Over at the Browser, statistician David Spiegelhalter recommends five books on Statistics and Risk because "knowing something about how chance works in the world is a basic skill that people should have, along with reading, writing and basic numeracy."
While I'll not give away the book titles here, here are some interesting bits from the interview :
* "I think knowing something about how chance works in the world is a basic skill that people should have, along with reading, writing and basic numeracy. Otherwise you can be subject to all sorts of manipulations, and that will come out in some of my book choices."
* "There is a nice quote from Joel Best that “all statistics are social products, the results of people’s efforts”. He says you should always ask, “Why was this statistic created?”
* "Best uses the lovely phrase “number laundering”, when the origins of numbers are forgotten. They get so bandied around that nobody knows where they came from."
* "Another is to think “What am I not being told?” For example, a person may have got better after she took this wonder treatment, but how many other people’s stories are not being featured?"
Monday, October 10, 2011