Get Free Shipping on orders over $79
Bad Data : How Governments, Politicians and the Rest of Us Get Misled by Numbers - Georgina Sturge

Bad Data

How Governments, Politicians and the Rest of Us Get Misled by Numbers

By: Georgina Sturge

Hardcover | 3 November 2022 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Hardcover


RRP $49.99

$40.75

18%OFF

or 4 interest-free payments of $10.19 with

 or 

Ships in 10 to 15 business days

'Essential reading ... An incisive and urgently needed book' Tim Harford

'[An] entertaining introduction to the uses (and misuses) of data ... a penetrating analysis of why statistical literacy matters to our politics and our daily lives' Professor Jonathan Portes

Our politicians make vital decisions and declarations every day that rely on official data. But should all statistics be trusted?

In BAD DATA, House of Commons Library statistician Georgina Sturge draws back the curtain on how governments of the past and present have been led astray by figures littered with inconsistency, guesswork and uncertainty.

Discover how a Hungarian businessman's bright idea caused half a million people to go missing from UK migration statistics. Find out why it's possible for two politicians to disagree over whether poverty has gone up or down, using the same official numbers, and for both to be right at the same time. And hear about how policies like ID cards, super-casinos and stopping ex-convicts from reoffending failed to live up to their promise because they were based on shaky data.

With stories that range from the troubling to the empowering to the downright absurd, BAD DATA reveals secrets from the usually closed-off world of policy-making. It also suggests how - once we understand the human story behind the numbers - we can make more informed choices about who to trust, and when.

More in Politics & Government

Where It All Went Wrong : The case against John Howard - Amy Remeikis
The Menzies Legacy : Ideals, change, procession, 1960s and beyond - Zachary Gorman
Careless People : A story of where I used to work - Sarah Wynn-Williams

RRP $24.99

$21.75

13%
OFF
Review of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler : ERIS gems - George Orwell
Is a River Alive? - Robert Macfarlane

RRP $26.99

$22.99

15%
OFF
All or Nothing : How Trump Recaptured America - Michael Wolff

RRP $24.99

$21.75

13%
OFF
The Ultimate Hidden Truth of the World - David Graeber

RRP $26.99

$22.99

15%
OFF
The Book of Secrets : A Personal History of Betrayal in Red China - Xinran Xue
The Infinite Game : From the bestselling author of Start With Why - Simon Sinek
A Different Kind of Power : A Memoir - Jacinda Ardern

RRP $55.00

$39.99

27%
OFF
In Praise of the Earth : A Journey into the Garden - Byung-Chul Han