X-Book

Numbercrunch

Already purchased

Click to open directly in the xigxag app.

Standard price shown. Sign in for personalised pricing.

Send as a gift Get in the xigxag app

Added to cart

Continue shopping or head to checkout

View cart
How does xigxag pricing work?

Listen to a sample

What to expect

'Lucid and entertaining. With barely an equation in sight, Numbercrunch makes a passionate case for how just a little bit more numeracy could help us all'
- Tom Whipple, The Times

'The perfect introduction to the power of mathematics - fluent, friendly and practical'
- Tim Harford, bestselling author of How to Make the World Add Up

In our hyper-modern world, we are bombarded with more facts, stats and information than ever before. So, what can we grasp hold of to make sense of it all?

Oliver Johnson reveals how mathematical thinking can help us understand the myriad data all around us. From the exponential growth of viruses to social media filter-bubbles; from share-price fluctuations to growth of computing power; from the datafication of our sports pages to quantifying climate change. Not to mention the things much closer to home: ever wondered when the best time is to leave a party? What are the chances of rain ruining your barbecue this weekend? How about which queue is the best to join in the supermarket?

Journeying through the three sections of Randomness, Structure, and Information, we meet a host of brilliant minds such Alan Turing, Enrico Fermi and Claude Shannon, and we learn the tools, tips and tricks to cut through the noise all around us - from the Law of Large Numbers to Entropy to Brownian Motion.

Lucid, surprising, and endlessly entertaining, Numbercrunch equips you with a definitive mathematician's toolkit to make sense of your world.

Critics Review

The perfect introduction to the power of mathematics - fluent, friendly and practical.
Tim Harford, author of 'How to Make the World Add Up'
A clear, straightforward, informative guide to understanding numbers. I wish I'd read it years ago.
Tom Chivers, author of 'How to Read Numbers'
An excellent, straightforward introduction to usefulness of numbers, which gets to the heart of why maths is so important to all of us.
David Sumpter, author of 'The Ten Equations that Rule the World'
A fine and valuable read. Johnson applies careful analysis and great common sense to an extraordinary range of applications of mathematical ideas, from football to filter bubbles - explaining formal ideas with minimum technicalities, and weighing their relevance to the real world.
David Spiegelhalter, author of 'The Art of Statistics'
Lucid and entertaining. With barely an equation in sight, Numbercrunch makes a passionate case for how just a little bit more numeracy could help us all.
Tom Whipple, Science Editor, 'The Times'
Numbers don't lie but they often speak a foreign language. Professor Oliver Johnson is a superb maths-whisperer on a mission to arm his readers with the tools to distinguish sound claims from the many phoney ones that bombard us every day. Numbercrunch is an invaluable addition to the modern baloney-detection kit.
Ananyo Bhattacharya, author of 'The Man from the Future'

More from the same

Narrator

About xigxag and the x-book®

Discover the best audiobooks with xigxag, an innovative and user-friendly audiobook platform designed to simplify finding, purchasing, and enjoying your favourite books in audio format. Our flexible pricing model makes bestselling audiobooks affordable, offering the best audiobook deals without the need for a subscription. You can also give the perfect gift with our convenient audiobook gift cards and in-app audiobook gifting options.

A core differentiator of xigxag is our groundbreaking listen-and-read x-book® technology, which delivers a truly immersive digital book experience. This unique innovation seamlessly combines the audiobook, text, and images into a brilliant, integrated format, complete with exclusive audiobook features and a next-generation digital reading experience. Our growing x-book selection is easily discoverable by looking for the distinctive purple x-book® ribbon, or by simply filtering your search by ‘x-book’.

Beyond our technology, xigxag is committed to sustainability and ethical practices, ensuring a guilt-free listening experience from an exceptional digital book platform. As the only B Corp certified UK audiobook service, we stand as a leader in audiobook innovation and a compelling alternative to big tech. Our commitment extends to delivering extraordinary customer service, provided by our friendly UK support team.

Effortlessly search audiobooks, gain insights from honest audiobook reviews evaluating both the content and narration, and easily discover hidden gems. You can download or stream top audiobook titles anytime, anywhere, guaranteeing the best possible listening experience on the UK’s best independent audiobook app. Experience the future of audiobooks today.