|
Showing 1 - 16 of
16 matches in All Departments
'Tim Harford is peerless at making sense of a complicated world and
our place within it. This is a book that all children should read'
- Matthew Syed -> Did you know that a toy spaceship can teach
you about inflation? -> Or that a pooping cow can show you how
to invest your pocket money? -> And that even the greatest
detectives have been fooled by fake news and dancing fairies? The
world is often full of bamboozling headlines and numbers that don't
add up. And in a world of rising living costs, climate change, fake
news and dodgy data, it's hard to get your head round it all. But
don't panic. Within these pages you will transform into a Truth
Detective, and be able to hunt down the truth about the world
around you. You will meet heroic truth detectives, such as Florence
Nightingale who started a revolution with a pie chart. You will
encounter dastardly villains who have tried to trip us up with
dodgy data and misinformation. And you will learn how being smart
and savvy about numbers, will help you be smart and savvy about
everything else in life too. So grab your detective cap, pick up
your magnifying glass and start seeing the world like never before.
A must read for curious kids looking to make sense of a complicated
world, from presenter of BBC Radio 4's "More or Less", Tim Harford.
Who makes most money from the demand for cappuccinos early in the
morning at Waterloo Station? Why is it impossible to get a foot on
the property ladder? How does the Mafia make money from laundries
when street gangs pushing drugs don't? Who really benefits from
immigration? How can China, in just fifty years, go from the
world's worst famine to one of the greatest economic revolutions of
all time, lifting a million people out of poverty a month? Looking
at familiar situations in unfamiliar ways, THE UNDERCOVER ECONOMIST
is a fresh explanation of the fundamental principles of the modern
economy, illuminated by examples from the streets of London to the
booming skyscrapers of Shanghai to the sleepy canals of Bruges.
Leaving behind textbook jargon and equations, Tim Harford will
reveal the games of signals and negotiations, contests of strength
and battles of wit that drive not only the economy at large but the
everyday choices we make.
Life sometimes seems illogical. Individuals do strange things: take
drugs, have unprotected sex, mug each other. Love seems irrational,
and so does divorce. On a larger scale, life seems no fairer or
easier to fathom: Why do some neighborhoods thrive and others
become ghettos? Why is racism so persistent? Why is your idiot boss
paid a fortune for sitting behind a mahogany altar? Thorny
questions-and you might be surprised to hear the answers coming
from an economist. But award-winning journalist Tim Harford likes
to spring surprises. In this deftly reasoned book, he argues that
life is logical after all. Under the surface of everyday insanity,
hidden incentives are at work, and Harford shows these incentives
emerging in the most unlikely places.
Based on the series produced for the BBC World Service Who thought
up paper money? How did the contraceptive pill change the face of
the legal profession? Why was the horse collar as important for
human progress as the steam engine? How did the humble spreadsheet
turn the world of finance upside-down? The world economy defies
comprehension. A continuously-changing system of immense
complexity, it offers over ten billion distinct products and
services, doubles in size every fifteen years, and links almost
every one of the planet's seven billion people. It delivers
astonishing luxury to hundreds of millions. It also leaves hundreds
of millions behind, puts tremendous strains on the ecosystem, and
has an alarming habit of stalling. Nobody is in charge of it.
Indeed, no individual understands more than a fraction of what's
going on. How can we make sense of this bewildering system on which
our lives depend? From the tally-stick to Bitcoin, the canal lock
to the jumbo jet, each invention in Tim Harford's fascinating new
book has its own curious, surprising and memorable story, a
vignette against a grand backdrop. Step by step, readers will start
to understand where we are, how we got here, and where we might be
going next. Hidden connections will be laid bare: how the barcode
undermined family corner shops; why the gramophone widened
inequality; how barbed wire shaped America. We'll meet the
characters who developed some of these inventions, profited from
them, or were ruined by them. We'll trace the economic principles
that help to explain their transformative effects. And we'll ask
what lessons we can learn to make wise use of future inventions, in
a world where the pace of innovation will only accelerate.
'Endlessly insightful and full of surprises - exactly what you
would expect from Tim Harford' BILL BRYSON 'Entertaining . . . A
lively introduction to some of the most ingenious, yet often
overlooked inventions that have changed the way we live' The Times
'Every Tim Harford book is cause for celebration' MALCOLM GLADWELL
'Harford is a fine, perceptive writer, and an effortless explainer
of tricky concepts. His book teems with good things, and will
expand the mind of anyone lucky enough to read it' Daily Mail In
Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy, the revolutionary,
acclaimed book, radio series and podcast, bestselling economist Tim
Harford introduced us to a selection of fifty radical inventions
that changed the world. Now, in this new book, Harford once again
brings us an array of remarkable, memorable, curious and often
unexpected 'things' - inventions that teach us lessons by turns
intimate and sweeping about the complex world economy we live in
today. From the brick, blockchain and the bicycle to fire, the
factory and fundraising, and from solar PV and the pencil to the
postage stamp, this brilliant and enlightening collection
resonates, fascinates and stimulates. It is a wonderful blend of
insight and inspiration from one of Britain's finest non-fiction
storytellers.
