Engelska

<p>What makes a bridge wobble when it&apos;s not meant to? How do billions of dollars mysteriously vanish into thin air? How does a building rock when its resonant frequency matches a gym class leaping to Snap&apos;s 1990 hit I&apos;ve Got The Power? The answer is maths. Or, to be precise, what happens when maths goes wrong in the real world. As Matt Parker shows us, our modern lives are built on maths: computer programmes, finance, engineering. And most of the time this maths works quietly behind the scenes, until ... it doesn&apos;t. Exploring and explaining a litany of glitches, near-misses and mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, the Roman empire and a hapless Olympic shooting team, Matt Parker shows us the bizarre ways maths trips us up, and what this reveals about its essential place in our world. This book shows how, by making maths our friend, we can learn from its pitfalls. It also contains puzzles, challenges, geometric socks, jokes about binary code and three deliberate mistakes. Getting it wrong has never been more fun.</p>

<p>'Her stories have the power to transform your life' Lori Gottlieb, bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone 'Radically changes the way we think about mental illness, pleasure, pain, reward and stress' Daniel Levitin, bestselling author of The Organized Mind 'Brilliant . . . riveting, scary, cogent and cleverly argued' Beth Macy, author of Dopesick We are a wired generation.</p><p>In these fast-paced times we are constantly bombarded by high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli. From texting to social media, food to drugs, gambling to shopping, we have become addicted to fleeting and distracting pleasures that are making us sick. In Dopamine Nation, psychiatrist and bestselling author Dr Anna Lembke reveals why our relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain and what we can do about it.</p><p>Bringing together cutting-edge neuroscience with the gripping real life experiences from her clinical practice, Lembke explores how contentment and connectedness are essential tools in keeping dopamine in check. This is an essential book for anyone wanting to find a balance for a happier life.</p>

There's so much talk about the threat posed by intelligent machines that it sometimes seems as though we should surrender to our robot overlords. But Junaid Mubeen isn't ready to throw in the towel just yet. As far as he is concerned, we have the creative edge over machines, because of a remarkable system of thought that humans have developed over the millennia. It's familiar to us all, but often badly taught in schools and misrepresented in popular discourse - maths. Computers are, of course, brilliant at totting up sums, pattern-seeking and performing mindless tasks of, well, computation. For all things calculation, machines reign supreme. But Junaid identifies seven areas of intelligence where humans can retain a crucial edge. And in exploring these areas, he opens up a fascinating world where we can develop our uniquely human mathematical superpowers.

'<b>Who knew numbers could be so charming? ... Suri takes us on a light-hearted journey all the way from nothing (zero) to infinity</b>' Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of <i>We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves</i> Our universe has multiple origin stories, from religious creation myths to the Big Bang of scientists. But if we leave those behind and start from nothing - no matter, no cosmos, not even empty space - could we create a universe using only maths? In this new mathematical origin story, mathematician and award-winning novelist Manil Suri creates a natural progression of ideas needed to design our world, starting with numbers and continuing through geometry, algebra, and beyond. With evocative and engaging examples ranging from multidimensional crochet to the Mona Lisa's asymmetrical smile, as well as ingenious storytelling that helps illuminate complex concepts like infinity and relativity, <i>The Big Bang of Numbers</i> charts a playful, inventive course to existence. Distilled from almost four decades of teaching experience, and offering both striking new perspectives for maths aficionados and an accessible introduction for enthusiastic novices, <i>The Big Bang of Numbers</i> proves that we can all fall in love with maths.

How Not To Be Wrong [Bok / Pocket]

<p>Factfulness meets How to Be Right in this major new book from globally bestselling economist Tim Harford'Tim Harford is our most likeable champion of reason and rigour... clear, clever and always highly readable' Times Books of the Year 'If you aren't in love with stats before reading this book, you will be by the time you're done. Powerful, persuasive, and in these truth-defying times, indispensable'Caroline Criado Perez, author of Invisible Women'Nobody makes the statistics of everyday life more fascinating and enjoyable than Tim Harford'Bill Bryson'Fabulously readable, lucid, witty and authoritative . . . </p><p>Every politician and journalist should be made to read this book, but everyone else will get so much pleasure and draw so much strength from the joyful way it dispels the clouds of deceit and delusion' Stephen Fry'Wise, humane and, above all, illuminating. Nobody is better on statistics and numbers - and how to make sense of them'Matthew Syed"One of the most wonderful collections of stories that I have read in a long time... fascinating."Stephen Levitt, co-author of FreakonomicsTHE SUNDAY TIMES BUSINESS BESTSELLERWhen was the last time you read a grand statement, accompanied by a large number, and wondered whether it could really be true? Statistics are vital in helping us tell stories - we see them in the papers, on social media, and we hear them used in everyday conversation - and yet we doubt them more than ever. But numbers - in the right hands - have the power to change the world for the better. </p><p>Contrary to popular belief, good statistics are not a trick, although they are a kind of magic. Good statistics are not smoke and mirrors; in fact, they help us see more clearly. Good statistics are like a telescope for an astronomer, a microscope for a bacteriologist, or an X-ray for a radiologist. If we are willing to let them, good statistics help us see things about the world around us and about ourselves - both large and small - that we would not be able to see in any other way. 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'. He takes 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 worthwhile. Harford's characters range from the art forger who conned the Nazis to the stripper who fell in love with the most powerful congressman in Washington, to famous data detectives such as John Maynard Keynes, Daniel Kahneman and Florence Nightingale. </p><p>He reveals how we can evaluate the claims that surround us with confidence, curiosity and a healthy level of scepticism. Using ten simple rules for understanding numbers - plus one golden rule - this extraordinarily insightful book shows how if we keep our wits about us, thinking carefully about the way numbers are sourced and presented, we can look around us and see with crystal clarity how the world adds up.</p>

How Numbers Work [Bok / Pocket]