The Tiger That Isn't - Seeing Through A World Of Numbers

Book Name : The Tiger That Isn't - Seeing Through A World Of Numbers

Author : Blastland And Dilnot

What is it about : In this book, the authors presented the ways to interpret and make sense of counting, survey, sampling, comparison, clustering, measurement, chance, target, size and other data-related information. All this information had been well talked-about topics, all too often appearing as eye-catching newspapers headlines - Happiness Index, School Ranking, Emergency Room Response Time, Operation Waiting Time, GDP Growth, Median Wage, Infant Mortality Rate etc. The book cut through all the patterns of stripes of leaves (red herrings and catchy sensationalism) and revealed the true "tigers" (significance) beyond.

Some thoughts after having read the book : Two of the examples mentioned in the book which I liked best, were the use of Key Performance Indices (KPI) to gauge the efficiency of the UK government departments and civil servants and secondly, the hospital emergency triage waiting times. I was especially impressed by many similar examples not because of the methodology deployed in these measurements but the ways the departments and hospital front line staff  used "gaming tactics" and "doctoring the data" by adjusting their work practices to give better looking numbers, all without the work being done or patients being treated. For instance, Patient Care as measured by the length of time a GP spent with each patient improved significantly to 10 minutes, not because the GP spent the time on diagnosis but rather spent the time on asking after the patient "How is Auntie Beryl and her cat doing?" Joke aside, the book presented many of these eye-opening examples of how deceptive "numbers" could be.

Would I recommend this book to you : A book welcomed and praised by all walks of lives including Bank Governors, Prime Minister Advisors, scientific communities and High Street newspapers for the book's clarity and cynical dissection of the motives behind these so-called surveys and KPI; as well as giving the general layman a few tools to understand the numbers, data and numerical information which we all had been flooded daily and thus avoiding the many pitfalls of being misled and misinformed - I would give a BIG thumbs up to this book and rank it A Must Read.

The Looking Glass War

Book Name : The Looking Glass War

Author : John le Carre

What is it about : The almost-defunct branch in the British Secret Service which dealt with military affairs of all shapes and sizes, had a surprising tip-off about a missile site in East Germany, and devoured this un-expected opportunity with all its hunger and energy by deploying out-of-touch and inadequately trained agents with rusty equipment and procedures twenty years out-of-date. The mission to discover and report behind enemy lines exploded in their face with some dubious help from their sister secret service which had ambitions of their own. The unfortunate agent Fred Leiser, a naturalised Pole, was last seen holding a knife across an East German girl's throat when the whole house was stormed by the East German police force.

Some thoughts after having read the book : Written in the very productive years of this great author, presenting in full view the cynical irony, ruthless betrayal and the hopelessness to re-live the nostalgia of a lost cause. Le Carre excelled here in describing the "Agent recruitment cycle" - hunted down the desperate (yes Fred, you would need a bob or two to buy a necklace for your new girl), fed their ego (yes Fred, you were always the best and was high on our list), kept up the visage of the glory and might of the old Department (yes Fred, the Department had never been in better hands), made Fred felt loyal to their handlers (yes Fred, we all salute you and wait for your triumphant return, your White Lady cocktail would be waiting) and when excuses ran out, plain deceit would do (yes Fred, carrying a 50 Pounds transmitter and crawling a couple of hundreds yards behind enemy lines would all go un-detected, no worries).

Would I recommend this book to you : Good Le Carre book to re-capture the haunting atmosphere in the Cold War era all those years ago and how agents were fed to the vultures whilst those in London moved on to the next recruitment - we all know the rules, don't we gentlemen ? A brilliant novel - heart breaking and at the same time the readers wondered almost aloud at the stupidity of it all.

The Curious Case Of Dassoukine's Trousers

Book Name : The Curious Case Of Dassoukine's Trousers

Author : Fouad Laroui

What is it about : A first book by this Moroccan author that was translated in to English , containing nine short stories with themes of humourous situations, frustration in life, identity crisis, vanity, wisdom and philosophy.

Some thoughts after having read the book : Nine short sketches showcasing the Author's ability to create, structure, flesh out contents, directing and forming dialogues for vastly varying scenarios. My favourite story was "What's Not Said In Brussels" - about a long distance relationship between an Amsterdam male and a French female who both had initially intended to end their affair where they had met, Brussels. But somehow, words were hard to come by and thus began a new phase in their lives. I would see this author going into writing stage plays, movie scripts and stand-up comedies.

Would I recommend this book to you : Colorful passages but at times the stories see-sawed between a joyful read and exotic wonderment to a farce and absurdity. I found the book to be great training materials for flexing one's grey matter and imagination as well as a mental challenge for keeping up with the dialogues and comprehending different writing styles and choice of phrases. Go try !