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Bullshit Comparisons will challenge the way you think about rankings, charts and other marketing and political tools designed to create odious and dangerous comparisons.Is Boris Johnson really like Winston Churchill? Are electric cars actually greener than petrol ones? Which is the world's most successful university? Is Lisbon the new Barcelona? Should we compare the achievements of younger and older siblings even when we know it damages their self-worth? We make comparisons every day, but how helpful are they?
Looking across a dazzling range of situations both familiar and unfamiliar,
Bullshit Comparisons is a ground-breaking examination of the role of comparison in modern society, illuminated by examples spanning from the FIFA World Footballer of the year, to wine-tasting in London, hospital care in Sierra Leone and avocado farming in Colombia.
Challenging us to think critically about the use of comparison through accessible, personal, and often amusing research, Andrew Brooks reveals the uses and abuses of comparisons in a book that isn't like anything else you have read.
About the author
Andrew Brooks is a Reader in Uneven Development and Deputy Head of the Geography Department at King's College London. Andrew's work is equally praised for its rigour and accessibility.
His books include two editions of the popular S
mithsonian Children's Illustrated Atlas and
Clothing Poverty: The Hidden World of Fast Fashion and Second-hand Clothes, which was long listed for the Bread and Roses prize. He was an Editor of the J
ournal of Southern African Studies for four years and his work on global development and fashion has reached international media including Al Jazeera, BBC News, CNN,
The Economist,
The Guardian, Le Monde,
The New York Times and
Newsweek.
Summary
Life is complicated, comparisons are easy. What truths do they hide and what bullsh*t do comparisons propagate?Looking across a fascinating range of situations both familiar and unfamiliar, serious and light-hearted, Bullsh*t Comparisons is a ground-breaking guide to the role of could-be-true but misleading comparisons.
Foreword
Bullsh*t Comparisons will challenge the way you think about the political use and social abuse of the metaphors and metrics that warp our understanding of an unequal world.
