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How to Lie with Statistics

by Darrell Huff, Irving Geis (Illustrator)

3.87 · Rating details · 6,057 Ratings · 696 Reviews

Darrell Huff runs the gamut of every popularly used type of statistic, probes such things as the sample study, the tabulation method, the interview technique, or the way the results are derived from the figures, and points up the countless number of dodges which are used to fool rather than to inform.

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Paperback, 142 pages

Published September 1st 1982 by W. W. Norton & Company (first published 1954)

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In Western countries, do leaders play with numbers,like in Asia to support their own brands of loyalty etc?

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Apr 06, 2014 Riku Sayuj rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: economics, r-r-rs

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics: The Pirates of the Powerpoint

Darrell Huff uses a simple, but effective literary device to impress his readers about how much statistics affect their daily lives and their understanding of the world.

He does this by pretending that the book is a sort of primer in ways to use statistics to deceive, like a manual for swindlers, or better, for pirates. He then pretends to justify the crookedness of the book in the manner of the retired burglar whose published remin
Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics: The Pirates of the Powerpoint

Darrell Huff uses a simple, but effective literary device to impress his readers about how much statistics affect their daily lives and their understanding of the world.

He does this by pretending that the book is a sort of primer in ways to use statistics to deceive, like a manual for swindlers, or better, for pirates. He then pretends to justify the crookedness of the book in the manner of the retired burglar whose published reminiscences amounted to a graduate course in how to pick a lock and muffle a footfall: The crooks already know these tricks; honest men must learn them in self-defense.

This keeps the book interesting and entertaining, though for anyone even partly trained in statistics, it has very little educational value.

Of course, the title of this book and Huff’s little charade would seem to imply that all such operations are the product of intent to deceive. The intelligent reader would be skeptical — it is the unfortunate truth that it not chicanery much of the time, but incompetence. On the other hand, Huff is pretty clear that the ‘errors’ if that is what they are always seem to come down on the side of the interested party. As long as the errors remain one-sided, he says, it is not easy to attribute them to bungling or accident.

No More Mr. Nice Guy

After being fellow pirates for much of the book, in the concluding chapter Huff finally lets go if his pet charade and faces up to the more serious purpose of the book: explaining how to look a phony statistic in the eye and face it down; and no less important, how to recognize sound and usable data in that wilderness of fraud to which the previous chapters have been largely devoted. He lays down some thumb rules, which in the end comes come down to asking intelligent questions of the stats, especially of the conclusions. Asking such questions require the readers to be aware of the tendency of stats to mislead and to not be dazzled by the numbers.

Huff’s book is primarily an attempt to pull down the high estimation automatically awarded to anybody willing to quote numbers. It is a fun evening read for the expert, who may then roll his eyes and say that there is nothing of real value in the book. But as its popularity attests to, it seems to be an important book for the lay reader, just by serving a reminder that the pirates are still out there — wielding their charts.
...more

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Aug 31, 2011 Eric Phetteplace rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: People who don't want to be ignoramuses their whole lives

Shelves: lis-web

This is one of those rare books I would recommend to almost anyone. It's clear, concise, funny, not too complex, and above all important for anyone who wants to understand politics, economics, science, or life in general. Statistical analysis is so vital to determining how things actually stand and where we should be moving that people lacking awareness of basic logical/statistical fallacies are doomed to live within delusions. Being informed necessitates understanding and being skeptical of sta ...more

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Jun 05, 2008 Seth rated it it was amazing

Yes, it has all the stuff you hear about: how people use stats to subtly (and not-so-subtly) misdirect the reader/listener, how to systematically recognize (or create) misinterpretations, and a strong implicit call to action for clearer information in public discourse.

But in the billion years since this classic came of age, we've all learned that other ways, some of them better presented. When it was written, many people believed the information they received in the papers, in magazines, and on ...more

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Mar 15, 2010 Sebah Al-Ali rated it liked it

أحب الرياضيات و تستهويني الأرقام ، لكن علم الإحصاء كان حاجزا لم أكن أستطيع تجاوزه ، و بالأخص ثلاثة مفاهيم (عقدتني) :
mean, mode, & medium
كنت دائما أقرأها في الدراسات التي أطلع عليها دون أن أفهمها أبدا ، و أشتهي لو أني أستطيع توظيفها في أبحاثي التي تعتمد على الأرقام .