In How to Make the World Add Up, Tim Harford draws on his experience as both an economist and presenter of the BBC's radio show 'More or Less' to take us deep into the world of disinformation and obfuscation, bad research and misplaced motivation to find those priceless jewels of data and analysis that make communicating with numbers so rewarding. Through vivid storytelling he reveals how we can evaluate the claims that surround us with confidence, curiosity and a healthy level of scepticism. It is a must-read for anyone who cares about understanding the world around them.
'Ranging expertly across business, politics and the arts, Tim
Harford makes a compelling case for the creative benefits of
disorganization, improvisation and confusion. His liberating
message: you'll be more successful if you stop struggling so hard
to plan or control your success. Messy is a deeply researched,
endlessly eye-opening adventure in the life-changing magic of not
tidying up' Oliver Burkeman The urge to tidiness seems to be rooted
deep in the human psyche. Many of us feel threatened by anything
that is vague, unplanned, scattered around or hard to describe. We
find comfort in having a script to rely on, a system to follow, in
being able to categorise and file away. We all benefit from tidy
organisation - up to a point. A large library needs a reference
system. Global trade needs the shipping container. Scientific
collaboration needs measurement units. But the forces of tidiness
have marched too far. Corporate middle managers and government
bureaucrats have long tended to insist that everything must have a
label, a number and a logical place in a logical system. Now that
they are armed with computers and serial numbers, there is little
to hold this tidy-mindedness in check. It's even spilling into our
personal lives, as we corral our children into sanitised play areas
or entrust our quest for love to the soulless algorithms of dating
websites. Order is imposed when chaos would be more productive. Or
if not chaos, then . . . messiness. The trouble with tidiness is
that, in excess, it becomes rigid, fragile and sterile. In Messy,
Tim Harford reveals how qualities we value more than ever -
responsiveness, resilience and creativity - simply cannot be
disentangled from the messy soil that produces them. This, then, is
a book about the benefits of being messy: messy in our private
lives; messy in the office, with piles of paper on the desk and
unread spreadsheets; messy in the recording studio, the laboratory
or in preparing for an important presentation; and messy in our
approach to business, politics and economics, leaving things vague,
diverse and uncomfortably made-up-on-the-spot. It's time to
rediscover the benefits of a little mess.
A million readers bought The Undercover Economist to get the
lowdown on how economics works on a small scale, in our everyday
lives. Since then, economics has become big news. Crises,
austerity, riots, bonuses - all are in the headlines all the time.
But how does this large-scale economic world really work? What
would happen if we cancelled everyone's debt? How do you create a
job? Will the BRIC countries take over the world? Asking - among
many other things -- what the future holds for the Euro, why the
banks are still paying record bonuses and where government
borrowing will take us, in The Undercover Economist Strikes Back,
Tim Harford returns with his trademark clarity and wit to explain
what's really going on - and what it means for us all.
"The economy [isn't] a bunch of rather dull statistics with names
like GDP (gross domestic product)," notes Tim Harford, columnist
and regular guest on NPR's Marketplace, "economics is about who
gets what and why." In this acclaimed and riveting book-part
expose, part user's manual-the astute and entertaining columnist
from the Financial Times demystifies the ways in which money works
in the world. From why the coffee in your cup costs so much to why
efficiency is not necessarily the answer to ensuring a fair
society, from improving health care to curing crosstown traffic-all
the dirty little secrets of dollars and cents are delightfully
revealed by "The Undercover Economist."
"A rare specimen: a book on economics that will enthrall its
readers . . . It brings the power of economics to life."
-Steven D. Levitt, coauthor of "Freakonomics
"
"A playful guide to the economics of everyday life, and as such is
something of an elder sibling to Steven Levitt's wild child, the
hugely successful Freakonomics."
-"The Economist"
"A tour de force . . . If you need to be convinced of the
everrelevant and fascinating nature of economics, read this
insightful and witty book."
-Jagdish Bhagwati, author of "In Defense of Globalization
"
"This is a book to savor."
-"The New York Times"
"Harford writes like a dream. From his book I found out why there's
a Starbucks on every corner [and] how not to get duped in an
auction. Reading The Undercover Economist is like spending an
ordinary day wearing X-ray goggles."
-David Bodanis, author of "Electric Universe"
"Much wit and wisdom."
"-The Houston Chronicle"
From "Publishers Weekly "
Nattily packaged-the cover sports a Roy Lichtensteinesque image of
an economist in Dick Tracy garb-and cleverly written, this book
applies basic economic theory to such modern phenomena as
Starbucks' pricing system and Microsoft's stock values. While the
concepts explored are those encountered in Microeconomics 101,
Harford gracefully explains abstruse ideas like pricing along the
demand curve and game theory using real world examples without
relying on graphs or jargon. The book addresses free market
economic theory, but Harford is not a complete apologist for
capitalism; he shows how companies from Amazon.com to Whole Foods
to Starbucks have gouged consumers through guerrilla pricing
techniques and explains the high rents in London (it has more to do
with agriculture than one might think). Harford comes down soft on
Chinese sweatshops, acknowledging "conditions in factories are
terrible," but "sweatshops are better than the horrors that came
before them, and a step on the road to something better." Perhaps,
but Harford doesn't question whether communism or a
capitalist-style industrial revolution are the only two choices
available in modern economies. That aside, the book is unequaled in
its accessibility and ability to show how free market economic
forces affect readers' day-to-day.
