Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data

Wheelan (Naked Economics) offers a helping hand and a humorous perspective to everyone who’s ever felt confused, lied to, or just plain lost when it comes to statistics, those handy data sets used to determine everything from batting averages and trends on Wall Street to the quality of a school and which door you should pick if you’re playing Let’s Make a Deal. The author shows how statistics like the mean and the median are used to summarize and find patterns in large collections of data, and in later chapters he consider how statistics are used to assess large-scale economic risk and to find important connections between different sets of data, like those that allow Netflix to offer reasonable movie recommendations. Throughout, Wheelan stresses how statistics “rarely [offer] a single ‘right’ ” answer; indeed, when deployed carelessly or deliberately misused, they can sometimes obscure the truth. Furthermore, the author reminds readers that while data can be used to help make better decisions, “even the most precise measurements or calculations should be checked against common sense.” Wheelan’s relatively mathless real world examples (he sequesters equations in appendixes) and wry style—heavily seasoned with pop culture references—make for a fun and illuminating read. Agent: Tina Bennett, William Morris Endeavor. (Jan. 7)