Why do buses come in threes?

An enjoyable light read that opens the lid on teh mathematics of everyday life.

One of the examples - which is the best day of the week to buy a lottery ticket for a Saturday lottery?
The answer is Friday - if you buy it earlier in the week you are more likey to be run over by a car (1 in 10m) before you can collect your prize (1 in 14m)!

Sex, Drink and Fast Cars - The creation and consumption of images

Stephen Bayley explores the meaning of cars and looks at how these meanings are exploited by designers, advertisers and marketeers.

He looks at how the designs and associated meanings have evolved over the years.

I guarantee you will never look at the other cars in the traffic jam in the same way after reading thi sbook.

Fermat's Last Theorem

Simon Singh writes more of a history of a mathematical puzzle than about the puzzle itself (though he does explain that too in a clear and understandable way)

Unweaving the Rainbow

Richard Dawkins sets out in this book to arge that understanding the origin and evolution of life doesn't mean you have to wonder at it any less.

In fact he makes a very good argument for wondering at the beauty of it even more.

Designing Feedback

A rather obscure book, that focusses in just on the design of management performance measures. You might think you already know all there is to know on teh subject but I am confident that everyone will find something new in here.

In summary the messages are:
Measures should have their origins in customer needs
Measures should provide feedback to all those in the organisation who can make a difference
Measures need to be balanced and appropriate to the level of their audience
Report performance trends as well as externally benchmarked absolute results