Very Good - Buy it Now!, 12 Dec 2008
A very good book, with a unique and accessible way of explaining statistics. Would reccommend to everyone!

Outstanding Book, Outstanding Author, 13 Oct 2008
Although i may appear biased as i have been fortunate enough to have been lectured (stats lecture) by Andy Field I honestly beleive that this book is a MUST for all psychology students around the world who will be using SPSS at some point in their psychology careers! It is simple, witty, funny, and makes stats easy to understand. Brilliant book! =]

If you are a statistics-phobe...this is the book for you!, 26 Aug 2008
If you are needing to learn both SPSS and statistics at the same time and intimidated at all by the math, this is a great book to help take you through the quagmire of both the SPSS software, the principles of statistics and make sense of it all too! Andy Field has done an excellent job at taking much of the mystery out of how and why to use the various tests. The book is comprehensive but the analysis of my research and study is focussed primarily on correlation, t-tests and regression. There are chapters in the book I will probably never read as I cannot foresee ever needing to read them. But, the book is very useful for referencing particular areas and providing a tutorial as you are working.

I love the way Andy has created and inserted his characters throughout the book - as I can identify myself as a cross between Cramming Samantha and Brian Haemorrhage.

Because I found Andy's book and CD so useful, I have not done any comparisons with other books. So, far, it has provided everything I have needed.

If you thought statatistics is complicated, this is the book for you, 21 Jul 2008
I am a post doctoral civil engineering student. I have been struggling with advanced statistics for months...when the problem was I did not have a good grasp of basic concepts. This book solved it all in a matter of days.
After reading this book.. you will be able to understand all the other more "complicated book" that you need to use.
If what you are paying for is for someone to expain stat and SPSS to you, this is your book.
Galit

Excellent, 23 Jun 2008
This book was my saviour during my dissertation. A must for any psychology student about to tackle SPSS!

Very Good - Buy it Now!, 12 Dec 2008
A very good book, with a unique and accessible way of explaining statistics. Would reccommend to everyone!

Outstanding Book, Outstanding Author, 13 Oct 2008
Although i may appear biased as i have been fortunate enough to have been lectured (stats lecture) by Andy Field I honestly beleive that this book is a MUST for all psychology students around the world who will be using SPSS at some point in their psychology careers! It is simple, witty, funny, and makes stats easy to understand. Brilliant book! =]

If you are a statistics-phobe...this is the book for you!, 26 Aug 2008
If you are needing to learn both SPSS and statistics at the same time and intimidated at all by the math, this is a great book to help take you through the quagmire of both the SPSS software, the principles of statistics and make sense of it all too! Andy Field has done an excellent job at taking much of the mystery out of how and why to use the various tests. The book is comprehensive but the analysis of my research and study is focussed primarily on correlation, t-tests and regression. There are chapters in the book I will probably never read as I cannot foresee ever needing to read them. But, the book is very useful for referencing particular areas and providing a tutorial as you are working.

I love the way Andy has created and inserted his characters throughout the book - as I can identify myself as a cross between Cramming Samantha and Brian Haemorrhage.

Because I found Andy's book and CD so useful, I have not done any comparisons with other books. So, far, it has provided everything I have needed.

If you thought statatistics is complicated, this is the book for you, 21 Jul 2008
I am a post doctoral civil engineering student. I have been struggling with advanced statistics for months...when the problem was I did not have a good grasp of basic concepts. This book solved it all in a matter of days.
After reading this book.. you will be able to understand all the other more "complicated book" that you need to use.
If what you are paying for is for someone to expain stat and SPSS to you, this is your book.
Galit

Excellent, 23 Jun 2008
This book was my saviour during my dissertation. A must for any psychology student about to tackle SPSS!

Let us not be outperformed by a rat, 08 Oct 2008
I was surprised to learn that the Greeks did not have a theory of probability. Their belief "that the future unfolded according to the will of the gods" and their taste for "absolute truth" did not encourage the study of chance. Where pristine philosophy failed, the more grubby pastime of gambling succeeded in motivating probability theory. And, in true statistical style, it only took a handful of gamblers out of a large enough sample to get things going.

Today we might as well be Greeks for all that we understand or even recognize uncertainty. Even if we do not share the view that everything happens for a reason, it is still easy to ignore the role chance plays in our lives. We humans, with our big brains and clever language and propensity for story telling, are well equipped for this kind of failure. When it comes to recognizing randomness, we can be "outperformed by a rat". If this fact piques your curiosity or lowers your self-esteem, read on, and this superb book should satisfy one and restore the other. It is anything but a drunkard's walk through an intellectual maze. Mathematics, the social sciences, psychology, economics, brain studies, all contribute to the modern understanding of this fascinating area. By the end, several important ideas should have become straightened out into the intellectual equivalent of broad, tree-lined avenues, and you might agree with a quotation from Max Born: "Chance is a more fundamental conception than causality."

First off, do not panic. Even a Harvard professor specializing in probability and statistics admits we're not cut out for this kind of thinking - which makes Mlodinow's achievement in writing an entertaining book from which you can actually learn something all the more remarkable. For example, I've come across the Monty Hall problem before, and thought I'd understood it, sort of, although it was like having to read a novel by following the words with my finger. This time, it was easier, partly to do with the way in which Mlodinow introduces the concept of the sample space and breaks down the problem into manageable pieces, and partly because his style is so engaging. It helps that he writes in the first person, and is neither afraid to draw on personal experience nor cringe making when he does so.

