone. In this playful-yet-probing work, Stone reveals the inescapable link between quantifying and classifying, and explains how counting determines almost every facet of our lives―from how we are evaluated at work to how our political opinions are polled to whether we get into higher education or even out of prison. But numbers, Stone insists, need not rule our lives. Especially in this age of big data, Stone’s work is a pressing and spirited call to reclaim our authority over numbers, and to take responsibility for how we use them.

About this title

About the Author

Deborah Stone is a renowned scholar who has taught at Brandeis, MIT, and other universities around the world. Her award-winning book Policy Paradox has captivated readers through three decades, four editions, and six translations―but who’s counting? She lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Edition details

• Publisher: Liveright
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1631495925
• ISBN 13: 9781631495922
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288