فكّ هذا الكتاب عقدتي ! ، أخيرا فهمت ما تعنيه هذه المفاهيم من خلال تخطيط رسمي مبسط (<- بديل منزلي للسكانر العطلانة) ، لم أجده في أي من كتب الإحصاء !. متعة أني أخيرا عرفت معنى هذه المصطلحات تفوق الكثير من المتع !. سعيدة جدا بهذ ...more

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Nov 10, 2009 Fiver rated it really liked it

It seems a little shallow to rate this semi-pamphlet at four stars, as one of the must-read books, but that's exactly what I'm going to do.

This book earns four stars from me simply from its concisiveness and practicality. You can churn through this beauty in one sitting. It is entertaining, has excellent examples, introduces concepts in a wry, witty tone, and after ten years of courses, articles, books, and opinions, I have yet to learn a single thing about misleading statistics that wasn't taug ...more

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Jul 16, 2017 Dee Arr rated it really liked it

Shelves: reference

Noting that this book was published in 1954, one may instantly discount the information as outdated. However, there are recent events that can be related to some of the examples author Darrell Huff provides, and helps to increase the book's value.

For those who have fleetingly or never studied statistics, this is a good place to start. It is a quick and easily understandable read, written in plain English and with plenty of examples to prove the author's points. Personally, I have studied statist ...more

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Jan 25, 2017 George rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

Το βιβλίο το αγόρασα πριν δυόμιση χρόνια με δυο ευρώ, σχεδόν στην τύχη. Μου είχε φανεί ενδιαφέρον το θέμα και χάρη στην τιμή δεν το σκέφτηκα παραπάνω. Να που ήρθε η ώρα να το διαβάσω κιόλας. Και πόσο χαίρομαι που τελικά το αγόρασα εκείνη την ημέρα και που το διάβασα τώρα.

Πρόκειται για ένα πολύ ωραίο, καλογραμμένο και εξαιρετικά ενδιαφέρον βιβλίο, που εξετάζει τις στατιστικές μεθόδους και έρευνες που χρησιμοποιούνται κατά κόρον από κυβερνήσεις, επιχειρήσεις, δημοσιογράφους, αναλυτές και διαφημιστ Το βιβλίο το αγόρασα πριν δυόμιση χρόνια με δυο ευρώ, σχεδόν στην τύχη. Μου είχε φανεί ενδιαφέρον το θέμα και χάρη στην τιμή δεν το σκέφτηκα παραπάνω. Να που ήρθε η ώρα να το διαβάσω κιόλας. Και πόσο χαίρομαι που τελικά το αγόρασα εκείνη την ημέρα και που το διάβασα τώρα.

Πρόκειται για ένα πολύ ωραίο, καλογραμμένο και εξαιρετικά ενδιαφέρον βιβλίο, που εξετάζει τις στατιστικές μεθόδους και έρευνες που χρησιμοποιούνται κατά κόρον από κυβερνήσεις, επιχειρήσεις, δημοσιογράφους, αναλυτές και διαφημιστές για να πείσουν το κοινό για την αλήθεια των λεγομένων τους. Το θέμα είναι ότι αυτά τα στατιστικά πολλές φορές είναι αναληθή, λάθος ή και παραπλανητικά. Ο συγγραφέας μυεί τον αρχάριο αναγνώστη στην τέχνη της στατιστικής παραπλάνησης και απάτης, μας δείχνει πως γίνονται τα στατιστικά λάθη αλλά και οι διάφορες απάτες και παραπλανήσεις. Το κάνει αυτό χρησιμοποιώντας πραγματικά περιστατικά παραπλάνησης του κοινού μέσω της στατιστικής, από άρθρα σε εφημερίδες και περιοδικά, μέχρι από έρευνες κυβερνητικών υπηρεσιών και ιδιωτικών επιχειρήσεων.