One major theme is the "fundamental clash between our need to feel we are in control and our ability to recognize randomness." Research by scientists like Kahneman and Tversky shows how deep-rooted this is. Most of us have been duped by optical illusions, but while these "seldom have much relevance in our everyday world" cognitive biases or systematic errors, on the other hand, "play an important role in human decision making." For example, confirmation bias occurs when we attempt to prove our ideas correct instead of searching for ways to prove them wrong, and "it presents a major impediment to our ability to break free from the misinterpretation of randomness."

Abstract notions are never allowed to wander far before being pinned down by concrete illustrations, often taken from remarkably current affairs. There are two graphs - proper sciency pictures with numbers and axes and everything - which are striking in their portrayal of a startling truth: they show the performance of fund managers over two five-year periods, and while one is a nice orderly ranking from good to bad, the other looks "like random noise". You could have no better illustration of the small print that past performance is no guide to future returns - so why do we pay huge fees to these so-called experts to manage our money, when a large chunk of their "performance" is down to luck? It is salutary to learn that even Wall Street superstars cannot consistently beat the average market return. "People systematically fail to see the role of chance in the success of ventures": the CEO of Merrill Lynch could one year "be celebrated as the risk-taking genius responsible" for the company's success and then, "after the credit market collapsed, derided as the risk-taking cowboy responsible" for its failure. These are important lessons to learn, especially now that even red-blooded capitalists are beginning to question the stratospheric pay packets of financiers.

We need to move beyond "the deterministic view of the marketplace" in which "it is mainly the intrinsic qualities of the person or the product that governs success." The "nondeterministic view" - not confined to the stock market - holds that "there are many high-quality but unknown books, singers, actors, and what makes one or another come to stand out is largely a conspiracy of random and minor factors - that is, luck. In this view the traditional executives are just spinning their wheels." Such a wholesale change in our thinking seems too much to hope for, given how much "we rely on gut instinct" in everyday life and how tempting it is to see purpose where there is none, to "pay lip service to the concept of chance" but to "behave as though chance events are subject to control."

Uncertainty is a modern sin that dare not speak its name. There are always pundits on hand to explain the past and prophesy the future, to nurture some of society's "shared illusions". If you want to "learn to view both explanations and prophecies with skepticism" then the "Drunkard's Walk" is an excellent introduction.


Excellent Anecdotal Introduction to How Randomness Fools Us, 14 Aug 2008

Have you ever flipped a coin 100 times to see the sequence of heads and tails that comes up? If you have, you know that there can be long streaks of heads and tails. Random results that end up 50-50 don't look that way in the short term.

Human perception is such that we like to find patterns where none exist. I remember the CEO of a company I worked for would draw a trend line through one data point with great authority, totally unaware of what he was doing.

More often, we judge by samples of behavior and time that are too short to be representative. Professor Mlodinow does a good job of showing how executives are often fired just before they get their best results, and how seldom the new executive does any better than the prior one.

In sports, we get all excited about streaks. Professor Mlodinow dampens that enthusiasm by pointing out that like streaks can occur randomly. We need to check to see if the streak exceeds the expected degree of variation before deciding that something significant has taken place. (But don't stop cheering on your favorite team and players.)

The book also provides lots of thumbnail sketches of the human side of those who have advanced the science and math behind our ability to measure and understand randomness. In fact, I don't recall a book on this subject with better anecdotes about the scientists and mathematicians. That's the reward in this book if you already know about randomness.

If you know nothing on the subject, this book is the gentlest possible introduction.

Enjoy!

Excellent Anecdotal Introduction to How Randomness Fools Us, 14 Aug 2008

Have you ever flipped a coin 100 times to see the sequence of heads and tails that comes up? If you have, you know that there can be long streaks of heads and tails. Random results that end up 50-50 don't look that way in the short term.

Human perception is such that we like to find patterns where none exist. I remember the CEO of a company I worked for would draw a trend line through one data point with great authority, totally unaware of what he was doing.

More often, we judge by samples of behavior and time that are too short to be representative. Professor Mlodinow does a good job of showing how executives are often fired just before they get their best results, and how seldom the new executive does any better than the prior one.

In sports, we get all excited about streaks. Professor Mlodinow dampens that enthusiasm by pointing out that like streaks can occur randomly. We need to check to see if the streak exceeds the expected degree of variation before deciding that something significant has taken place. (But don't stop cheering on your favorite team and players.)

The book also provides lots of thumbnail sketches of the human side of those who have advanced the science and math behind our ability to measure and understand randomness. In fact, I don't recall a book on this subject with better anecdotes about the scientists and mathematicians. That's the reward in this book if you already know about randomness.

If you know nothing on the subject, this book is the gentlest possible introduction.

Enjoy!

Superb, 10 Aug 2008
Mlodinov is a superb communicator and makes easy and delightful sense of very many confusing but fundamentally important areas. There are important concepts here for anyone interested but this book should be on the syllabus for physicians, lawyers, politicians, business executives and many more. I have already bought 5 copies for friends and colleagues. Enough said !

Intriguing Read On A Random Topic, 31 Jul 2008
I've always been fascinated and intrigued by statistics and the laws of probability. If you too are into that sort of thing (or even if you're not), you will definitely find this book interesting and actually quite fun to read. The content really gets your mind thinking and actually expands ones views on life itself and how things work.

