(p. C9) As she tended soldiers during the Crimean War, a British nurse found herself appalled by the wretched, vermin-infested conditions at the army’s hospital in Istanbul. She began collecting figures showing the devastating effects of the filth and the dramatic benefits of the sanitary improvements she implemented. Her presentation on the need for cleaner care facilities, published in 1858, led to reforms that ultimately saved millions of lives and increased life expectancy in the U.K. Florence Nightingale, it turns out, was a pioneering data scientist.
Data, when used to reveal the value of hospital hygiene or the harm of tobacco smoke, can be a vital force for good, as Tim Harford reminds us in “The Data Detective.”
. . .
Imprecise and inconsistent definitions are one source of confusion. . . . . . . “infant mortality,” a key data point for public health, varies depending on the specific time in fetal development when the line is drawn between a miscarriage and a tragically premature birth.
. . .
To learn from data, it’s essential to present it well. For her analysis after the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale created one of the first infographics, using shrewdly designed diagrams to tell a memorable story. From the outset, she regarded visually compelling data displays as indispensable to making her arguments.
. . .
An authentically open mind can make a difference, Mr. Harford says, noting that the top forecasters tend to be not experts but earnest learners who constantly take in new data while challenging and refining their hypotheses. Data, Mr. Harford concludes, can illuminate and inform as well as distract and deceive. It’s often maddeningly hard to know the difference, but it would be unforgivable not to try.
For the full review see:
Wade Davis. “To Hear a Dying Tongue.” The Wall Street Journal (Saturday, Aug. 10, 2019 [sic]): C9.
(Note: ellipses added.)
(Note: the online version of the review has the date Aug. 9, 2019 [sic], and has the title “‘A Death in the Rainforest’ Review: To Hear a Dying Tongue.”)
The book under review is:
Kulick, Don. A Death in the Rainforest: How a Language and a Way of Life Came to an End in Papua New Guinea. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2019.