Όσον αφορά την όλη παρουσίαση, μου φάνηκε ιδιαίτερα προσιτή και κατανοητή. Η γραφή του Ντάρελ Χαφ είναι απλή και ευκολοδιάβαστη, διανθισμένη με χιούμορ σε ορισμένα σημεία. Ο συγγραφέας χρησιμοποιεί λογικά και πειστικά επιχειρήματα, με τα δεκάδες αληθινά περιστατικά να επιβεβαιώνουν τις θέσεις του. Διαβάζοντας με προσοχή αυτό το βιβλίο, ο αναγνώστης ίσως θα μπορεί να είναι σε θέση να βλέπει πίσω από τα διαγράμματα και τις στατιστικές μελέτες και έρευνες, να καταλαβαίνει πότε κάποιος του λέει ψέματα ή μισές αλήθειες, χρησιμοποιώντας στατιστικά δεδομένα. Ειδικά στην εποχή που ζούμε, κάτι τέτοιο είναι σίγουρα πολύ σημαντικό και ουσιώδες.

Φυσικά πρόκειται για ένα βιβλίο που πρέπει να ανατρέχει κανείς ξανά και ξανά, έτσι ώστε να εμπεδώσει πλήρως τους τρόπους εξαπάτησης και παραπλάνησης μέσω της στατιστικής. Άλλωστε, είναι ένα ευχάριστο και προσιτό οικονομικής/μαθηματικής φύσεως βιβλίο που μπορεί να διαβάσει και να απολαύσει κανείς. Η ελληνική έκδοση (Οξύ, 1997) σίγουρα ικανοποιητική, όμως εδώ και χρόνια εξαντλημένη... ...more

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Feb 25, 2017 Patrick Lights rated it really liked it

A really fast read. And a fascinating one. Although I didn't pay attention to the release date before I began. So now I want to read another book discussing the same subject :3

These days, every claim is accompanied by stats to validate them. And when contradicting claims both have supporting studies behind them, you really have to stop and ask yourself what the fuck is going on. This is where this book comes to the rescue. Statisticians don't "lie" per se. But they do a lot of manipulation to b ...more

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Aug 09, 2017 Farhana rated it really liked it

Shelves: science

In class 5 or 6, when we first started doing maths of finding average, mean or mode, I really had no idea what they meant or even why I was doing them. Just sum up the numbers, divide by their number and get the average or arrange them in increasing order, take the number in the middle - what they meant even. Maybe I was just following the instructions because the books said so or doing things this way will bring me marks in the exam. That's it. No more thoughts.

Later when we learnt regression ...more

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Jan 27, 2017 Steven rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-own, non-fiction, science, criticism, journalism

"The secret language of statistics, so appealing in a fact-minded culture, is employed to sensationalize, inflate, confuse, and oversimplify. Statistical methods and statistical terms are necessary in reporting the mass data of social and economic trends, business conditions, 'opinion polls', the census. But without writers who use the words with honesty and understanding and readers who know what they mean, the result can only be semantic nonsense… This book is a sort of primer in ways to use s

"The secret language of statistics, so appealing in a fact-minded culture, is employed to sensationalize, inflate, confuse, and oversimplify. Statistical methods and statistical terms are necessary in reporting the mass data of social and economic trends, business conditions, 'opinion polls', the census. But without writers who use the words with honesty and understanding and readers who know what they mean, the result can only be semantic nonsense… This book is a sort of primer in ways to use statistics to deceive. It may seem altogether too much like a manual for swindlers. Perhaps I can justify it in the manner of the retired burglar whose published reminiscences amounted to a graduate course in how to pick a lock and muffle a footfall: The crooks already know these tricks; honest men must learn them in self-defense." (10-11)

I never cared much for statistics; I slid through Methods & Statistics 1, 2, and 3 relatively untouched, until the first time I did my own research and had to analyze the data I had so diligently collected. That was the point at which statistical analyses became meaningful to me—I had a theory and I was looking to see whether there was any evidence for it. The data itself means nothing, of course. Numbers do not mean anything on their own. What you do with the numbers, how you expose (non-)relationships between them, is when things get interesting. And tricky—as this little book sets out to show.