How To Keep Your Man: And Keep Him For Good

Real Life Dramas - Volume One: 1

Darren G. Burton

Very Good - Buy it Now!, 12 Dec 2008
A very good book, with a unique and accessible way of explaining statistics. Would reccommend to everyone!

Outstanding Book, Outstanding Author, 13 Oct 2008
Although i may appear biased as i have been fortunate enough to have been lectured (stats lecture) by Andy Field I honestly beleive that this book is a MUST for all psychology students around the world who will be using SPSS at some point in their psychology careers! It is simple, witty, funny, and makes stats easy to understand. Brilliant book! =]

If you are a statistics-phobe...this is the book for you!, 26 Aug 2008
If you are needing to learn both SPSS and statistics at the same time and intimidated at all by the math, this is a great book to help take you through the quagmire of both the SPSS software, the principles of statistics and make sense of it all too! Andy Field has done an excellent job at taking much of the mystery out of how and why to use the various tests. The book is comprehensive but the analysis of my research and study is focussed primarily on correlation, t-tests and regression. There are chapters in the book I will probably never read as I cannot foresee ever needing to read them. But, the book is very useful for referencing particular areas and providing a tutorial as you are working.

I love the way Andy has created and inserted his characters throughout the book - as I can identify myself as a cross between Cramming Samantha and Brian Haemorrhage.

Because I found Andy's book and CD so useful, I have not done any comparisons with other books. So, far, it has provided everything I have needed.

If you thought statatistics is complicated, this is the book for you, 21 Jul 2008
I am a post doctoral civil engineering student. I have been struggling with advanced statistics for months...when the problem was I did not have a good grasp of basic concepts. This book solved it all in a matter of days.
After reading this book.. you will be able to understand all the other more "complicated book" that you need to use.
If what you are paying for is for someone to expain stat and SPSS to you, this is your book.
Galit

Excellent, 23 Jun 2008
This book was my saviour during my dissertation. A must for any psychology student about to tackle SPSS!

Let us not be outperformed by a rat, 08 Oct 2008
I was surprised to learn that the Greeks did not have a theory of probability. Their belief "that the future unfolded according to the will of the gods" and their taste for "absolute truth" did not encourage the study of chance. Where pristine philosophy failed, the more grubby pastime of gambling succeeded in motivating probability theory. And, in true statistical style, it only took a handful of gamblers out of a large enough sample to get things going.

Today we might as well be Greeks for all that we understand or even recognize uncertainty. Even if we do not share the view that everything happens for a reason, it is still easy to ignore the role chance plays in our lives. We humans, with our big brains and clever language and propensity for story telling, are well equipped for this kind of failure. When it comes to recognizing randomness, we can be "outperformed by a rat". If this fact piques your curiosity or lowers your self-esteem, read on, and this superb book should satisfy one and restore the other. It is anything but a drunkard's walk through an intellectual maze. Mathematics, the social sciences, psychology, economics, brain studies, all contribute to the modern understanding of this fascinating area. By the end, several important ideas should have become straightened out into the intellectual equivalent of broad, tree-lined avenues, and you might agree with a quotation from Max Born: "Chance is a more fundamental conception than causality."

First off, do not panic. Even a Harvard professor specializing in probability and statistics admits we're not cut out for this kind of thinking - which makes Mlodinow's achievement in writing an entertaining book from which you can actually learn something all the more remarkable. For example, I've come across the Monty Hall problem before, and thought I'd understood it, sort of, although it was like having to read a novel by following the words with my finger. This time, it was easier, partly to do with the way in which Mlodinow introduces the concept of the sample space and breaks down the problem into manageable pieces, and partly because his style is so engaging. It helps that he writes in the first person, and is neither afraid to draw on personal experience nor cringe making when he does so.

One major theme is the "fundamental clash between our need to feel we are in control and our ability to recognize randomness." Research by scientists like Kahneman and Tversky shows how deep-rooted this is. Most of us have been duped by optical illusions, but while these "seldom have much relevance in our everyday world" cognitive biases or systematic errors, on the other hand, "play an important role in human decision making." For example, confirmation bias occurs when we attempt to prove our ideas correct instead of searching for ways to prove them wrong, and "it presents a major impediment to our ability to break free from the misinterpretation of randomness."

Abstract notions are never allowed to wander far before being pinned down by concrete illustrations, often taken from remarkably current affairs. There are two graphs - proper sciency pictures with numbers and axes and everything - which are striking in their portrayal of a startling truth: they show the performance of fund managers over two five-year periods, and while one is a nice orderly ranking from good to bad, the other looks "like random noise". You could have no better illustration of the small print that past performance is no guide to future returns - so why do we pay huge fees to these so-called experts to manage our money, when a large chunk of their "performance" is down to luck? It is salutary to learn that even Wall Street superstars cannot consistently beat the average market return. "People systematically fail to see the role of chance in the success of ventures": the CEO of Merrill Lynch could one year "be celebrated as the risk-taking genius responsible" for the company's success and then, "after the credit market collapsed, derided as the risk-taking cowboy responsible" for its failure. These are important lessons to learn, especially now that even red-blooded capitalists are beginning to question the stratospheric pay packets of financiers.

