A few weeks ago Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter and I sat down to talk about "what do the numbers mean?", courtesy of the Cambridge Festival. The conversation is now online - enjoy! I am popping with delight at the news that I have been shortlisted for Journalist of...
Marginalia
If it doesn’t fit anywhere else, it’s here.
What data can’t do, and maths without numbers
The New Yorker reviews "The Data Detective" - a wonderful essay from Hannah Fry titled What Data Can't Do. Go for the anecdote about Tony Blair, stay for the phrase "insidious Kahnemanian swap". Book of the week: Math without Numbers by Milo Beckman. I picked this up...
Invisible gorillas and indiscriminate doubt
What Conspiracy Theorists Don't Believe. I was delighted to be commissioned by The Atlantic to write about why indiscriminate doubt is at least as damaging as indiscriminate belief - and in particular, that a fruitful way to think about conspiracy theorists is not by...
What are the best books ever published in the history of the universe?
Well, I don't know. But The Week kindly asked me to send a list of my 'best books' and I wasn't sure how to interpret the question. So here goes! Getting Things Done by Edwin Bliss. I stumbled upon this book a boy and it opened my mind to the then-radical idea that...
Dates announced for The Data Detective book tour!
The Center for Global Development does amazing, evidence-based work on one of the most important challenges in the world. I'm so flattered that they are hosting my first event, with Amanda Glassman in the chair. Noon, DC time, on 10 February. Wednesday 10th Feb I'm...
Misinformation can be beautiful
Chapter nine of "The Data Detective" / "How To Make The World Add Up" is all about data visualisation - its power, and its pitfalls. The overarching story is about how one woman launched a public health revolution, armed with a fancy pie chart. I'm fond of the chapter...
A free chapter of The Data Detective audiobook
My book The Data Detective is out today in the US and Canada. (The same book is called How To Make The World Add Up elsewhere in the world.) To celebrate publication, Riverhead Books have teamed up with Pushkin Industries to release the final chapter of the audiobook...
Announcing the publication of The Data Detective
Do you want to be able to think more clearly about the world? Do you want to be able to evaluate the claims that swirl around you in the media and on social media? Do you wish you knew what questions to ask to sift out the truth from the misinformation? Are you a...
Adam Grant on Thinking Again
I’m delighted to be sharing a publication day, 2 February, with Adam Grant and his new book, Think Again. Well, mostly delighted: that’s one fewer slot on the bestseller lists for me to aim for. Think Again is a stone cold classic and destined to do extremely well....