Numbers

Did you know that 3 billion people worldwide live on less than $2 a day?

 

Numbers can unlock secrets, split atoms, reveal the inner workings of people and machines, or draw patterns of jaw-dropping complexity and beauty. In the East, they have mystical significance--they can tell the future and are the key to the secret harmonies of the universe. Numbers can also make us angry, make us laugh, or elicit tears.

Did you know that 3.7 million Americans claim to have been abducted by aliens?

 

While numbers can reveal, they can also conceal. Numbers can be convincing liars. This book encourages a healthy skepticism toward those who would have us quantify the universe and all its minutiae, including our own humanity. We human beings are summed up, averaged out, and cross-sectioned by academics and officials in surveys and screeds of government statistics that rob us of our individual identities.

We all encounter numbers hundreds of times a day. This is a collection of some of the most peculiar, bizarre, shocking, or hilarious numbers we could find. They are meant to make you think, to challenge your assumptions (and your credulity), to make you laugh, to move you to action, or simply to entertain. This book also offers a glimpse into the history of humanity's fascination with numbers and how our relationship with them ultimately reveals how we relate to each other and our world.

Number of people who could be provided with sources of clean drinking water per year for the cost of a submarine: 60 million

  

Number of miles driven by the average American car before it emits its own weight in carbon dioxide: 10,000

About the Authors

Anita Roddick

Dame Anita Roddick started The Body Shop in 1976 in Brighton, England. What distinguishes The Body Shop and Roddick from other global businesses and entrepreneurs is a core dedication to community trade and human rights. Roddick is a key pioneer of socially responsible business, proving that commerce with a conscience is not only a moral imperative. She was named a Dame of the Order of the British Empire in 2003. Her Web site is www.AnitaRoddick.com. ...

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David Boyle

David Boyle is the author of Funny Money, The Tyranny of Numbers, The Sum of Our Discontent, and Authenticity: Brands, Fakes, Spin and the Lust for Real Life. For more information about David Boyle please visit his website. ...

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