Statistics in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Appendix C. References

Preface and General Sources

• Abelson, Robert P. 1995. Statistics as Principled Argument. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

  Abelson, who taught at Yale University for 42 years, provides an excellent discussion of how to think through, and with, statistics.

• Frey, Bruce. 2006. Statistics Hacks: Tips and Tools for Measuring the World and Beating the Odds. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly.

  Statistics Hacks is a collection of entertaining short essays that use everyday examples to introduce statistical concepts, from testing the randomness or lack thereof in your iPod’s “random” shuffle feature to using Benford’s law to detect fabricated data.

• Huff, Darryl. 1954. How to Lie with Statistics. Repr., New York: W.W. Norton, 1993.

  Originally published in 1954, Huff’s work remains a classic introduction to how even the simplest statistical techniques can be used to mislead, confuse, or even outright lie. Readers who can look past the dated examples and (in particular) stereotypical illustrations will find this slim volume an excellent resource and a lot of fun as well.

• Levitt, Steven D., and Stephen J. Dubner. 2005. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. New York: HarperCollins.

  In this New York Times bestseller, a University of Chicago economist uses economic theory and statistical analysis to examine questions from the existence of cheating in sumo wrestling to whether legalizing abortion lowered the crime rate. Although written for the public, Freakonomics ...