Huff uses humor to show a variety of ways in which statistics may be – and examples of how they have been – misleading. The book is dated by now, basing its examples mostly on stuff from the '20s through to the '50s. This did not really bother me, however, nor did I feel it detracted from the main points—if anything, it makes the book feel quaint while at the same time highlighting the fact that little has changed in how statistics are (ab)used in contemporary society. If you have a background in statistics, How to Lie is unlikely to teach you anything new about them. However, it is still worth reading if only to underscore the need to pay attention to the pervasive presence and use of statistics.

I, as someone trained in psychology, like to think that they are mostly used for good. Much knowledge has surely been gained thanks to the insights that increasingly sophisticated statistical analyses have offered. But an analysis is only as good as the way in which it is conducted, and results only as good as the way in which they are conveyed.

Huff closes his book on a more serious note, abandoning the burglar-revealing-his-trade spiel with five questions to ask when encountering statistical information (but don't worry, the chapter is still titled How to Talk Back to Statistics). They are worth listing and remembering:

1] Who says so? Look for bias: who has an interest in the statistic?
2] How does he know? Watch out for a biased/limited sample.
3] What's missing? The absence of information, like the number of cases or which kind of average was used, can render a statistic virtually meaningless.
4] Did Somebody Change the Subject? Make sure that the conclusion follows from the type of raw data that was collected.
5] Does It Make Sense? Think about what the statistic is supposed to mean/tell you, and ask whether it makes sense. ...more

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Oct 23, 2007 Russell rated it really liked it

I'm just going to quote the 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 ex I'm just going to quote the 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

This is book aimed at the honest soul who is merely trying to make sense of the stream of numbers and stats pouring in from all around.

This is another must read. ...more

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Aug 12, 2017 Syed Ahmad Fathi Syed Mohd Khair rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bought

Statistics are not safe from interpretation, statisticians interpretations may not be the same as what the public understands or defines certain things. The book aims to equip reader to navigate through these numbers and percentage, to analyze and have a second thought before arriving in any conclusion, in order not to fall into the trap of the manipulation. Huff noted that many statistical term has a loose meaning, this loose meaning can present a misrepresentation, whether unintentionally or i ...more

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Jun 07, 2011 Mary rated it liked it

Shelves: conversation-makers

Recommended by both Jamie S. Z. and my Statistical Foundations professor. Really engaging and common-spoken, eager to make us adroit critical thinkers of statistical information. The main problem, of course, is its age, which enthusiastically describes plush neighborhoods with an average income of $15,000 and the enormous profits of $42 a week. Still, it has the fervor to educate us because, as H.G. Wells once prophesied, "Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizensh ...more

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Feb 29, 2012 Nate rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, 2012, economics-stocks-business, non-fiction, classics, favorites, science, math

I still wonder why Trigonometry and Calculus are offered in high school, but Statistics is not. It's such a broad subject that is used in so many fields-even forgetting all of the numbers we read in magazines. I digress.

This book specifically focuses on the facts and figures that we see everyday, pretty much everywhere. I thought it was well written and extremely thorough, going from problems that happen during study collection, to the cherry picking and presentation of data itself. I had to gr ...more

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Jan 14, 2012 Erin rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2012

This book was published in 1954, before Excel, and it hasn't been updated yet it's still being reissued. After reading this, I can only assume that B.E. (Before Excel) statistics were presented more often with illustrations rather than bar graphs and pie charts, which would just be weird now since it's so easy to prepare graphs in Excel. Or maybe the whole point of the book is that if you use illustrations you will be able to confuse your audience with more ease. Either way, I didn't really lear ...more

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Oct 03, 2013 Grace rated it it was amazing

Shelves: for-teacher-review, educational, how-to, reference, math-statistics

OK, first off, it isn't normal that I give a math book 5 stars. I often find them dull, boring, and difficult to read. However, How to lie with statistics was as funny as it was informative. Duff does a good job of not only explaining what tricks people use on statistics to twist the facts, but he gives poignant examples that were just as relevant when he wrote this book as they are today. What I found most interesting is how he dissected the "logic" that uses these techniques to explain how the OK, first off, it isn't normal that I give a math book 5 stars. I often find them dull, boring, and difficult to read. However, How to lie with statistics was as funny as it was informative. Duff does a good job of not only explaining what tricks people use on statistics to twist the facts, but he gives poignant examples that were just as relevant when he wrote this book as they are today. What I found most interesting is how he dissected the "logic" that uses these techniques to explain how they did it, what they trick your brain into seeing, and how you can question it effectively.

