The Hidden Half by Michael Blastland - ISBN: 9781786496393
Paperback
Random chance shapes our world, and experts know less than they think.

The Hidden Half

The Unseen Forces That Influence Everything

$43.47

  • Paperback

    304 pages

  • Release Date

    28 April 2020

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Summary

Why does one smoker die of lung cancer but another live to 100? The answer is ‘The Hidden Half’ - those random, unknowable variables that mess up our attempts to comprehend the world.

We humans are very clever creatures - but we’re idiots about how clever we really are. In this entertaining and ingenious book, Blastland reveals how in our quest to make the world more understandable, we lose sight of how unexplainable it often is. The result - from GDP figures to medicine - is that exp…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9781786496393
ISBN-10:1786496399
Author:Michael Blastland
Publisher:Atlantic Books
Imprint:Atlantic Books
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:304
Release Date:28 April 2020
Weight:263g
Dimensions:25mm x 132mm x 198mm
A-Format
B-Format
The Hidden Half by Michael Blastland - ISBN: 9781786496393
132 × 198 mm
C-Format
A4
mm / in
What They're Saying

Critics Review

“Elegantly written and mind-expanding … will enthrall you with its storytelling while educating you with its scientific depth.” –Daniel H. Pink, author, Drive

Highly original and challenging… Once you have read this book, you can’t unread it. * Daniel Finkelstein, The Times *
Fascinating and provocative. Blastland is one of the most original thinkers around. * Tim Harford - Financial Times columnist and author of The Undercover Economist *
Elegantly written and mind-expanding, The Hidden Half will enthrall you with its storytelling while educating you with its scientific depth. * Daniel H. Pink - bestselling author of Drive *
Brilliant. Blastland provides an explanation of the need for humility in the face of the inevitable limits to knowledge and our all-too-human temptation to tell stories about the world that go far beyond what the evidence will support. * Diane Coyle - Bennett Professor of Public Policy, Cambridge University *
Fascinating… As John Wooden said, it’s what you learn after you know it all that counts. * Andrew Gelman - author of Rich State Poor State Red State Blue State *
Excellent. Blastland makes a compelling case that God is fond of playing dice with the cosmos-and the list of unpredictable things keeps growing, not shrinking. * Phillip Tetlock - bestselling author of Superforecasting *
Beautifully written and often very funny. Anyone making decision that matter should enjoy this book and profit from its lessons. * Dame Frances Cairncross - Chair, Executive Committee of the Institute for Fiscal Studies *
Thought-provoking. * UnHerd *

About The Author

Michael Blastland

Michael Blastland is a writer and broadcaster. He was the originator and first producer of BBC Radio 4’s More or Less, Britain’s most authoritative guide to numbers and evidence in public argument. He is the bestselling author of The Tiger That Isn’t: Seeing Through a World of Numbers, a book about numbers and how to interpret them, which he co-authored with Andrew Dilnot. He also wrote The Norm Chronicles, co-authored with Professor David Spiegelhalter.

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