Product details
- ISBN 9781032362151
- Format: Hardback
- Weight: 616g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 16 Dec 2022
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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This book is written for the love of numbers. It tells their story, shows how they were invented and used to quantify our world, and explains what quantitative data mean for our lives. It aspires to contribute to overall numeracy through a tour de force presentation of the production, use, and evolution of data.
Understanding our physical world, our economies, and our societies through quantification has been a persistent feature of human evolution. This book starts with a narrative on why and how our ancestors were driven to the invention of number, which is then traced to the eventual arrival at our number system. This is followed by a discussion of how numbers were used for counting, how they enabled the measurement of physical quantities, and how they led to the estimation of man-made and abstract notions in the socio-economic domain. As data don’t fall like manna from the sky, a unique feature of this book is that it explains from a teacher’s perspective how they’re really conceived in our minds, how they’re actually produced from individual observations, and how this defines their meaning and interpretation. It discusses the significance of standards, the use of taxonomies, and clarifies a series of misconceptions regarding the making of data. The book then describes the switch to a new research paradigm and its implications, highlights the arrival of microdata, illustrates analytical uses of data, and closes with a look at the future of data and our own role in it.
George Sciadas has worked in the public, private, and academic sectors. He’s well-known in statistical circles in Canada and internationally, having worked for more than three decades at Statistics Canada and international organizations, including in several executive capacities. He has also taught at universities for many years. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics at McGill University, in Montreal. He has led many national and international projects, with research teams on all continents. He has authored numerous papers and monographs, and has been the editor of influential publications and compendia for many years.
