Kloof author, Neil Wright launched his fifth book, “The Numbers in Our Lives” at a book launch held at Scribbles Book Shop in Kloof.
The 425 page,18 chapter book, took five years to put together as it involved a lot of research and covers numbers related to health, geography, climate, cities, sport and so on.
“It was a mammoth undertaking and much of it will always be a work in progress, as numbers change,” explained Wright.
Wright, who ran his own transport company for 30 years, has always been interested in numbers, figures and facts but two particular numbers that sparked his interest and were the catalysts for this book were the build-up of CO2 in the atmosphere, now over 400 parts per million and the CD4 cell count – these are the cells in the white blood cells that are part of the immune system and is critical for monitoring HIV/AIDS. Normal is between 500 to 1600mm3, below 200 could indicate HIV/AIDS.
“In 1988 350ppm of CO2 was considered critical, as the number increases we will continue to have global warming. Fires, storms, weather pattern changes are all related to this increased number.”
The book covers numeracy in SA and in the SA economy and captures all the essential numbers that apply to living in South Africa. Wright takes the subjects from the beginning, describing historic developments and even the origins of numbers themselves.
“Numbers is another word for figures or stats. We should be concentrating on the facts rather than gossip mongering. Facts are the truth, we need to become more numerate. For a lot of people, numbers scare them so this book is an attempt to help – the economy has a real need for numeracy.”
“The more I started writing this book, the more I realised what a good thing I was doing in making people aware of important numbers around us. I wanted to create awareness, interest and curiosity and hope that people will find this book interesting.”
The recommended retail price is R325. For more information visit Wright’s website www.wrightpublishing.co.za.
