Synopses & Reviews
In The Sum of Our Discontent, David Boyle has put his finger on the problem with our numbers-obsessed societies: The trouble is that numbers have proliferated and that it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between a good statistic and a bad one and that therefore numbers have become meaningless and in the process reduced humans to be coldly calculating. Boyle points out that the important things in life, such as wealth, success, rehabilitation and wisdom, are intangible, and because they are intangible, they cannot be measured and so are not used as a standard of happiness. Boyle asks how can businesses measure what they are worth when value is increasingly ephemeral & encompassing things that go way beyond the traditional balance sheet? The trouble is, he says, is that numbers cannot capture the complexity of human life....the know-how, ethics, and self-esteem or kindness. Boyle emphasizes that the counters are taking over our lives. For centuries, humankind has attempted to divine meaning from life through numbers.
Review
"It is a message investment professionals would do well to heed when making their choices."
Global Investment
Review
?It is the strength of this book that it is written by an author who loves and enjoys numbers. He loves statistics....but he has made them totter.?
-- Earl Russell, Professor, Kings College, London
About the Author
David Boyle writes about economics for many papers and magazines, including The Guardian and New Statesman. He is the editor of New Economics magazine and the author of Funny Money published by HarperCollins.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1.A short history of counting 2.Jeremy Bentham and the Measure of Happiness 3.Damage by Numbers 4.Robert Malthus and the Death of Moral Statistics 5.The "Feel Good Factor" 6.Frederick Taylor's Time Machine 7.Toward an Ethical Profit Line 8.The Fine Balance of John Maynard Keynes 9.The New Indicators 10.Edgar Cahn and the Price of Everything 11.The Bottom Line Further Reading Acknowledgements