Harford, Tim – The Bell Bookshop

The truth detective

Emma — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

‘Tim Harford is peerless at making sense of a complicated world and our place within it. This is a book that all children should read‘ – Matthew Syed

-> Did you know that a toy spaceship can teach you about inflation?
-> Or that a pooping cow can show you how to invest your pocket money?
-> And that even the greatest detectives have been fooled by fake news and dancing fairies?

The world is often full of bamboozling headlines and numbers that don’t add up. But don’t panic. Within these pages you will transform into a Truth Detective, hunting down the truth about the world around you.

You will meet heroic truth detectives, such as Florence Nightingale who started a revolution with a pie chart. You will encounter dastardly villains who have tried to trip us up with dodgy data and misinformation. And you will learn how being smart and savvy with numbers, will help you be smart and savvy about everything else in life too.

So grab your detective cap, pick up your magnifying glass and start seeing the world like never before.

A must read for curious kids from presenter of BBC Radio 4’s “More or Less”, Tim Harford and with wonderful illustrations to enjoy by Ollie Mann.

The Next Fifty Things That Made the Modern Economy

Emma — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In 'Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy', the revolutionary, acclaimed book, radio series and podcast, bestselling economist Tim Harford introduced us to a selection of fifty radical inventions that changed the world. Now, in this book, Harford once again brings us an array of remarkable, memorable, curious and often unexpected 'things' - inventions that teach us lessons by turns intimate and sweeping about the complex world economy we live in today. From the brick, blockchain and the bicycle to fire, the factory and fundraising, and from solar PV and the pencil to the postage stamp, this brilliant and enlightening collection resonates, fascinates and stimulates.

Undercover Economist

Emma — Thu, 03 May 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Who makes most money from the demand for cappuccinos early in the morning at Waterloo Station? Why is it impossible to get a foot on the property ladder? How does the Mafia make money from laundries when street gangs pushing drugs don’t? Who really benefits from immigration? How can China, in just fifty years, go from the world’s worst famine to one of the greatest economic revolutions of all time, lifting a million people out of poverty a month?

Looking at familiar situations in unfamiliar ways, THE UNDERCOVER ECONOMIST is a fresh explanation of the fundamental principles of the modern economy, illuminated by examples from the streets of London to the booming skyscrapers of Shanghai to the sleepy canals of Bruges. Leaving behind textbook jargon and equations, Tim Harford will reveal the games of signals and negotiations, contests of strength and battles of wit that drive not only the economy at large but the everyday choices we make.