Data Detective
Subtitle: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2021
Place of publication: New York, USA
Language: eng
Format: hardcover
Number of pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9780593084595
Copyright date: 2020
First sentence: You know the old story about storks delivering babies?
Description: Today we think statistics are the enemy, numbers used to mislead and confuse us. That's a mistake, Tim Harford says in The Data Detective. We shouldn't be suspicious of statistics-we need to understand what they mean and how they can improve our lives: they are, at heart, human behavior seen through the prism of numbers and are often "the only way of grasping much of what is going on around us." If we can toss aside our fears and learn to approach them clearly-understanding how our own preconceptions lead us astray-statistics can point to ways we can live better and work smarter. As "perhaps the best popular economics writer in the world" (New Statesman), Tim Harford is an expert at taking complicated ideas and untangling them for millions of readers. In The Data Detective, he uses new research in science and psychology to set out ten strategies for using statistics to erase our biases and replace them with new ideas that use virtues like patience, curiosity, and good sense to better understand ourselves and the world. As a result, The Data Detective is a big-idea book about statistics and human behavior that is fresh, unexpected, and insightful.
Table of contents: label: Introduction
title: How to Lie with Statistics
pagenum: 1; label: Rule One
title: Search Your Feelings
pagenum: 19; label: Rule Two
title: Ponder Your Personal Experience
pagenum: 47; label: Rule Three
title: Avoid Premature Enumeration
pagenum: 65; label: Rule Four
title: Step Back and Enjoy the View
pagenum: 87; label: Rule Five
title: Get the Backstory
pagenum: 105; label: Rule Six
title: Ask Who is Missing
pagenum: 135; label: Rule Seven
title: Demand Transparency When the Computer Says No
pagenum: 153; label: Rule Eight
title: Don't Take Statistical Bedrock for Granted
pagenum: 185; label: Rule Nine
title: Remember That Misinformation can be Beautiful, Too
pagenum: 213; label: Rule Ten
title: Keep an Open Mind
pagenum: 239; label: The Golden Rule
title: Be Curious
pagenum: 265; title: Acknowledgments
pagenum: 281; title: Notes
pagenum: 285; title: Credits
pagenum: 307; title: Index
pagenum: 309