January 12, 2013

Quick Reads: “Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread From the Data” By Charles Wheelan


book cover

Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread From the Data

By Charles Wheelan

W.W. NORTON & COMPANY

A couple of years ago, Google’s chief economist predicted, “The sexy job in the next 10 years will be statisticians.” (Hello, Nate Silver!) If you aren’t quite ready to spend your life running regressions, Naked Statistics provides a taste of the hot data action. With a dollop of corny jokes and just a dash of math, Charles Wheelan (a Dartmouth prof) offers a conversational introduction to the concepts you need to understand everything from why “rich nerds” should have seen the 2008 Wall Street collapse coming to the best strategy for winning a car on Let’s Make a Deal. If your interest in statistics is above average, this book is worth sampling.

 

This review originally appeared in our January/February issue of Mother Jones.

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With just 4 days left, we need a huge surge in reader support to get to our $400,000 year-end goal. Whether you've given before or this is your first time, your contribution right now matters. All gifts are 3X matched and tax-deductible.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do. That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

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