More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues by Joel Best

More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues by Joel Best PDF, ePub eBook D0wnl0ad

In this sequel to the acclaimed Damned Lies and Statistics, which the Boston Globe said "deserves a place next to the dictionary on every school, media, and home-office desk," Joel Best continues his straightforward, lively, and humorous account of how statistics are produced, used, and misused by everyone from researchers to journalists. Underlining the importance of critical thinking in all matters numerical, Best illustrates his points with examples of good and bad statistics about such contemporary concerns as school shootings, fatal hospital errors, bullying, teen suicides, deaths at the World Trade Center, college ratings, the risks of divorce, racial profiling, and fatalities caused by falling coconuts. More Damned Lies and Statistics encourages all of us to think in a more sophisticated and skeptical manner about how statistics are used to promote causes, create fear, and advance particular points of view.

Best identifies different sorts of numbers that shape how we think about public issues: missing numbers are relevant but overlooked; confusing numbers bewilder when they should inform; scary numbers play to our fears about the present and the future; authoritative numbers demand respect they don’t deserve; magical numbers promise unrealistic, simple solutions to complex problems; and contentious numbers become the focus of data duels and stat wars. The author's use of pertinent, socially important examples documents the life-altering consequences of understanding or misunderstanding statistical information. He demystifies statistical measures by explaining in straightforward prose how decisions are made about what to count and what not to count, what assumptions get made, and which figures are brought to our attention.

Best identifies different sorts of numbers that shape how we think about public issues. Entertaining, enlightening, and very timely, this book offers a basis for critical thinking about the numbers we encounter and a reminder that when it comes to the news, people count—in more ways than one.

From reader reviews:

Charles Smith:

Book is to be different for every single grade. Book for children right up until adult are different content. As we know that book is very important for all of us. The book More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues had been making you to know about other knowledge and of course you can take more information. It is quite advantages for you. The reserve More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues is not only giving you much more new information but also for being your friend when you sense bored. You can spend your own personal spend time to read your guide. Try to make relationship with all the book More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues. You never really feel lose out for everything should you read some books.

Rafael Rainey:

Here thing why this kind of More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues are different and trustworthy to be yours. First of all looking at a book is good nonetheless it depends in the content from it which is the content is as delightful as food or not. More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues giving you information deeper including different ways, you can find any e-book out there but there is no reserve that similar with More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues. It gives you thrill reading through journey, its open up your own eyes about the thing in which happened in the world which is maybe can be happened around you. You can bring everywhere like in park, café, or even in your way home by train. Should you be having difficulties in bringing the printed book maybe the form of More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues in e-book can be your alternative.

Matthew Hansen:

The reserve with title More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues posesses a lot of information that you can study it. You can get a lot of advantage after read this book. This specific book exist new know-how the information that exist in this book represented the condition of the world right now. That is important to yo7u to learn how the improvement of the world. This particular book will bring you inside new era of the glowbal growth. You can read the e-book on your own smart phone, so you can read it anywhere you want.

ebook

Rabu, 19 November 2014

PDF⋙ More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues by Joel Best

More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues by Joel Best