How to Lie With Statistics |  | Authors: Darrell Huff, Irving Geis
Publisher: W. W. Norton
List Price: $10.95
Buy Used: $2.00
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Seller: Peppy's books
Rating:  103 reviews
Sales Rank: 548242
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 144
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0393052648
Dewey Decimal Number: 311.2
EAN: 9780393094268
ASIN: 039309426X
Publication Date: January 19, 1954
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
An interesting look at what politicians and lobbyists learn to do so they can get what they want!!!
Amazon.com Review
"There is terror in numbers," writes Darrell Huff in How to Lie with Statistics. And nowhere does this terror translate to blind acceptance of authority more than in the slippery world of averages, correlations, graphs, and trends. Huff sought to break through "the daze that follows the collision of statistics with the human mind" with this slim volume, first published in 1954. The book remains relevant as a wake-up call for people unaccustomed to examining the endless flow of numbers pouring from Wall Street, Madison Avenue, and everywhere else someone has an axe to grind, a point to prove, or a product to sell. "The secret language of statistics, so appealing in a fact-minded culture, is employed to sensationalize, inflate, confuse, and oversimplify," warns Huff. Although many of the examples used in the book are charmingly dated, the cautions are timeless. Statistics are rife with opportunities for misuse, from "gee-whiz graphs" that add nonexistent drama to trends, to "results" detached from their method and meaning, to statistics' ultimate bugaboo--faulty cause-and-effect reasoning. Huff's tone is tolerant and amused, but no-nonsense. Like a lecturing father, he expects you to learn something useful from the book, and start applying it every day. Never be a sucker again, he cries! Even if you can't find a source of demonstrable bias, allow yourself some degree of skepticism about the results as long as there is a possibility of bias somewhere. There always is. Read How to Lie with Statistics. Whether you encounter statistics at work, at school, or in advertising, you'll remember its simple lessons. Don't be terrorized by numbers, Huff implores. "The fact is that, despite its mathematical base, statistics is as much an art as it is a science." --Therese Littleton
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 103
 Still Awesome After all these Years November 30, 2009
Babette Rothschild (Los Angeles, CA USA)
This is a marvelous little book, first published in 1954 and still in print (and by the Amazon rank, still selling well!), that anyone interested in statistics and/or research should take the time to read--an enjoyable read, at that. It will only take you about two hours as it is less than 150 pages in big type and with plenty of illustrations. It was required reading for my very first psychology course (in 1969) and I have silently thanked that instructor many, many times over the last 40 years for assigning it. (Now I assign it regularly myself!) With tongue-in-cheek and plenty of solid information, this little volume will help statistician, researcher, and reader alike to be much more savvy about the variability of statistics and how easy they are to manipulate. I could not recommend it more highly or enthusiastically. Babette Rothschild, author of 8 KEYS TO SAFE TRAUMA RECOVERY.
Tools to combat information overload October 13, 2009
Lon Roberts - Author "SPC for Right-Brain Thinkers" (Plano, TX)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a first of a kind classic that describes some of the more common ways that quantitative data and graphs are used, knowingly or unknowingly, to misrepresent reality. Even though the examples are a bit dated this does not diminish the value of the book. If anything, I would argue that the book is more relevant now than it was when Huff wrote it 50 years ago. Why so? Because in this crazy-busy world in which we live, on the whole we are more susceptible than ever to accepting statistical data, carte blanche, no questions asked. This state of affairs is an unfortunate reality that unscrupulous advertisers, politicians, special interest groups, and others are well aware of and continue to take advantage of.
Finally, don't be dissuaded by those who criticize the book for being light on statistical theory. It was not written for statisticians.
 Seriously watered down October 4, 2009
Radek (USMC)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
There is nothing in this book that you won't find in a begining statistics course. The author gives lots of definitions of the most commonly used words and then provides examples. The reading is light and easy and sometimes amusing. However, it is a flimsy paperback made from low quality paper. There are LOTS of typos in this book. Definitely not worth $12.
A classic September 22, 2009
Robin (San Clemente, CA United States)
This book made a huge impression on me in college in 1980, and I have kept my copy to this day. I quote from it all the time when people use numbers in a gullible fashion. In this day and age, when the numbers just keep getting bigger, not being cowed by statistics and mathematics seems a very worthwhile skill.
 Still waiting... September 20, 2009
M. Buzby
0 out of 17 found this review helpful
It's been a month now and I still haven't received this book. Links to contact the seller weren't working a week ago so that's a little odd, but I'm guessing my order didn't get processed for some reason.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 103
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