Fatal Numbers: Why Count on Chance

Literary Nonfiction. Philosophy. Economics & Statistics. Translated from the German by Karen Leeder. Acclaimed poet, essayist, and cultural critic Hans Magnus Enzensberger takes a fresh, sobering look at our faith in statistics, our desire to predict the future, and our dependence on fortuitousness. Tracing the interface between chance and probability in medical diagnostics, risk models, economics, and the fluctuations of financial markets, FATAL NUMBERS goes straight to the heart of what it means to live, plan, and make decisions in a globalized, digitized, hyperlinked, science-driven, and uncertain world. Foreword by Gerd Gigerenzer. Illustrations by David Fried.