The world keeps getting more complex, but becoming a better problem solver can help you make sense of it all. Mastering the art of problem solving takes more than proficiency with basic calculations: it requires (among other things) understanding how people use information, recognizing the importance of ideology, learning the art of story telling, and acknowledging the important distinction between facts and values. Turning Numbers into Knowledge is the first comprehensive guide to these and other essential skills. Full of tools, tricks, and tips for solving problems in the real world, it will prepare you well to make independent judgments about the numerical assertions of others and to generate cogent and compelling analyses of your own.

Turning Numbers into Knowledge teaches you (in a non-technical way) the art of using numbers for practical problem solving, revealing tools, tricks, and heretofore unwritten rules that the best real-world problem solvers know by heart. Everyone, from journalists to researchers, academics to activists, and CEOs to government officials, will glean something useful from this book. If you need to understand numbers produced by others, if you supervise people creating such analyses, or if you're generating numbers yourself, you need this book!

"There is nothing else like this book out there. Nobody who deals with problems where numbers matter — and everybody in today’s world really needs to — should be without it." —John P. Holdren, past president, American Association for the Advancement of Science, from the Foreword.

Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving