13 Oct 2013 03:57:40
The economist Noreena Hertz's latest book was inspired by a bout of ill health six years ago, during which she was offered a variety of contradictory advice by a range of medical professionals. Her disillusionment at being presented with a wide but unfiltered range of information was mirrored by the ever-present drip feed of emails, tweets, texts and news feeds that permeate daily life. Her new book, subtitled "How to Make Smart Decisions in a Confusing World", attempts to take issue with the rise and rise of unchecked data, and suggests some simple solutions to allow her readers to take control of their lives.
Hertz's targets are big companies and state providers of information whose motives in supplying statistics and "facts" can be dubiously self-interested. (Perhaps ironically, she's married to Danny Cohen, director of BBC Television.) Over and over again, Hertz depicts a world in which powerful organisations and retail companies can manipulate ordinary consumers into buying their products or believing their arguments by using a range of straw men and misleading or just downright inaccurate statistics. We learn, dispiritingly, that a third of all online reviews are false.
To an extent, Hertz is preaching to the converted. Few are likely to read her book who are happy with the ceaselessly frenetic and often dishonest way that unedited information seeps into everyday life, and her broadly anti-capitalist stance seems in keeping with her belief that "ordinary" people are more intelligent and discerning than they are given credit for.