We need to move beyond "the deterministic view of the marketplace" in which "it is mainly the intrinsic qualities of the person or the product that governs success." The "nondeterministic view" - not confined to the stock market - holds that "there are many high-quality but unknown books, singers, actors, and what makes one or another come to stand out is largely a conspiracy of random and minor factors - that is, luck. In this view the traditional executives are just spinning their wheels." Such a wholesale change in our thinking seems too much to hope for, given how much "we rely on gut instinct" in everyday life and how tempting it is to see purpose where there is none, to "pay lip service to the concept of chance" but to "behave as though chance events are subject to control."

Uncertainty is a modern sin that dare not speak its name. There are always pundits on hand to explain the past and prophesy the future, to nurture some of society's "shared illusions". If you want to "learn to view both explanations and prophecies with skepticism" then the "Drunkard's Walk" is an excellent introduction.


Excellent Anecdotal Introduction to How Randomness Fools Us, 14 Aug 2008

Have you ever flipped a coin 100 times to see the sequence of heads and tails that comes up? If you have, you know that there can be long streaks of heads and tails. Random results that end up 50-50 don't look that way in the short term.

Human perception is such that we like to find patterns where none exist. I remember the CEO of a company I worked for would draw a trend line through one data point with great authority, totally unaware of what he was doing.

More often, we judge by samples of behavior and time that are too short to be representative. Professor Mlodinow does a good job of showing how executives are often fired just before they get their best results, and how seldom the new executive does any better than the prior one.

In sports, we get all excited about streaks. Professor Mlodinow dampens that enthusiasm by pointing out that like streaks can occur randomly. We need to check to see if the streak exceeds the expected degree of variation before deciding that something significant has taken place. (But don't stop cheering on your favorite team and players.)

The book also provides lots of thumbnail sketches of the human side of those who have advanced the science and math behind our ability to measure and understand randomness. In fact, I don't recall a book on this subject with better anecdotes about the scientists and mathematicians. That's the reward in this book if you already know about randomness.

If you know nothing on the subject, this book is the gentlest possible introduction.

Enjoy!

Excellent Anecdotal Introduction to How Randomness Fools Us, 14 Aug 2008

Have you ever flipped a coin 100 times to see the sequence of heads and tails that comes up? If you have, you know that there can be long streaks of heads and tails. Random results that end up 50-50 don't look that way in the short term.

Human perception is such that we like to find patterns where none exist. I remember the CEO of a company I worked for would draw a trend line through one data point with great authority, totally unaware of what he was doing.

More often, we judge by samples of behavior and time that are too short to be representative. Professor Mlodinow does a good job of showing how executives are often fired just before they get their best results, and how seldom the new executive does any better than the prior one.

In sports, we get all excited about streaks. Professor Mlodinow dampens that enthusiasm by pointing out that like streaks can occur randomly. We need to check to see if the streak exceeds the expected degree of variation before deciding that something significant has taken place. (But don't stop cheering on your favorite team and players.)

The book also provides lots of thumbnail sketches of the human side of those who have advanced the science and math behind our ability to measure and understand randomness. In fact, I don't recall a book on this subject with better anecdotes about the scientists and mathematicians. That's the reward in this book if you already know about randomness.

If you know nothing on the subject, this book is the gentlest possible introduction.

Enjoy!

Superb, 10 Aug 2008
Mlodinov is a superb communicator and makes easy and delightful sense of very many confusing but fundamentally important areas. There are important concepts here for anyone interested but this book should be on the syllabus for physicians, lawyers, politicians, business executives and many more. I have already bought 5 copies for friends and colleagues. Enough said !

Intriguing Read On A Random Topic, 31 Jul 2008
I've always been fascinated and intrigued by statistics and the laws of probability. If you too are into that sort of thing (or even if you're not), you will definitely find this book interesting and actually quite fun to read. The content really gets your mind thinking and actually expands ones views on life itself and how things work.

How To Keep Your Man: And Keep Him For Good

Real Life Dramas - Volume One: 1

Darren G. Burton

A great book for the innumerate, 21 Oct 2007
I'm totally innumerate - I'm not proud of it though. There are calculations in this book, but just enough to give you an understanding of the concepts. Unlike "Statistics for Dummies" which has quite a lot of calculations and a lot of unecessary filler, this book is succinct and easily understood. The only downside is the font and the layout are little dated, but that doesn't detract from it's readability. Plus, because it is a small book, it's easy to carry around.

not that good, 17 Aug 2007
i found it very disappointing, after so many recommendations. and the edition is very unpleasant to read: small font, very dark, not visual at all. not that good, you'll need more books to complement it

An excellent intro, 03 Feb 2006
If you're not at ease with stats, this is the book for you. It takes you right from the very beginning, covering all the things you'd like to know but felt too self-conscious to ask about. Questions intersperse the text so that you can test yourself and make sure you've understood the material. The style is friendly and engaging without being patronising -you really get the impression that Rowntree genuinely wants you to develop a good understanding and love of statistics. It’s actually an enjoyable read!
Not for those wanting a book covering advanced statistics, but an excellent introduction for anyone intimidated by maths and a good refresher for those who haven't touched on the topic in years.
I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Excellent, non-technical primer - and refresher, 09 Oct 2004
I've now "done" stats as part of two separate undergraduate psychology courses and one post-graduate one. I read this book before I started and I still keep coming back to it.

It doesn't replace the texts that tell you how to carry out the calculations and apply them to a specific discipline, but it is excellent for explaining the fundamentals, and for reminding you what it is that you're trying to achieve.

