I See Stripes

The Tiger That Isn't is a hugely entertaining looking in to the persuasive power of numbers.  Reducing complexity down to a single number is fraught with danger.  That this self same value can then be seized upon by politicians and others with power (and an agenda), which can then be used as a crude tool with which to heard the masses through a combination of pseudo science and, basically, fear, is reason enough to read this book:

• Seeing a pattern of stripes in the leaves, we would run from what looks like a tiger.  There are illusions in numbers too, often just as intimidating.  This book reveals what the numbers really show, and exposes that tiger that isn't.