'A great introduction to a crucial topic' Bill Gates 'Perhaps the most popular book on statistics ever published ... It's a marvel ... gave me a peek behind the curtain of statistical manipulation, showing me how the swindling was done so that I would not be fooled again' Tim Harford In 1954, Darrell Huff decided enough was enough. Fed up with politicians, advertisers and journalists using statistics to sensationalise, inflate, confuse, oversimplify and - on occasion - downright lie, he decided to shed light on their ill ...
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'A great introduction to a crucial topic' Bill Gates 'Perhaps the most popular book on statistics ever published ... It's a marvel ... gave me a peek behind the curtain of statistical manipulation, showing me how the swindling was done so that I would not be fooled again' Tim Harford In 1954, Darrell Huff decided enough was enough. Fed up with politicians, advertisers and journalists using statistics to sensationalise, inflate, confuse, oversimplify and - on occasion - downright lie, he decided to shed light on their ill-informed and sneaky ways. How to Lie with Statistics is the result - the definitive and hilarious primer in the ways statistics are used to deceive. With over one and half million copies sold around the world, it has delighted generations of readers with its cheeky takes on the ins and outs of samples, averages, errors, graphs and indexes. And in the modern world of big data and misinformation, Huff remains the perfect guide through the maze of facts and figures that are designed to make us believe anything. 'A hilarious exploration of mathematical mendacity.... Every time you pick it up, what happens? Bang goes another illusion!' The New York Times 'A pleasantly subversive little book guaranteed to undermine your faith in the almighty statistic' Atlantic
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My father had this on his bookshelf when I was a kid several decades ago and it is still as fresh and relevant today as ever. I sent the copy I bought this time around to a Stanford professor who had important facts and conclusions, but marred them, in my view, by statistical graphics that unnecessarily distorted the underlying numbers.
BigJay
Mar 18, 2010
Dated, but Hilarious
This is a great book exposing how statistics can be misused. It is dated, but the info is still accurate.
Wiltpruf
Jan 9, 2009
Relevant and Funny
This is a great little book, with extremely relevant information, delivered with a very tongue-in-cheek style of humor that is very refreshing.