Duff talked about sample biases, which we can see in every day research. While his example was that of Yale graduates pay grades is a bit outdated, he shows how this sample represents a small number of people, and how it is most certainly a false representation based on logic, common sense, and science.

He then went on to dissect the differences between mean, median and mode, followed by inadequate samples (think sales pitch where you only ask 3 people versus more), tests that mislead and reveal nothing (like IQ tests), manipulation of graphs and scales, semi-attached figures, post hoc representations, and statistical manipulations. He did the same thing with each topic to show how you start with facts, manipulate it, and present it. Then he shows you how it's wool covering your eyes.

The last chapter was my favourite. It tells you how to pull the wool from your eyes and argue back against it by pointing out their chicanery. Essentially it was a recap of the previous chapters, then telling you not to be afraid to call out the BS you see in the media, advertising, or politics.

Duff does all this in a tongue-in-cheek way. He pulls no punches, nor does he sugar coat things. When I read this I could easily pick out several examples of every single thing he talked about from my own environment. Lies the media tells me to say so it's "politically correct", lies on the magazine back advert, graph manipulation in my precious National Geographic or Time Magazine... it was a disappointment to see how pervasive it is in our society. It's even more disappointing knowing that most people do not know what they are looking at and do not know that they are being swindled.

This is a book that everyone should read so they are more well informed about the world around them and can pull the wool from their eyes. ...more

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Jun 02, 2010 surfmadpig rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, owned-but-lost, own, fffaaavvvooorrriittteeesss, read-in-greek, read-in-translation

Εξαιρετικό βιβλίο που δυστυχώς δάνεισα κάπου και έχασα. Κλαψ.

Γράφτηκε το 1957 αλλά είναι πιο επίκαιρο από ποτέ:
"Η μυστική γλώσσα της στατιστικής, τόσο ελκυστική σε μια κουλτούρα εθισμένη στην εμφάνιση χειροπιαστών στοιχείων, χρησιμοποιείται για να εντυπωσιάσει, να διογκώσει, να μπερδέψει και να υπεραπλουστεύσει.

Οι στατιστικές μέθοδοι και η αντίστοιχη ορολογία αποτελούν στοιχεία απαραίτητα για την αναφορά της τεράστιας μάζας δεδομένων σχετικών με οικονομικές τάσεις, επιχειρηματικές συνθήκες, σφυγ ...more

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Jul 08, 2017 Rich Lundeen rated it it was ok

I love the title.

The content feels outdated. I think people lie with statistics much better today than when this was published. Yay, we're improving!

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May 07, 2011 John Hibbs rated it it was amazing

This book was published in 1954 and some of the examples are dated but the principles it puts forth are still valid today--if not more so than ever--and the material is delivered in clear, concise, and even entertaining anecdotes and illustrations. It is also an easy read that can be easily finished in one day of concentrated effort.

How often do you hear statistics bandied about in the media or used to try to prove some special-interest point? "Of course" the people quoting the figures must be r ...more

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May 20, 2015 Andre Simonsen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, essential, law-and-other-important-stuff, how-government-should-work, ceticismo, leituras-curtas-mudanças-profundas

Uma das frases que abrem o livro, de H. G. Wells, diz que "Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write". ("Pensar estatisticamente um dia será tão necessária para cidadania efetiva quanto a habilidade de ler e escrever").

É possível ir além e afirmar que aprender como estatísticas realmente funcionam e como elas são utilizadas para mentir e avançar as mais diversas agendas é equivalente a realmente aprender a ler.

Um livro essencial ...more

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Feb 09, 2012 Karen Mardahl rated it it was amazing

Marvelous little book. It's from 1954 and some things are obviously dated. That makes some things, like mentions of prices, very funny. However, his points are timeless.
This is easily read and easy to understand. I have never had statistics in school and I am trying to make up for that. This is perfect. There is a lot of sensible wisdom that any responsible citizen can benefit from. You use this when reading the newspaper, advertisements, news from the government, etc., etc. A friend lent me thi ...more

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Sep 24, 2008 Dennis Cassidy rated it it was amazing

ever have the feeling that all 97.2% of statistics are bullshit? that's probably a low estimate. everyone should read this book. bogus statistics (58% of americans believe x) are everywhere. huff systematically destroyed this crap 50 years ago. unfortunately, some of the examples are dated, but you'll get the idea.