Good companion text to a more technical tome, 04 May 2004
Excellent book because it provides a plain English description of statistics. You can learn a lot of background from skimming through it. I've dropped it a star rating though because I'll still need to go and buy a book to give me some more techy details. I do wish I had this book when I was studying undergraduate stats.

Very Good - Buy it Now!, 12 Dec 2008
A very good book, with a unique and accessible way of explaining statistics. Would reccommend to everyone!

Outstanding Book, Outstanding Author, 13 Oct 2008
Although i may appear biased as i have been fortunate enough to have been lectured (stats lecture) by Andy Field I honestly beleive that this book is a MUST for all psychology students around the world who will be using SPSS at some point in their psychology careers! It is simple, witty, funny, and makes stats easy to understand. Brilliant book! =]

If you are a statistics-phobe...this is the book for you!, 26 Aug 2008
If you are needing to learn both SPSS and statistics at the same time and intimidated at all by the math, this is a great book to help take you through the quagmire of both the SPSS software, the principles of statistics and make sense of it all too! Andy Field has done an excellent job at taking much of the mystery out of how and why to use the various tests. The book is comprehensive but the analysis of my research and study is focussed primarily on correlation, t-tests and regression. There are chapters in the book I will probably never read as I cannot foresee ever needing to read them. But, the book is very useful for referencing particular areas and providing a tutorial as you are working.

I love the way Andy has created and inserted his characters throughout the book - as I can identify myself as a cross between Cramming Samantha and Brian Haemorrhage.

Because I found Andy's book and CD so useful, I have not done any comparisons with other books. So, far, it has provided everything I have needed.

If you thought statatistics is complicated, this is the book for you, 21 Jul 2008
I am a post doctoral civil engineering student. I have been struggling with advanced statistics for months...when the problem was I did not have a good grasp of basic concepts. This book solved it all in a matter of days.
After reading this book.. you will be able to understand all the other more "complicated book" that you need to use.
If what you are paying for is for someone to expain stat and SPSS to you, this is your book.
Galit

Excellent, 23 Jun 2008
This book was my saviour during my dissertation. A must for any psychology student about to tackle SPSS!

Let us not be outperformed by a rat, 08 Oct 2008
I was surprised to learn that the Greeks did not have a theory of probability. Their belief "that the future unfolded according to the will of the gods" and their taste for "absolute truth" did not encourage the study of chance. Where pristine philosophy failed, the more grubby pastime of gambling succeeded in motivating probability theory. And, in true statistical style, it only took a handful of gamblers out of a large enough sample to get things going.

Today we might as well be Greeks for all that we understand or even recognize uncertainty. Even if we do not share the view that everything happens for a reason, it is still easy to ignore the role chance plays in our lives. We humans, with our big brains and clever language and propensity for story telling, are well equipped for this kind of failure. When it comes to recognizing randomness, we can be "outperformed by a rat". If this fact piques your curiosity or lowers your self-esteem, read on, and this superb book should satisfy one and restore the other. It is anything but a drunkard's walk through an intellectual maze. Mathematics, the social sciences, psychology, economics, brain studies, all contribute to the modern understanding of this fascinating area. By the end, several important ideas should have become straightened out into the intellectual equivalent of broad, tree-lined avenues, and you might agree with a quotation from Max Born: "Chance is a more fundamental conception than causality."

First off, do not panic. Even a Harvard professor specializing in probability and statistics admits we're not cut out for this kind of thinking - which makes Mlodinow's achievement in writing an entertaining book from which you can actually learn something all the more remarkable. For example, I've come across the Monty Hall problem before, and thought I'd understood it, sort of, although it was like having to read a novel by following the words with my finger. This time, it was easier, partly to do with the way in which Mlodinow introduces the concept of the sample space and breaks down the problem into manageable pieces, and partly because his style is so engaging. It helps that he writes in the first person, and is neither afraid to draw on personal experience nor cringe making when he does so.

One major theme is the "fundamental clash between our need to feel we are in control and our ability to recognize randomness." Research by scientists like Kahneman and Tversky shows how deep-rooted this is. Most of us have been duped by optical illusions, but while these "seldom have much relevance in our everyday world" cognitive biases or systematic errors, on the other hand, "play an important role in human decision making." For example, confirmation bias occurs when we attempt to prove our ideas correct instead of searching for ways to prove them wrong, and "it presents a major impediment to our ability to break free from the misinterpretation of randomness."

Abstract notions are never allowed to wander far before being pinned down by concrete illustrations, often taken from remarkably current affairs. There are two graphs - proper sciency pictures with numbers and axes and everything - which are striking in their portrayal of a startling truth: they show the performance of fund managers over two five-year periods, and while one is a nice orderly ranking from good to bad, the other looks "like random noise". You could have no better illustration of the small print that past performance is no guide to future returns - so why do we pay huge fees to these so-called experts to manage our money, when a large chunk of their "performance" is down to luck? It is salutary to learn that even Wall Street superstars cannot consistently beat the average market return. "People systematically fail to see the role of chance in the success of ventures": the CEO of Merrill Lynch could one year "be celebrated as the risk-taking genius responsible" for the company's success and then, "after the credit market collapsed, derided as the risk-taking cowboy responsible" for its failure. These are important lessons to learn, especially now that even red-blooded capitalists are beginning to question the stratospheric pay packets of financiers.

