The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

Book Cover
Average Rating
Contributors
Harford, Tim Author
Published
Penguin Publishing Group , 2021.
Status
Checked Out

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Libby/OverDrive
Titles may be read via Libby/OverDrive. Libby/OverDrive is a free app that allows users to borrow and read digital media from their local library, including ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines. Users can access Libby/OverDrive through the Libby/OverDrive app or online. The app is available for Android and iOS devices.
Kindle
Titles may be read using Kindle devices or with the Kindle app.

Description

From “one of the great (greatest?) contemporary popular writers on economics” (Tyler Cowen) comes a smart, lively, and encouraging rethinking of how to use statistics. 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.

More Details

Format
eBook, Kindle
Street Date
02/02/2021
Language
English
ISBN
9780593084670

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Published Reviews

Booklist Review

Harford, author, columnist for the Financial Times, and BBC broadcaster, releases his tenth book at an opportune moment. We're all facing endless stats about COVID-19, while also wading through information in a particularly divisive political climate. How can we make sense of all this data? Conquering the intimidating world of statistics is a daunting task, but Harford has a knack for making complex subjects accessible. On the surface, this is about making sense of statistics, but at its core, Harford's book is focused on encouraging readers to maintain a sense of curiosity about information and data. He presents ten rules, which he expertly weaves into historical contexts to explain the importance of each tenet. These rules will not trigger flashbacks to math class or economics 101, instead they have to do with intuition and asking the right questions. The Data Detective is sure to be another success from Harford, and is a powerful tool, especially in the current climate, one that will give readers the confidence to delve into data and statistics in a new and meaningful way.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Kirkus Book Review

"Understanding causation is tough even with good statistics, but hopeless without them." British economist and historian Harford crunches the numbers and finds us gullible--but corrigible. Regarding the 1954 bestseller How To Lie With Statistics, Harford finds it overly cynical: "What does it say about statistics--and about us--that the most successful book on the subject is, from cover to cover, a warning about misinformation?" It's a pregnant question, because of course people lie with numbers; indeed, the very author of that earlier book was pressed into service by the tobacco industry to prove that there was no link between smoking and cancer. Thankfully, notes Harford, British medical researchers worked out the smoking numbers for themselves, with the result that "doctors became the first identifiable social group in the UK to give up smoking in large numbers." (This was years before the Surgeon General's report in the U.S.) As the author rightly notes, there's no reason to mistrust numbers, but we must interrogate them better, adopting the hopeful, forward vision of those researchers in the place of industry flunkies. True, there are all kinds of ways in which even the best prepared of us can overlook the truth that the numbers reveal. There's a wishful-thinking bias called "motivated reasoning," as well as the "powerful illusion" of "naive realism" by which we project our thinking onto the world and wonder why it doesn't behave according to our rules. Harford also delves into "premature enumeration," where we look at the numbers without quite understanding the questions we're asking of them. Defending the process of polling and decrying the totalitarian habit of certain politicians to invent their own numbers, Harford lays out 10 commandments of examining statistics--e.g., ask tough questions about the data, be aware that something may be missing--along with a worthy "golden rule" : "Be curious." An entertainment for numerate readers and a user-friendly introduction to statistics for beginners. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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Booklist Reviews

Harford, author, columnist for the Financial Times, and BBC broadcaster, releases his tenth book at an opportune moment. We're all facing endless stats about COVID-19, while also wading through information in a particularly divisive political climate. How can we make sense of all this data? Conquering the intimidating world of statistics is a daunting task, but Harford has a knack for making complex subjects accessible. On the surface, this is about making sense of statistics, but at its core, Harford's book is focused on encouraging readers to maintain a sense of curiosity about information and data. He presents ten rules, which he expertly weaves into historical contexts to explain the importance of each tenet. These rules will not trigger flashbacks to math class or economics 101, instead they have to do with intuition and asking the right questions. The Data Detective is sure to be another success from Harford, and is a powerful tool, especially in the current climate, one that will give readers the confidence to delve into data and statistics in a new and meaningful way. Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.
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Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Harford, T. (2021). The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics . Penguin Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Harford, Tim. 2021. The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics. Penguin Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Harford, Tim. The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics Penguin Publishing Group, 2021.

Harvard Citation (style guide)

Harford, T. (2021). The data detective: ten easy rules to make sense of statistics. Penguin Publishing Group.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Harford, Tim. The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics Penguin Publishing Group, 2021.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

Copy Details

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Libby102

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