The Norm Chronicles

Stories and Numbers About Danger and Death

By: Michael Blastland, David Spiegelhalter

Narrated by: Angelo Di Loreto

Is it safer to fly or take the train? How dangerous is skydiving? And is eating that extra sausage going to kill you? We've all heard the statistics for risky activities, but what do they mean in the real world? In The Norm Chronicles, journalist Michael Blastland and risk expert David Spiegelhalter explore these questions through the stories of average Norm and an ingenious measurement called the MicroMorta - a one-in-a-million chance of dying. They reveal why general anesthesia is as dangerous as a parachute jump, giving birth in the US is nearly twice as risky as in the UK, and that the radiation from eating a banana shaves three seconds off your life. An entertaining guide to the statistics of personal risk, The Norm Chronicles will enlighten anyone who has ever worried about the dangers we encounter in our daily lives.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2014 Michael Blastland and David Spiegelhalter (P)2015 Audible Inc.

The Companion PDF???

Great book, if a recording ever mentions a companion chart, figure out image then Audible should get it and post it next to the recording... it is not that difficult.

Who KNEW death and statistics could be such FUN?

This is a clever piece of work. Many acquaintances, and I, have been wrangling about one risk of everyday life versus another, forever, i.e., the stuff of our daily choices, our claims of wisdom or folly. There is a neat little tutorial in simple statistics imbedded in this too, and ways of debunking splashy news stories, but as you follow the quirky little stories here, you might not have noticed it. I have read other books about debunking claims, but this one went down like fizzy candy. In a good way. And, don't get me wrong, there is plenty of adult info, on which many an adult is snared in miscalculation. And I vastly appreciate the way the mundane non-emergencies of life are noticed and modeled here, and not merely the garish, slapstick side so (misleadingly) splashed around the news.

Couldn't Finish

I'm really interested in statistics and especially writers who can apply mathematics to modern life resulting in unexpected revelations (think Freakonomics). I thought the Norm Chronicles would be such a book. No such luck. Each chapter is overly long and meandering at that. Worse, the author uses the fictional "Norm" to illustrate points they want to make -- instead of just making them. This probably seemed like a great idea but in practice the result is pretty dull and uninspiring. It's rare that I give up 1/2 way through a book but that's what I did on this.