Making Numbers Count

A lively, practical, first-of-its-kind guide to understanding cold, clinical data and harnessing it to tell a persuasive story. __________ How many hours'' worth of songs are on your Spotify Wrapped this year? How much is your commute time really worth? How do you work out how likely you are to get Covid based on the official statistics? How do your viewing hours track against the most popular shows on Netflix? Whether you''re interested in global problems like climate change, running a business, or just grasping how few people have washed their hands between visiting the bathroom and touching you, this book will help math-lovers and math-haters alike translate the numbers that illuminate our world. Until very recently, most languages had no words for numbers greater than five - anything from six to infinity was known as ''lots''. While the numbers in our world have become increasingly complex, our brains are stuck in the