We need to move beyond "the deterministic view of the marketplace" in which "it is mainly the intrinsic qualities of the person or the product that governs success." The "nondeterministic view" - not confined to the stock market - holds that "there are many high-quality but unknown books, singers, actors, and what makes one or another come to stand out is largely a conspiracy of random and minor factors - that is, luck. In this view the traditional executives are just spinning their wheels." Such a wholesale change in our thinking seems too much to hope for, given how much "we rely on gut instinct" in everyday life and how tempting it is to see purpose where there is none, to "pay lip service to the concept of chance" but to "behave as though chance events are subject to control."

Uncertainty is a modern sin that dare not speak its name. There are always pundits on hand to explain the past and prophesy the future, to nurture some of society's "shared illusions". If you want to "learn to view both explanations and prophecies with skepticism" then the "Drunkard's Walk" is an excellent introduction.


Excellent Anecdotal Introduction to How Randomness Fools Us, 14 Aug 2008

Have you ever flipped a coin 100 times to see the sequence of heads and tails that comes up? If you have, you know that there can be long streaks of heads and tails. Random results that end up 50-50 don't look that way in the short term.

Human perception is such that we like to find patterns where none exist. I remember the CEO of a company I worked for would draw a trend line through one data point with great authority, totally unaware of what he was doing.

More often, we judge by samples of behavior and time that are too short to be representative. Professor Mlodinow does a good job of showing how executives are often fired just before they get their best results, and how seldom the new executive does any better than the prior one.

In sports, we get all excited about streaks. Professor Mlodinow dampens that enthusiasm by pointing out that like streaks can occur randomly. We need to check to see if the streak exceeds the expected degree of variation before deciding that something significant has taken place. (But don't stop cheering on your favorite team and players.)

The book also provides lots of thumbnail sketches of the human side of those who have advanced the science and math behind our ability to measure and understand randomness. In fact, I don't recall a book on this subject with better anecdotes about the scientists and mathematicians. That's the reward in this book if you already know about randomness.

If you know nothing on the subject, this book is the gentlest possible introduction.

Enjoy!

Excellent Anecdotal Introduction to How Randomness Fools Us, 14 Aug 2008

Have you ever flipped a coin 100 times to see the sequence of heads and tails that comes up? If you have, you know that there can be long streaks of heads and tails. Random results that end up 50-50 don't look that way in the short term.

Human perception is such that we like to find patterns where none exist. I remember the CEO of a company I worked for would draw a trend line through one data point with great authority, totally unaware of what he was doing.

More often, we judge by samples of behavior and time that are too short to be representative. Professor Mlodinow does a good job of showing how executives are often fired just before they get their best results, and how seldom the new executive does any better than the prior one.

In sports, we get all excited about streaks. Professor Mlodinow dampens that enthusiasm by pointing out that like streaks can occur randomly. We need to check to see if the streak exceeds the expected degree of variation before deciding that something significant has taken place. (But don't stop cheering on your favorite team and players.)

The book also provides lots of thumbnail sketches of the human side of those who have advanced the science and math behind our ability to measure and understand randomness. In fact, I don't recall a book on this subject with better anecdotes about the scientists and mathematicians. That's the reward in this book if you already know about randomness.

If you know nothing on the subject, this book is the gentlest possible introduction.

Enjoy!

Superb, 10 Aug 2008
Mlodinov is a superb communicator and makes easy and delightful sense of very many confusing but fundamentally important areas. There are important concepts here for anyone interested but this book should be on the syllabus for physicians, lawyers, politicians, business executives and many more. I have already bought 5 copies for friends and colleagues. Enough said !

Intriguing Read On A Random Topic, 31 Jul 2008
I've always been fascinated and intrigued by statistics and the laws of probability. If you too are into that sort of thing (or even if you're not), you will definitely find this book interesting and actually quite fun to read. The content really gets your mind thinking and actually expands ones views on life itself and how things work.

How To Keep Your Man: And Keep Him For Good

Real Life Dramas - Volume One: 1

Darren G. Burton

A great book for the innumerate, 21 Oct 2007
I'm totally innumerate - I'm not proud of it though. There are calculations in this book, but just enough to give you an understanding of the concepts. Unlike "Statistics for Dummies" which has quite a lot of calculations and a lot of unecessary filler, this book is succinct and easily understood. The only downside is the font and the layout are little dated, but that doesn't detract from it's readability. Plus, because it is a small book, it's easy to carry around.

not that good, 17 Aug 2007
i found it very disappointing, after so many recommendations. and the edition is very unpleasant to read: small font, very dark, not visual at all. not that good, you'll need more books to complement it

An excellent intro, 03 Feb 2006
If you're not at ease with stats, this is the book for you. It takes you right from the very beginning, covering all the things you'd like to know but felt too self-conscious to ask about. Questions intersperse the text so that you can test yourself and make sure you've understood the material. The style is friendly and engaging without being patronising -you really get the impression that Rowntree genuinely wants you to develop a good understanding and love of statistics. It’s actually an enjoyable read!
Not for those wanting a book covering advanced statistics, but an excellent introduction for anyone intimidated by maths and a good refresher for those who haven't touched on the topic in years.
I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Excellent, non-technical primer - and refresher, 09 Oct 2004
I've now "done" stats as part of two separate undergraduate psychology courses and one post-graduate one. I read this book before I started and I still keep coming back to it.

It doesn't replace the texts that tell you how to carry out the calculations and apply them to a specific discipline, but it is excellent for explaining the fundamentals, and for reminding you what it is that you're trying to achieve.

