New Statesman's Best Books of 2018'Mandatory reading' Steven PinkerDo you eat too much sugar? What proportion of your country are immigrants? What does it cost to raise a child? How much tax do the rich pay? Are we more ignorant than we used to be?Take a minute to answer these questions. No matter how educated you are, this book suggests you are likely to be very wrong indeed. Informed by exclusive research across 40 countries, conducted by global polling firm Ipsos, The Perils of Perception investigates why we don't know basic facts about the world around us.Using the latest research into the media and decision science, Bobby Duffy asks how we can address our ignorance and why the populations of some countries seem better informed than others. Essential reading in the so-called'post-truth' era, this book will transform the way you engage with the world.

Bobby Duffy is Managing Director of the Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute and Global Director of Ipsos Social Research Institute. Previously he has been seconded to the British Prime Minister's Strategy Unit and to the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) at the London School of Economics. Following publication of the book, he will take up the position of Director of The Policy Institute at King's College London.