How to Make the World Add Up

The Sunday Times Business Bestseller now in paperback

The Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller

'Tim Harford could well be Britain's Malcolm Gladwell'
Alex Bellos, author of Alex's Adventures in Numberland

'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


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' to take 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 so rewarding. Through vivid storytelling he reveals how we can evaluate the claims that surround us with confidence, curiosity and a healthy level of scepticism. It is a must-read for anyone who cares about understanding the world around them.

'Tim Harford is our most likeable champion of reason and rigour . . . clear, clever and always highly readable'
The Times, Books of the Year

'Fascinating and enjoyable'
Bill Bryson

'Now more than ever we need a book like this'
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.'
Steven Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics
'Wise and useful . . . such a delight'
Financial Times

'What should we do when someone makes a claim that they say is based on data? This wise book, distilled from years of experience, gives us the ten commandments, from first examining our feelings, to finally having the humility to admit we may be wrong. Priceless'
Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter

About the Author

Tim Harford is a senior columnist for the Financial Times and the presenter of Radio 4's More or Less. He was the winner of the Bastiat Prize for economic journalism in 2006, and More or Less was commended for excellence in journalism by the Royal Statistical Society in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Harford lives in Oxford with his wife and three children, and is a visiting fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford. His other books include The Undercover Economist, The Logic of Life and Adapt.