The Numbers That Brought Our Fates Together Chapter 8: I'm Into Bookworms, Miss.

"Miss in a green dress, if you aren't going to go to your seat, then I strongly recommend you to leave the audience, as we are about to start the lecture now."

Melinda promptly returned to her seat. All those present began to discuss what had happened in a low voice. Especially the girls were in for a bit of excitement.

"Mr. Anderson, how long will you teach this subject to us?"

"Mr. Anderson, we have not seen you before. Have you recently started working at the Academy?"

"I can teach you this subject either for a day or for the whole month. It depends on your behavior and my mood. Let's save the remaining questions for later." David smiled, but for some reason his smile made everyone have only chills all over the skin.

"So, let's begin. As far as I know, the majority of those present here are students of the Faculty of Economics and Management. Your families are quite well-off, and you are mingling in circles of people either in business or in power. Tell me, what does the history of management have to do with you? How did you end up taking this course?"

Anticipating just another lecture on history, where you can just sit and meddle with the phone, the students were confused when they heard an unexpected question.

"Well, we can find out what mistakes people made in the past so as not to repeat them in the future," Melinda said timidly, trying to attract the attention of the young man.

"Great shot, miss in a green dress. You got one point to karma" answered David, and his comment made a girl break into a triumphant smile.

"Uh, you just look at her go! She probably brought her entire brain together, to pull out such an answer" Corey noted with irony. "Listen, Elena, do you want to take part in the discussion? It will be fun."

"Thank you, but I'll pass," replied Elena and continued listening to the teacher.

"Miss in green is damn right. This is obvious, and everyone understands this. But only in theory. In practice, absolutely no one follows this. And this applies to any area of life. But we will not go far into philosophy and consider the issue with obvious, but at the same time ambiguous examples. War and Peace.

The way the people behave in times of piece and conflict applies in the same way to business and to countries as a whole. The way the country conducts its policy in peacetime and in wartime is a big difference. This applies to both internal resource management and foreign policy."

"Consider, for example, the following data: the number of people killed in the World War Two, sorted by country."

A slide with data appeared on the display.

"Please draw your attention to the fact that this data is also not accurate, and the probability is high that there were significantly more people dead. So that you can understand what is really behind these numbers, you should get information not from Wikipedia, TV or a textbook. You should find official documents, reports, orders, and statistics for your chosen period of time and make an analysis. Only then will you have a more or less approximate view of the situation. And even it will be subjective.

Thank you for your attention, the lecture is over."

"Uh? What? Is that all?" The students were perplexed, since no more than 10 minutes had passed.

"Oh, yes", David made an innocent face and said with a sly smile "I did not give you a task. Depending on what field you are planning to work in – business or politics – your task is to consider some event that you are interested in and carry out a detailed analysis on it. Using sources other than official data, statistics and reports is prohibited. As for mass media or newspapers – forget it. They are created to manage the people, not to deliver the truth to them. You must learn to analyze the events themselves. Turn on your own mind. And then use the information you obtained the way you want.

After all, if you become a famous politician and will start acting hypocritically displaying yourself as an innocent victim of the situation blaming the whole world but not yourself, you should do it competently. I am expecting you to handle in your reports by tomorrow. The library's archive is at your disposal."

As soon as David imperturbably headed for the exit, Melinda immediately jumped up and called him.

"Mr. Anderson, please wait."

The girl in the green dress slowly approached, smiled sweetly, and continued: "My name is Melinda, Melinda Matthews. I did not really understand exactly how to look for the necessary information. Could we have a private discussion with you regarding this task? The teachers, after all, like pro-active students."

Melinda clung to the young man, actually pressing her breasts against his hand. David shifted his gaze from his hand to the girl, dropped a look at Elena, sitting not far from them, and replied: "You know, Miss Matthews, I'm afraid that only bookworms may be interested in dealing with such a boring nerd like me. You better ask your groupmates for advice."

The man turned his back and kept on going.