Has anyone, here, ever read the book, How To Lie With Statistics?

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   davenmidtownposted 13 years ago

   Has anyone, here, ever read the book, How To Lie With Statistics?
   
   It is political season again... sigh.... and the graphs and the statistics will start to appear in a blizzard of degrading informative points that embed the mind with half truth, lies and the occasional point of light. Do you check the information in graphs, statistics, etc. that appear in political or other articles, news items, and reports?  Have you ever read the book How To Lie With Statistics?  If so, what are your thoughts?

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2. 61

   swb78posted 13 years ago

   I have not; however, I think Barrack Obama has if you really want expert advice.

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3. 81

   Millionaire Tipsposted 13 years ago

   I haven't read that book, but I have read similar things on the topic.  Yes, it is very easy to lie with statistics by changing the scale of your graphs, ignoring some information.  Let's face it, stats can be misleading, and people who are bent on misleading us, such as politicians (from all parties) and businesspeople (well meaning ornot), will use that to their best advantage.
   
   We have to be careful and check the facts against what we know from other sources, and think for ourselves.  It is too much work and too hard to check every fact though and we do get duped at times.

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   MickSposted 13 years ago

   Darryl Huff - How to Lie With Statistics, I read it in the early 80s.  I don't bother to check government figures, they're all manipulated to tell the story they want to tell.

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   Gypsy Willowposted 13 years ago

   I haven't read that book, but my Dad was a Statistician and he lent me a book called "Calculus made easy" when I was studying the subject. In the preface was the quote " There are lies, damned lies and Statistics" it was attributed to Disraeli the Nineteenth Century British Prime Minister. Just goes to show that politicians have been at it for quite some time!

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   Dubuquedogtrainerposted 13 years ago

   Yes, I have, or had the book and have read at least some of it. In my prior work I collected and presented a lot of data, and one of the reasons I left that work was that the whole process became rather meaningless to me. Unless the data is collected in a sound and systematic way and analyzed correctly data collection and meetings to discuss the data is a waste of time. You can make a case for just about anything in the way you present data. People would be wise to ask questions and know something about critical thinking and how to read charts and graphs. I find that most people lack these skills.

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