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Mar 13, 2012 Alexandre rated it really liked it

This is a small classic – very funny – introduction to statistics (illustrated).

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Sep 24, 2016 عبدالله rated it liked it

الكتاب خفيف جدا ومثير للإهتمام نوعا ما ولو أنه للحين ما أدري هل صرت شخص أفضل بكشف كذب الإحصائيات أو ما زلت كم أنا، المهم لعله غيرني للأفضل.

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Mar 19, 2017 Danny rated it really liked it

This is a short book with 9 general ways statistics can be used to deceive people. There are 10 chapters; the first 9 are each dedicated to a different 'trick' commonly used with statistics, while the 10th discusses strategies for not getting fooled. For anyone who has taken a statistics course, this would hopefully all be a review, however many courses in statistics tend to focus on the mechanics of taking averages, calculating distributions, etc., and might skip over some of the important poin ...more

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Jun 15, 2017 Alex rated it really liked it · review of another edition

An excellent piece of nonfiction with funny illustrations. The book is about statistics and it can be a very dull subject but this book covered it pretty nicely.

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Apr 14, 2017 Matt Lyke rated it really liked it

not for everyone and a little dated but with a solid ant-ibullshit theme

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May 30, 2017 Mathieu Petitjean rated it it was ok

This book was written in 1954 and I don't think it has aged well. Any person who knows what numbers are has not much to learn by reading it.

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Jun 03, 2016 Ali rated it really liked it

I was and still fascinated by the power of #statistics as a tool that can present and display data towards reaching a set of defined and accurate conclusions that abide with common sense but this #book #How_to_Lie_with_Statistics written byDarrell Huff in 1954 has unvieled something else about the dependepility of this tool. Huff was a journalist who wrote many "how to" articles as a freelancer, but was not a statistician.
#Wikipedia writes the following about the history of this book: "The book I was and still fascinated by the power of #statistics as a tool that can present and display data towards reaching a set of defined and accurate conclusions that abide with common sense but this #book #How_to_Lie_with_Statistics written byDarrell Huff in 1954 has unvieled something else about the dependepility of this tool. Huff was a journalist who wrote many "how to" articles as a freelancer, but was not a statistician.
#Wikipedia writes the following about the history of this book: "The book is a brief, breezy, illustrated volume outlining errors when it comes to the interpretation of statistics, and how these errors may create incorrect conclusions. In the 1960s and 1970s, it became a standard textbook introduction to the subject of statistics for many college students. It has become one of the best-selling statistics books in history, with over one and a half million copies sold in the English-language edition.[1] It has also been widely translated." The book goes through the delema of bias in sampling within populations which can be a big error to the entire stastical survey or study, it also sheds light on wrong interpretations when correlations are mixed with cause & effect, it shows how different organization's such as marketing agencies, advertisers, selling companies, politicians and even governments will switch or twist their graphs, studies and numbers towards their own benefits which kills objectivity pretended to be held in number language, just as a simple example: using average no's (Mean, median, mode) based on cases without mentioning which one exactly is used in an article which can be misguiding..The book finishes with tips on #how_to reveal a lie of statistics presented and what are the #questions you need to ask to uncover the entire picture and find the truth ...an old book but just perfect ..heard it as an #audiobook for 3 hours only. #good_morning #صباح_الخير
#البحرين #الكويت #السعودية #الامارات #قطر #عمان #organization #bahrain #knowledge ...more

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Sep 17, 2013 Pat rated it it was amazing

This probably offers me the perfectly inappropriate opportunity to launch into a polemic against mathematics education in the US. I will refrain. However, I must say that if I were designing a statistics course then I would find Huff's book as a perfectly good cornerstone. If I were drafting a list of books to serve as pre-college summer reading requirements, How to Lie with Statistics would be towards the front. In the event that I regrettably had to attend a baby shower, I would be forgoing th ...more

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