On perspective..................................

      If we don't understand the statistics, we're likely to be badly mistaken about the way the world is.  It is all too easy to convince ourselves that whatever we've seen with our own eyes is the whole truth; it isn't. . . .

      And yet, if we understand only the statistics, we understand little.  We need to be curious about the world we see, hear, touch, and smell as well as the world we can examine through a spreadsheet.

      My second piece of advice, then, its to try to take both perspectives—the worm's eye view as well as the bird's eye view.  They will usually show you something different, and they will sometimes pose a puzzle:  how could both views be true?  That should be the beginning of an investigation.

-Tim Harford, How To Make The World Add Up:  Ten Rules For Thinking Differently About Numbers