Copyright (c) Reed Business Information, a division of Reed
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From "Bookmarks Magazine"
Harford exposes the dark underbelly of capitalism in "Undercover
Economist." Compared with Steven Levitt's and Stephen J. Dubner's
popular "Freakonomics "(*** July/Aug 2005), the book uses simple,
playful examples (written in plain English) to elucidate complex
economic theories. Critics agree that the book will grip readers
interested in understanding free-market forces but disagree about
Harford's approach. Some thought the author mastered the small
ideas while keeping in sight the larger context of globalization;
others faulted Harford for failing to criticize certain economic
theories and to ground his arguments in political, organizational
structures. Either way, his case studies--some entertaining, others
indicative of times to come--will make you think twice about that
cup of coffee.
Copyright (c) 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.
'Endlessly insightful and full of surprises - exactly what you
would expect from Tim Harford' BILL BRYSON 'Entertaining . . . A
lively introduction to some of the most ingenious, yet often
overlooked inventions that have changed the way we live' The Times
'Every Tim Harford book is cause for celebration' MALCOLM GLADWELL
'Harford is a fine, perceptive writer, and an effortless explainer
of tricky concepts. His book teems with good things, and will
expand the mind of anyone lucky enough to read it' Daily Mail In
Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy, the revolutionary,
acclaimed book, radio series and podcast, bestselling economist Tim
Harford introduced us to a selection of fifty radical inventions
that changed the world. Now, in this new book, Harford once again
brings us an array of remarkable, memorable, curious and often
unexpected 'things' - inventions that teach us lessons by turns
intimate and sweeping about the complex world economy we live in
today. From the brick, blockchain and the bicycle to fire, the
factory and fundraising, and from solar PV and the pencil to the
postage stamp, this brilliant and enlightening collection
resonates, fascinates and stimulates. It is a wonderful blend of
insight and inspiration from one of Britain's finest non-fiction
storytellers.
Truly eye-opening . . . There is almost no situation that Harford
cannot dissect with his sharp economist's tools . . . economics has
never been this cool' NEW STATESMAN If humans are so clever, why do
we smoke and gamble, or take drugs, or fall in love? Is this really
rational behaviour? And how come your idiot boss is so overpaid? In
fact, the behaviour of even the unlikeliest of individuals -
prostitutes, drug addicts, racists and revolutionaries - complies
with economic logic, taking into account future costs and benefits,
even if we don't quite realise it. We are rational beings after
all.
Everything we know about solving the world's problems is wrong.
Out: Plans, experts and above all, leaders. In: Adapting -
improvise rather than plan; fail, learn, and try again In this
groundbreaking new book, Tim Harford shows how the world's most
complex and important problems - including terrorism, climate
change, poverty, innovation, and the financial crisis - can only be
solved from the bottom up by rapid experimenting and adapting. From
a spaceport in the Mojave Desert to the street battles of Iraq,
from a blazing offshore drilling rig to everyday decisions in our
business and personal lives, this is a handbook for surviving - and
prospering - in our complex and ever-shifting world.
Are there tangible benefits in flossing? Is it wrong to fake
orgasms? What does the perfect online dating ad look like? Should
we bother doing the ironing? Is it really impossible to buy the
perfect Christmas gift? (Other than this book, of course.)
Economists might not be the first people you would think of to give
you advice on such diverse areas as parenting, the intricacies of
etiquette or the dark arts of seduction. But for years bestselling
author Tim Harford has been doing just that: answering the most
challenging questions in his brilliant column, where he uses the
tools of economics to give practical advice about everyday
dilemmas, conundrums and concerns. From family rows and the stock
market to buying socks or speed dating, you'll find within these
pages a witty - and of course rational - explanation for almost
everything you ever wanted to know about life.
'Endlessly insightful and full of surprises - exactly what you
would expect from Tim Harford' BILL BRYSON 'Every Tim Harford book
is cause for celebration' MALCOLM GLADWELL In Fifty Things that
Made the Modern Economy, the revolutionary, acclaimed book, radio
series and podcast, bestselling economist Tim Harford introduced us
to a selection of fifty radical inventions that changed the world.
Now, in this new book, Harford once again brings us an array of
remarkable, memorable, curious and often unexpected 'things' -
inventions that teach us lessons by turns intimate and sweeping
about the complex world economy we live in today. From the brick,
blockchain and the bicycle to fire, the factory and fundraising,
and from solar PV and the pencil to the postage stamp, this
brilliant and enlightening collection resonates, fascinates and
stimulates. It is a wonderful blend of insight and inspiration from
one of Britain's finest non-fiction storytellers.
|
You may like...
Poor Things
Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, …
DVD
R449
R329
Discovery Miles 3 290
|