statistics without tears: a primer for non-mathematicians  please be warned: the hardcover and paperback editions mentioned above are of earlier versions of the book, dating back to the years 2000 or 1981. (similarly, since the kindle version is a recently updated version, most of the reader reviews shown below relate to those superseded versions.) <br> <br>so; <br>--why do we need statistics? <br>--what do terms like 'dispersion', 'correlation', 'normal distribution' and 'significance' actually mean? <br>--how can i learn to think statistically? <br>--when and why should i be wary of statistics? <br>******************************************* <br>here is a new us edition of the best-selling intro to statistics that has been motivating and reassuring students (especially those who do not take easily to math) since 1981. (look at their reviews on amazon and goodreads.) long hailed as a classic it is written in the belief that most students will have much less trouble with statistical number-crunching if they first acquire an overview of the nature and importance of the concepts and procedures of statistics. <br> <br>to this end the author teaches through conversation and a wide variety of examples, rather than through figures, formulas and the routines of calculation. his approach generates what he calls a 'tutorial in print'. he engages the reader in a joint enterprise that is more like a conversation than a lecture. as he is outlining the basic ideas of statistics and explaining the relationships between them, he is constantly asking the reader to apply them in answering questions that require them to think about what they have read since the last such question. he then gives them his comment on whatever the issue was so that readers always know whether they have understood and, if not, where and how they have gone adrift. and that feedback leads seamlessly into the next teaching point (and another question). this is the book that many students say they wish they'd read before opening the one that was set for their course!