Bullshit Comparisons

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.