The Flawed Genius of William Playfair

The Flawed Genius of William Playfair
Author :
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Total Pages : 297
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781487545048
ISBN-13 : 1487545045
Rating : 4/5 (045 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Flawed Genius of William Playfair by : David R. Bellhouse

Download or read book The Flawed Genius of William Playfair written by David R. Bellhouse and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2023-07-26 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A product of the Scottish Enlightenment, William Playfair (1759–1823) worked as a statistician, economist, engineer, banker, land speculator, scam artist, and political propagandist. It has been claimed – erroneously – that Playfair was a spy for the British government and ran a forging operation to print the paper money of the French Revolution. The Flawed Genius of William Playfair offers a complete account of Playfair’s life, richly contextualized in the economic, political, and cultural history of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. The book explores the many peaks and troughs of Playfair’s career, ranging from moderate prosperity to bankruptcy and imprisonment. Through careful analysis, David R. Bellhouse shows that Playfair was neither a spy nor a forger, but perhaps briefly a one-time courier for a government minister. Bellhouse pieces together as complete a picture as possible of the forging operations supported by the British government and illuminates Playfair’s lasting contributions in economics and statistics, where he is known as the father of statistical graphics. Disputing the misinformation about the man, The Flawed Genius of William Playfair highlights that the truth about Playfair’s life is often more intriguing than the fictions that surround him.


The Flawed Genius of William Playfair Related Books

The Flawed Genius of William Playfair
Language: en
Pages: 297
Authors: David R. Bellhouse
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2023-07-26 - Publisher: University of Toronto Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A product of the Scottish Enlightenment, William Playfair (1759–1823) worked as a statistician, economist, engineer, banker, land speculator, scam artist, and
The Flawed Genius of William Playfair
Language: en
Pages: 352
Authors: David R. Bellhouse
Categories:
Type: BOOK - Published: 2023-01-15 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book shares the life story of William Playfair, the father of statistical graphics, who experienced extreme ups and downs in his various careers, including
The Infographic
Language: en
Pages: 243
Authors: Murray Dick
Categories: Computers
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-04-21 - Publisher: MIT Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An exploration of infographics and data visualization as a cultural phenomenon, from eighteenth-century print culture to today's data journalism. Infographics a
Playfair
Language: en
Pages: 0
Authors: Bruce D. Berkowitz
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018 - Publisher: George Mason University

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

William Playfair is best known as an ingenious Scot of questionable repute who happened to invent "statistical graphics"--the line, bar, and pie charts we use t
An Introduction to Abstract Mathematics
Language: en
Pages: 344
Authors: Robert J. Bond
Categories: Mathematics
Type: BOOK - Published: 2007-08-24 - Publisher: Waveland Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Bond and Keane explicate the elements of logical, mathematical argument to elucidate the meaning and importance of mathematical rigor. With definitions of conce