Unlock the Power of Statistics: A Guide to Understanding Data

Carafer: Amazingly clear and deep. Really enjoyable and easy to follow. Highly recommended for beginners or experts.

United States on Aug 25, 2023

MARIANO MARTIN PEREZ: Una muy acertada exposición de los problemas que enfrenta la estadística y como lo hace. Entretenido, didáctico y con un punto de exigencia al lector.

Spain on Jul 30, 2023

Sownak: The books felt like it's been through a lot of compression and was old.

India on Jul 23, 2023

Swaraj A.: Paper quality of the cover is little bit bad, its thin cardboard. Does not have the waterproof feel to it. But its good enough and durable. Book is very readable. Prints of diagrams are clear which i did not expect based on other reviews complaining about page quality. Overall good enough. Also more number of pages in this book than usual in this price range. That's why probably they cut cost. Overall readable, good enough.
Edit: cover is fine. Waht was i thinking? Because of the cover not being plasticy, the card board has nice engraving of letters of the title. Gives it textured feel which is great. Not defects on the book binding.
Still keeing one less star because the book could have been a little bigger and wider. Then would not be as thick and small. But its fine. Buy it.

India on Jul 14, 2023

Damian Keating: No nonsence

Sweden on Feb 17, 2023

Igo Hummaan: For those who want to better understand statistics withouth getting bogged down by a super-dry college textbook or similar work, this is a good alternative. The content is general enough that it can be applicable to a range of studies and topics. There are decent amount of visuals to go with the explanations as well, and can serve as a good reference when you need a refresher. It doesn't stand in for a mid-level or advanced Stats class but for everyone else it's a useful way to improve your understanding of statistical principles.

United States on Feb 12, 2022

Steven Miller (SMU, Singapore): I very much enjoyed reading this book- cover to cover- the 380 pages of content- and then the additional glossary which in itself is a great resource. This book is not the "nuts and bolts" of how you do the standard statistical tests. This book assumes you have looked at other resources for the formulas.

What this book does better than ANYTHING I have ever come across (and I have come across a lot of books on statistics and analytics over the years) is to get you to understand-really understand-- the key concepts, principles, assumptions and even mindsets that underlie the use of the basic-- and foundational-- statistical concepts.

Prof Spiegelhalter has a remarkable ability to write and tell stories in clear and simple ways that get you to understand the essence of the principles. He walks you through many real and relevant examples so you understand the essentials of the underlying math models and mental models, and in parallel, that you also understand common mistakes and misconceptions.
Some of you might say-- why do I need to visit-- or more likely- revisit these basic-- and ubiquitously applied- principles and methods? After all, isn't this becoming...

United States on Jan 09, 2022

floren25: Es un libro de Estadística engañosamente sencillo, sin apenas matemáticas, pero con una densidad conceptual muy notable. Me ha obligado a reflexionar más que ningún otro libro de Estadística que haya leído hasta ahora.
Veamos algunas de sus perlas. El enmarcado de una pregunta puede influir mucho en la respuesta. Por ejemplo, en una encuesta de 2015 se preguntaba a la gente en el Reino Unido si estaban de acuerdo o se oponían a «dar el derecho al voto a las personas de 16 y 17 años» en el referéndum del Brexit. Así planteada la cuestión, dijeron estar de acuerdo con la ampliación del derecho a votar el 52% y se opuso el 41%. Pero cuando se formuló la misma cuestión en estos otros términos: si apoyaban o se oponían a «reducir la edad de voto de 18 a 16 años», ah, entonces la proporción de síes cayó al 37% y la de noes subió al 56%.
Spiegelhalter hace observaciones de alcance filosófico sobre nociones como la de población o causalidad en Estadística. La idea de causa en Estadística no es estrictamente determinista. No siempre que se fuma tabaco se produce cáncer de pulmón, y hay personas que desarrollan cáncer de pulmón sin haber fumado un...

Spain on Dec 05, 2021

Kung Fu Panda: Quite enjoyable and not so dry to read for a statistical book. Almost easy to understand but not that easy...

Some point require more elaboration, for example in chapter 10, page 352:
"the fact that this 95% interval include 0 is logically equivalent to the point estimate (-3000) being less than 2 standard errors from 0, meaning the change is not significantly different from 0"

- i'm totally lost here, i failed understand what the author trying to tell. If there is any material in previous chapter that could help in understanding this sentence, the author should do some kind of revision before dive in. Otherwise, further elaboration is needed.

"A two sided P-value is less than 0.05 if the 95% confidence interval does not include the null hypothesis (generally 0)" - Seem like a lot of info, but at the same time abstracted in statistical language. Totally lost. can use a bit more explanation in layman term about this "p-Value" in the context of "two sided", "95% confidence interval", "null hypothesis" combination of terminology. I am no total layman in statistic but these term and definition always confuses me, especially now it comes together

Regards

United States on Aug 31, 2020

Matthew Harris: This is a nice analysis of not only statistics, but in many ways of the media as well. Media can twist study results to create a headline, but upon closer look what's declared in the headline is not really accurate because you have to ask a questions to see if the results / headline is significant. In terms of the theory behind the statistics, it's not a book that goes into the details of the equations. The equation may be listed or referenced, but not really explained, which is to be expected since entire courses are taught in order to understand and work with these equations. overall, a nice take on study results and really makes you think to ask questions when seeing study results reported in the media; quite relevant during these times, indeed. If everyone read this book, the public would be better informed, know how to ask questions of media-reported study results, and not just believe anything in the news.

United States on Jul 17, 2020