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Latest Read: How to Read Numbers

How to Read Numbers: A Guide to Statistics in the News (and Knowing When to Trust Them) by Tom Chivers and David Chivers

How to Read Numbers: A Guide to Statistics in the News (and Knowing When to Trust Them) by Tom Chivers, David Chivers

Tom is the science editor at UnHerd and has twice been awarded a Royal Statistical Society “statistical excellence in journalism” prize, in 2018 and 2020, and was highly commended for the same prize in 2017. Tom was the science writer of the year by the Association of British Science Writers in 2021. In addition, has been shortlisted for the science journalist of the year by both the British Press Awards and the British Journalism Awards.

His cousin David is an assistant professor of economics at Durham University. He was a lecturer at University of Oxford and completed his PhD from the University of Manchester. David is published in academic journals such as Review of Economic Dynamics, Economic Theory and Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.

Today, more than ever before, we live in a world of sensational headlines from seemingly thousands of websites who lead with data driven reports. So, is it not a surprise in which they misquote the data in which they present. Of course not. So where does one start to understand a baseline of news data and statistics?

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Latest Read: American Overdose

American Overdose: The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts by Chris McGreal. Chris is a reporter for the Guardian and was a former correspondent in Johannesburg, Jerusalem and Washington DC.

American Overdose: The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts by Chris McGreal

He has won awards for his reporting of the Rwandan genocide, Israel/Palestine, and the economic recession in America. In fact, Chris has been recognized by the James Cameron prize for “work as a journalist that has combined moral vision and professional integrity.” He won the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. In fact he was recognized for reporting that “penetrated the established version of events and told an unpalatable truth”.

This is the fifth book of five that I have read regarding the opioid crisis. In contrast, Chris’ view as a foreign reporter brings a global perspective to our country.

In fact, what Chris sees looking into America is how opioids have deeply gutted smaller communities all across the country. Moreover, his use of statistical data helps drive home how damaging this toll has taken.

Written in three acts, Chris is addressing Dealing, Hooked, and Withdraw. Hence, Dealing begins by documenting America’s business driven healthcare system. Big Pharma profits off pain, and the FDA is somewhat complicit. Following this, Hooked is focusing on addiction. And in the closing act Withdraw, drug cartels succeed by certainly understanding how to ‘game’ the addiction marketplace.

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Latest Read: Dreamland

Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones. Sam is a freelance journalist today and was previously a reporter for the Los Angeles Times from 2004 to 2014. In 2021 he published The Least of Us, a National Book Critics Circle Award best nonfiction nominee.

Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones

This is a storyline that is certainly as powerful as the four previous books that I have chosen to read in order to understand the ongoing opioid crisis. Dreamland begins in Portsmouth Ohio, the book title from this community’s large historic public pool. This opening chapter certainly allowed me to remember a similar environment in northwest Ohio in my youth. However Sam then traces the explosion of black tar heroin in Columbus Ohio and Huntington West Virginia like delivery pizzas.

In fact, Sam’s story of young men who escaped poverty in Nayarit Mexico seems not uncommon. When presented with a choice of a colonial-era life that would take young men decades to acquire enough money to build a house versus selling black tar heroin for a year in the US, the choice is rather simple. By saving money the young men certainly returned with status symbols: Levi 501 jeans. This also permitted the men to quickly build lavish homes around Xalisco Nayarit.

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Latest Read: Fentanyl, Inc.

Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Created the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic by Ben Westhoff. Ben is an investigative journalist, speaker, and filmmaker. focused on drugs, culture, and poverty.

Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Created the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic by Ben Westhoff

In addition, Ben is published in The New York Times, the Library of Congress, The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, Daily Beast, New York, Forbes, and Vice among others.

This is the third book of five that I chose to read to understand the crisis. Since publication, Ben is advising government officials including from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Senate and House members, the staff of America’s embassy in Beijing, and the State Department. As a result, Ben is a featured speaker today at conferences around the country regarding the opioid crisis.

Just when you begin to understand the early days of the opioid crisis, you soon discovery Fentanyl has killed more Americans annually than any other drug in history.

Yet, compared to everyday opioids (including heroine) fentanyl is a synthetic drug — first developed in a European chemistry lab in the late 1950s. While this may surprise many, rogue chemists are playing with molecules creating designer strains in huge amounts. In fact, China is the leading supplier of synthetic fentanyl.

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Latest Read: Dopesick

Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company Who Addicted America by Beth Macy. Beth holds a master’s degree from Hollins University. She was a reporter for The Roanoke Times from 1989 to 2014 writing extensively about the opioid crisis in Appalachia.

Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy

Beth has written op-eds for The New York Times. She was awarded the 2010 Nieman Fellowship for Journalism by Harvard University. In addition, Dopesick was shortlisted for the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.

Additionally, by June 2020 Hulu broadcast a limited series (eight episodes) based upon the book starring Michael Keaton. This is the second book of five that I chose to read to understand the crisis.

Beth has taken time to interview parents of children who died from opioids. In fact, this book moves from the local drug dealer in Virginia in 2012 to the Sackler family and beyond. However, Beth also begins by sharing how a single batch of opioids in Huntington West Virginia would cause 26 overdoses in a single day. This was due to Carfentanil, a synthetic opioid imported from China via the internet. In fact, Carfentanil is 100 times more powerful than Fentanyl, which is roughly 50 times more powerful than heroin.

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