Good companion text to a more technical tome, 04 May 2004
Excellent book because it provides a plain English description of statistics. You can learn a lot of background from skimming through it. I've dropped it a star rating though because I'll still need to go and buy a book to give me some more techy details. I do wish I had this book when I was studying undergraduate stats.

Tufte is God, 08 Nov 2005
I think I made Tufte very rich. If I didn't it was not my fault. I was a Displays Manager with IBM and used his book to illustrate how colour & pixels could enhance information. I developed a presentation that used his work to exploit data and its visualisation. As a result I sold one hell of a lot of screens (IBM 3279 colour screens - the first ever colour screens - and at £3,000 a crack I sold 6,000 in the first year alone). I also sold a lot of Tufte's books. The quite brilliant example of Minard's graph of Napoleon's campaign in Russia (contained within the book) would keep an audience occupied for 2 hours - and not a yawn - so if ever the Good Professor decides to make a Will, he should remember me and I hope he predececeases me by a goodly margin so I can drink to his memory in style.

I think Professor Tufte's product is quite safe and unlikely to cause injury or death (Amazon Product Compliance Statement).

Professor Tufte writes simply excellent books., 17 Jan 2002
These books appeal on so many levels. They are informative, interesting and entertaining. Beautifully produced and very well written. One hardly notices one is being educated.

Read it, before you make a really bad mistake., 08 Dec 2001
This book should be a compulsory read for all graphic designers dealing with data visualisation.

The clearly focused chapters, all with superb illustrations, take the reader through some of the best and worst graphics and charts ever printed, with Tufte providing crystalline insights and techniques that will stick in your mind and make your own work better.

Whilst this book deals only with printed graphics, I think that the lessons learned are even more valuable as a foundation for interactive media designers. With the added dimensions of time and user involvement comes the potential to commit far worse design-crimes than many of the examples laid bare in this book!

Like I said: Read it before you make a really bad mistake!

invaluable, every scientist, hell every american should read, 23 Jul 1999
the examples are incredible. this book is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read both for its content and execution. The advice Tufte gives with regard to the presentation of information will only become more important in the future. Whether reading the newspaper or writing a technical report, the proper display of quantitative information is an invaluable skill. this book helps you to think clearly and concisely. one of the best books of all time.

If you have to design anything, read this series, 15 Jul 1999
Whether it is presentation slides or internet sites, the concepts provided in Tufte's books will give you insight and skill that will improve your output 1000%.

There is some overlap between the books, but just looking at the pictures and his explanations and concepts will make you say "AHA!" and improve your next design.

Very Good - Buy it Now!, 12 Dec 2008
A very good book, with a unique and accessible way of explaining statistics. Would reccommend to everyone!

Outstanding Book, Outstanding Author, 13 Oct 2008
Although i may appear biased as i have been fortunate enough to have been lectured (stats lecture) by Andy Field I honestly beleive that this book is a MUST for all psychology students around the world who will be using SPSS at some point in their psychology careers! It is simple, witty, funny, and makes stats easy to understand. Brilliant book! =]

If you are a statistics-phobe...this is the book for you!, 26 Aug 2008
If you are needing to learn both SPSS and statistics at the same time and intimidated at all by the math, this is a great book to help take you through the quagmire of both the SPSS software, the principles of statistics and make sense of it all too! Andy Field has done an excellent job at taking much of the mystery out of how and why to use the various tests. The book is comprehensive but the analysis of my research and study is focussed primarily on correlation, t-tests and regression. There are chapters in the book I will probably never read as I cannot foresee ever needing to read them. But, the book is very useful for referencing particular areas and providing a tutorial as you are working.

I love the way Andy has created and inserted his characters throughout the book - as I can identify myself as a cross between Cramming Samantha and Brian Haemorrhage.

Because I found Andy's book and CD so useful, I have not done any comparisons with other books. So, far, it has provided everything I have needed.

If you thought statatistics is complicated, this is the book for you, 21 Jul 2008
I am a post doctoral civil engineering student. I have been struggling with advanced statistics for months...when the problem was I did not have a good grasp of basic concepts. This book solved it all in a matter of days.
After reading this book.. you will be able to understand all the other more "complicated book" that you need to use.
If what you are paying for is for someone to expain stat and SPSS to you, this is your book.
Galit

Excellent, 23 Jun 2008
This book was my saviour during my dissertation. A must for any psychology student about to tackle SPSS!

Let us not be outperformed by a rat, 08 Oct 2008
I was surprised to learn that the Greeks did not have a theory of probability. Their belief "that the future unfolded according to the will of the gods" and their taste for "absolute truth" did not encourage the study of chance. Where pristine philosophy failed, the more grubby pastime of gambling succeeded in motivating probability theory. And, in true statistical style, it only took a handful of gamblers out of a large enough sample to get things going.

Today we might as well be Greeks for all that we understand or even recognize uncertainty. Even if we do not share the view that everything happens for a reason, it is still easy to ignore the role chance plays in our lives. We humans, with our big brains and clever language and propensity for story telling, are well equipped for this kind of failure. When it comes to recognizing randomness, we can be "outperformed by a rat". If this fact piques your curiosity or lowers your self-esteem, read on, and this superb book should satisfy one and restore the other. It is anything but a drunkard's walk through an intellectual maze. Mathematics, the social sciences, psychology, economics, brain studies, all contribute to the modern understanding of this fascinating area. By the end, several important ideas should have become straightened out into the intellectual equivalent of broad, tree-lined avenues, and you might agree with a quotation from Max Born: "Chance is a more fundamental conception than causality."

