Why Counting Can't Make Us Happy
Too often we try to quantify what can't actually be measured. We count people, but not individuals. We count exam results rather than intelligence, benefit claimants instead of poverty. We are in a world in which everything is designed only to be measured. If it can't be measured it can be ignored.
But the big problem is what numbers don't tell you. They won't interpret. They won't inspire, and they won't tell you precisely what causes what. In this passionately argued and thought-provoking book, David Boyle examines our obsession with numbers. He reminds us of the danger of taking numbers so seriously at the expense of what is non-measurable, non-calculable: intuition, creativity, imagination, happiness . . .