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Tim Harford on How to Make Sense of the Stats

History &
Social Policy

Numbers and economics guru Tim Harford explains the stories behind our understanding of what numbers mean, and why using them properly can give us unparalleled insight into every area of life

Numbers and economics guru Tim Harford takes a deep dive into the world of statistics. Drawing on the ideas in his new book, How to Make the World Add Up: Ten Rules for Thinking Differently About Numbers, Harford takes us on a journey through art forgery, fake news, big data and dangerous political narratives, relaying the stories behind our understanding of what numbers mean, and showing why using them properly can give us unparalleled insight into every area of life.

Harford was joined by David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor for the Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge, who has been described by Harford on his Radio 4 show More or Less as a ‘statistical national treasure’. Already a frequent voice in the media, Spiegelhalter has rarely been off the airwaves since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, helping us through the maze of Rs, case fatality rates and excess deaths.

Chairing the event was the mathematician Hannah Fry, whose acclaimed television and radio documentaries have brought the world of maths, data and algorithms to a wide public audience.

How to Make the World Add Up: Ten Rules for Thinking Differently About Numbers by Tim Harford is available to pre-order from Waterstones.

Event Name

Tim Harford on How to Make Sense of the Stats

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Speakers for the motion

  • Tim Harford

    Senior columnist for the Financial Times and author of How To Make The World Add Up

  • Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter

    Leading British statistician

Chair

  • Hannah Fry

    Mathematician, radio and television presenter and author, whose work focuses on patterns in human behaviour

Speakers are subject to change.

Speakers

Speakers

Tim Harford

Senior columnist for the Financial Times and author of How To Make The World Add Up

Senior columnist for the Financial Times, where as 'The Undercover Economist', he reveals the economic ideas behind everyday experiences. He also presents the BBC radio series More or Less. His writing has appeared in Esquire, Forbes, New York magazine, the Washington Post, and The New York Times. His latest book is How to Make the World Add Up, and previous books include The Undercover Economist, The Logic of Life and Adapt.

Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter

Leading British statistician

Leading British statistician and Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication in the Statistical Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. Spiegelhalter is one of the most cited and influential researchers in his field, and was elected as President of the Royal Statistical Society for 2017 to18. He appears regularly in the UK media explaining the numbers that appear in the news, assisting both ordinary people and politicians to make sensible decisions based on the best evidence available. His most recent book is The Art of Statistics.
Chair

Hannah Fry

Mathematician, radio and television presenter and author, whose work focuses on patterns in human behaviour

Associate Professor in the Mathematics of Cities at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at UCL where she studies patterns in human behaviour. Her research applies to a wide range of social problems and questions, from shopping and transport to urban crime, riots and terrorism. Her critically acclaimed BBC documentaries include Horizon: Diagnosis on Demand? The Computer Will See You Now, Britain’s Greatest Invention, City in the Sky (BBC Two), Magic Numbers: Hannah Fry’s Mysterious World of Maths, The Joy of Winning, The Joy of Data, Contagion! The BBC Four Pandemic and Calculating Ada (BBC Four). She also co-presents The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry (BBC Radio 4) and The Maths of Life with Lauren Laverne (BBC Radio 6). Hannah is the author of Hello World: How to be Human in the Age of the Machine, which was described by The Times as ‘One of the best books yet written on data and algorithms’ and was shortlisted for the 2018 Baillie Gifford Prize.

 

Speakers are subject to change.