Welcome to Halfman, Halfbook for my stop on the Blog Tour for More Numbers Every Day by Micael Dahlén & Helge Thorbjørnsen and published by Monoray.
About the Book
How many steps have you done today?
How many emails answered?
How much money have you spent this week
And how many hours have you slept?
Welcome to the numberdemic, where a deluge of figures, stats and data manipulate your every move. From the way you work, date and exercise to the products you buy and the news you read, numbers have worked their way into every part of our lives. But is life better this way? How are all of those numbers affecting us?
With fascinating, sometimes frightening and sometimes shrewdly funny research, behavioural economists Micael Dahlen and Helge Thorbjørnsen explain why we’re so attached to numbers and how we can free ourselves from their tyranny. Along the way, you’ll learn why viral videos, however inaccurate, become more convincing with every view; how numbers can affect the way we physically age, if we let them; why the more films you rate the less impressive you’ll find them and how numbers that ‘anchor’ themselves in your brain can affect the size of your mortgage – plus much more.
Sharp, insightful and totally engaging, MORE. NUMBERS. EVERY. DAY. is your vaccination against a world obsessed with numbers.
About the Authors
Micael Dahlen is Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics, with a particular interest in what makes us happy. He is the author of several books and an acclaimed public speaker.
Helge Thorbjørnsen is Professor of Marketing at the Norwegian School of Economics. He is curious about human behaviour and decision-making, particularly when technology is involved.
My Review
Do you remember the days when the only way that you would find out that a restaurant wasn’t that great was if you had been yourself or a close friend had recommended that you avoid it. Now you can google a town and find all the places that you might want to eat at and alongside everyone is a rating that a member of the public has graded it. We naturally gravitate towards those that have a higher rating because that’s where we feel we will have the better experience.
But what if the number that you are seeing isn’t telling the whole truth? Have the glowing five-star reviews been placed by friends of the owner? Have the dreaded one-star ratings been added by rivals with the intention of making their own establishments seem better by comparison?
What is real and what is pure manipulation on the part of the algorithm? Welcome to the numberdemic…
In this entertaining book, Micael Dahlén & Helge Thorbjørnsen talk about how the obsession with numbers for absolutely everything in our lives is beginning to cause problems and how we can be aware of it and make those subtle adjustments to free ourselves from this new tyranny.
Coving all manner of subjects from how the number a sportsman wears can affect his performance, the age when we suddenly feel older, how the number of likes on a social media channel is affecting the mental health of teenagers obsessed with how their image is projected to the wider world. Numbers can affect our health too, from step counting every day, to wanting to beat personal bests each time we run or lift weights and they have sensible suggestions on how to manage your very personal data. They explore just how we can be swayed by numbers in our relationships and experiences, and just how true a number actually is.
I found this book an enlightening experience. The authors have an easygoing and entertaining style of prose, which for me made this hugely complex subject quite accessible rather than diminishing it. And most importantly it made me think about the way that I see this data when I am looking for something specific. I read, rate and review a lot of books, and giving the book that I have just read a mark out of five seems very mean sometimes. When looking at other reviews of books or items that I am going to buy, I have for a long time dismissed the glowing reviews and the ones slating the product as outliers and this book has given me a better insight into how to take the numbers we are presented with. As the quote goes, there are lies, dammed lies and statistics…
Don’t forget to visit the other blogs on the blog tour
Buy this at your local independent bookshop. If you’re not sure where your nearest is then you can find one here
My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Tours for the copy of the book to read.
I feel seen! First thing I do each morning is check the stats on my Garmin sports tracker watch…
Haha! I do have a step counter too!
Thanks for the blog tour support x
You are very welcome, Anne
I enjoyed this book too. Accessible and entertaining and it gave me plenty to think about, even though I think I have a pretty healthy relationship with my stats.
It is good isn’t it. We have Factfulness on a bookshelf somewhere, that I must read at some point
This looks great – I enjoyed Annabel’s review, too. I do track myself with a Garmin but it’s to check I’m keeping active enough but not overdoing it.
It was great fun to read. And made me think too