Millions, Billions, Zillions: Defending Yourself in a World of Too Many Numbers by Brian W. Kernighan

Millions, Billions, Zillions: Defending Yourself in a World of Too Many Numbers Reviews

• 
  Brian Clegg

  The news is riddled with numbers that we often taken for granted. Brian Kernighan sets out to give us the tools to test numbers in the headlines and see if they really add up. The fact that they often don't is made clear by the range of examples Kernighan gives where a news source has got a value wrong, whether it's out by a factor of a thousand, using the wrong units or impossibly accurate, perhaps due to a spot of calculator work converting one unit to another.
  
  This isn't the first book to take on misleading numbers - as well as the classic How to Lie with Statistics, there was the excellent The Tiger that Isn't. Although Kernighan covers many of the common errors in this slim volume, I didn't get the same sense of fascination here as I did with those earlier titles (particular The Tiger). Kernighan gives us useful tips on checking numbers, but often the examples felt like hard work for numbers it's hard to care too much about (the US's 60 billion barrel oil reserve, for example (actually 60 million)) - carefully choosing your examples in a book like this is really important.
  
  The techniques Kernighan gives, such as scaling numbers to individuals rather than the population as a whole, knowing some basic values and constants, Little's Law, the rule of 72 and approximations of powers of 2 are all great - though I confess I've already forgotten what Little's Law and the rule of 72 are and will have to go back and check. But the book didn't engage me the way that The Tiger that Isn't did (it could be partly that the The Tiger uses more British examples, but it also has a more approachable writing style).
  
  However, books like this are essential in a world where numbers are increasingly used to bamboozle us. This is a very welcome addition to what I hope will be a growing genre.
• 
  Ben Rothke

  The world of information security is awash in figures and statistics. From the estimated expensive costs of password resets, to cost of a data breach studies, the endlessly quoted Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report, to the near monthly hundreds of millions of customer’s data breaches, and countless more.
  
  For anyone who wants to understand how to effectively use data in the world of information security, the definitive guide is Measuring and Managing Information Risk: A FAIR Approach, by Dr. Jack Freund and Jack Jones. For those that want to understand how the media often misuses numbers and statistics, a much lighter and more entertaining read is Millions, Billions, Zillions Defending Yourself in a World of Too Many Numbers, by noted computer scientist Brian Kernighan.
  
  In this short and enjoyable reference, Kernighan shows how the media often uses numbers, graphs, figures and more; but far too often either misreports them, or uses them in misleading ways. There are many reasons for this, including rushed deadlines, their inherent misunderstanding of how to use statistics, not understanding the underlying issue and much more.
  
  Kernighan gives many examples where billions and trillions are swapped. He also provides many examples of where conversions to/from metric values are done incorrectly, where orders of magnitude errors are erroneously reported.
  
  The bigger issue is not simply that the wrong figure is used by reporters, rather people and businesses act on them, and policy decisions are based on them. Once implemented, they are often hard to correct.
  
  In the book, Kernighan give many examples and provides ways to detect being fooled by suspect figures. The often inability of popular media to effectively use numbers and statistics, combined with the rise of fake news, makes it an imperative for readers to be skeptical when these numbers are being reported.
  
  Be it from the media, politicians or clueless neighbours, numbers and statistics are often used to confuse us. This in turns makes it important for readers not to take these figures at face value. By be numerically illiterate, a person runs the risk of being manipulated.
  
  Numbers, graphs and statistics can often be misleading and misrepresented. In Millions, Billions, Zillions Defending Yourself in a World of Too Many Numbers, Kernighan
  
• 
  Urey Patrick

  Interesting... fun... useful and educative. Joins a hand full of similar books explaining and illustrating how to discern factual realities in the blizzards of misleading, mistaken or otherwise incorrect mathematical news items and claims that besiege us daily ... greatest, least, most, startling percentage changes, graphical anomolies, etc. Well worth reading - as are earlier books in the genre such as Innumeracy by John Allen Paulos, How to Lie With Statistics by Darrel Huff, Damned Lies and Statistics by Joel Best... etc.
• 
  Turquoise

  A fun read with lots of interesting examples of how media reporting can go wrong when people are not careful about numbers. The book offers some helpful tips and tricks for estimating values yourself based on partial information. This could work well in various classroom settings.
• 
  Marcus

  A straightforward overview of the critical thinking skills needed to navigate the numbers of everyday life. Clearly written and surprisingly charming. However, it has little to offer anyone who already tries be critical about the numbers they face.
• 
  Duane Gosser

  A fun read...if you like to pay attention/question the data that floods our TV/radio/phones every day.
  Demonstrates how easy it is to verify/validate the BS/sloppiness factor quickly and easily.
  
  I would recommend especially in current climate.
• 
  Sean

  I picked up this book based on a recommendation as well as the author.
  
  It was a great, short book with tons of wonderful examples of using simple arithmetic and estimation in not only thinking about the data you encounter in public discourse but in other parts of your life as well.
• 
  Sara Rocutto

  Ho letto la versione italiana recentemente pubblicata da Egea. Utile, piacevole, semplice e curioso, anche per chi ha studiato ingegneria ;)
• 
  Dixie

  Interesting and useful, even to someone like me who struggles with math.
• 
  Dana Larose

  A short little book about numeracy and being cognizant of numbers in newspapers. Fun and a fairly useful read!
• 
  Tim

  Short and easy reading with interesting examples of numbers and how they are used/misused.
• 
  Maurizio Codogno

  Spannometria presentata da un mito
  
  [nota: esiste anche la traduzione italiana, Milioni, miliardi, fantastiliardi, che però non ho letto]. Un qualunque informatico della mia età o anche un po' più giovane, se sente parlare di Kernighan, pensa immediatamente al linguaggio C e al Kernighan-Ritchie. I più esperti sanno anche che lui è la K del linguaggio awk. È perciò buffo scoprire che è ancora attivo e ha da poco scritto questo libro, il cui scopo specifico è insegnare alla gente come non aver paura dei numeroni che ci assediano e soprattutto accorgersi degli errori marchiani che spesso si trovano nei giornali. Ho il sospetto che collezionare questi errori e le eventuali correzioni - nella stampa americana è molto più facile che capiti rispetto che da noi - sia un suo hobby. Il libro insegna attraverso tanti esempi ad applicare la nobile arte della spannometria, e quindi è altamente meritorio; forse è un po' troppo simile a un manuale, compreso il recap alla fine di qualunque capitolo, ma non ci si può aspettare nulla di diverso, no? Fatevi comunque un favore e leggetelo!