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Counting

How We Use Numbers to Decide What Matters
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( 304 ratings, 51 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Counting by Deborah Stone challenges our perception of numbers as purely objective facts. Stone reveals how counting is deeply entwined with classification and influences many aspects of life, from workplace evaluations to political polling, college admissions, and even prison release decisions. This thought-provoking book encourages readers to reconsider their relationship with numbers in an age dominated by big data.
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Format: Hardback
$5099
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for readers interested in politics, education, data science, and critical thinking, as well as anyone curious about the influence of numbers in everyday life and decision-making.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

The best-selling author of Policy Paradox, a classic on politics, delivers a path-breaking work on the simple act of counting.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Early in her extraordinary career, Deborah Stone wrote Policy Paradox, a landmark work on politics. Now, in Counting, she revolutionizes how we approach numbers and shows how counting shapes the way we see the world. Most of us think of counting as a skill so basic that we see numbers as objective, indisputable facts. Not so, says Stone.

In this playful-yet-probing work, Stone reveals the inescapable link between quantifying and classifying, and explains how counting determines almost every facet of our livesβ€”from how we are evaluated at work to how our political opinions are polled to whether we get into college or even out of prison.

But numbers, Stone insists, need not rule our lives. Especially in this age of big data, Stone's work is a pressing and spirited call to reclaim our authority over numbers, and to take responsibility for how we use them.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Kirkus Reviews gave Counting a starred review, praising it as a "delightful takedown of our unreasonable worship of numbers". Stone's work is recognised for its depth and critical perspective, delving beyond surface-level critiques and providing enthralling evidence that challenges conventional faith in numbers.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781631495922

Publisher: W W Norton & Co Ltd

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 06 October 2020

Country: United States

Imprint: Liveright Publishing Corporation

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 30.0mm

Width: 145.0mm

Height: 218.0mm

Weight: 441g

Pages: 312

About the Author

Deborah Stone is a renowned scholar who has taught at Brandeis, MIT, and other universities around the world. Her award-winning book Policy Paradox has captivated readers through three decades, four editions, and six translationsβ€”but who’s counting? She lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.

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  • Counting
    In a post-Trumpian world where COVID rates soar and Americans wage near-civil war about election results, Deborah Stone's Counting promises to transform how we think about numbers. Contrary to what you learned in kindergarten, counting is more art than arithmetic. In fact, numbers are just as much creatures of the human imagination as poetry and painting; the simplest tally starts...
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  • Policy Paradox
    The most accessible policy text available. Policy making is a political struggle over values and ideas. By exposing the paradoxes that underlie even seemingly straightforward policy decisions, Policy Paradox shows students that politics cannot be cleansed from the process in favour of "rationality." Author Deborah Stone has fully revised and updated this popular text, which now includes many paradoxes that...
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