First off, do not panic. Even a Harvard professor specializing in probability and statistics admits we're not cut out for this kind of thinking - which makes Mlodinow's achievement in writing an entertaining book from which you can actually learn something all the more remarkable. For example, I've come across the Monty Hall problem before, and thought I'd understood it, sort of, although it was like having to read a novel by following the words with my finger. This time, it was easier, partly to do with the way in which Mlodinow introduces the concept of the sample space and breaks down the problem into manageable pieces, and partly because his style is so engaging. It helps that he writes in the first person, and is neither afraid to draw on personal experience nor cringe making when he does so.

One major theme is the "fundamental clash between our need to feel we are in control and our ability to recognize randomness." Research by scientists like Kahneman and Tversky shows how deep-rooted this is. Most of us have been duped by optical illusions, but while these "seldom have much relevance in our everyday world" cognitive biases or systematic errors, on the other hand, "play an important role in human decision making." For example, confirmation bias occurs when we attempt to prove our ideas correct instead of searching for ways to prove them wrong, and "it presents a major impediment to our ability to break free from the misinterpretation of randomness."

Abstract notions are never allowed to wander far before being pinned down by concrete illustrations, often taken from remarkably current affairs. There are two graphs - proper sciency pictures with numbers and axes and everything - which are striking in their portrayal of a startling truth: they show the performance of fund managers over two five-year periods, and while one is a nice orderly ranking from good to bad, the other looks "like random noise". You could have no better illustration of the small print that past performance is no guide to future returns - so why do we pay huge fees to these so-called experts to manage our money, when a large chunk of their "performance" is down to luck? It is salutary to learn that even Wall Street superstars cannot consistently beat the average market return. "People systematically fail to see the role of chance in the success of ventures": the CEO of Merrill Lynch could one year "be celebrated as the risk-taking genius responsible" for the company's success and then, "after the credit market collapsed, derided as the risk-taking cowboy responsible" for its failure. These are important lessons to learn, especially now that even red-blooded capitalists are beginning to question the stratospheric pay packets of financiers.

We need to move beyond "the deterministic view of the marketplace" in which "it is mainly the intrinsic qualities of the person or the product that governs success." The "nondeterministic view" - not confined to the stock market - holds that "there are many high-quality but unknown books, singers, actors, and what makes one or another come to stand out is largely a conspiracy of random and minor factors - that is, luck. In this view the traditional executives are just spinning their wheels." Such a wholesale change in our thinking seems too much to hope for, given how much "we rely on gut instinct" in everyday life and how tempting it is to see purpose where there is none, to "pay lip service to the concept of chance" but to "behave as though chance events are subject to control."

Uncertainty is a modern sin that dare not speak its name. There are always pundits on hand to explain the past and prophesy the future, to nurture some of society's "shared illusions". If you want to "learn to view both explanations and prophecies with skepticism" then the "Drunkard's Walk" is an excellent introduction.


Excellent Anecdotal Introduction to How Randomness Fools Us, 14 Aug 2008

Have you ever flipped a coin 100 times to see the sequence of heads and tails that comes up? If you have, you know that there can be long streaks of heads and tails. Random results that end up 50-50 don't look that way in the short term.

Human perception is such that we like to find patterns where none exist. I remember the CEO of a company I worked for would draw a trend line through one data point with great authority, totally unaware of what he was doing.

More often, we judge by samples of behavior and time that are too short to be representative. Professor Mlodinow does a good job of showing how executives are often fired just before they get their best results, and how seldom the new executive does any better than the prior one.

In sports, we get all excited about streaks. Professor Mlodinow dampens that enthusiasm by pointing out that like streaks can occur randomly. We need to check to see if the streak exceeds the expected degree of variation before deciding that something significant has taken place. (But don't stop cheering on your favorite team and players.)

The book also provides lots of thumbnail sketches of the human side of those who have advanced the science and math behind our ability to measure and understand randomness. In fact, I don't recall a book on this subject with better anecdotes about the scientists and mathematicians. That's the reward in this book if you already know about randomness.

If you know nothing on the subject, this book is the gentlest possible introduction.

Enjoy!

Excellent Anecdotal Introduction to How Randomness Fools Us, 14 Aug 2008

Have you ever flipped a coin 100 times to see the sequence of heads and tails that comes up? If you have, you know that there can be long streaks of heads and tails. Random results that end up 50-50 don't look that way in the short term.

Human perception is such that we like to find patterns where none exist. I remember the CEO of a company I worked for would draw a trend line through one data point with great authority, totally unaware of what he was doing.

More often, we judge by samples of behavior and time that are too short to be representative. Professor Mlodinow does a good job of showing how executives are often fired just before they get their best results, and how seldom the new executive does any better than the prior one.

In sports, we get all excited about streaks. Professor Mlodinow dampens that enthusiasm by pointing out that like streaks can occur randomly. We need to check to see if the streak exceeds the expected degree of variation before deciding that something significant has taken place. (But don't stop cheering on your favorite team and players.)

The book also provides lots of thumbnail sketches of the human side of those who have advanced the science and math behind our ability to measure and understand randomness. In fact, I don't recall a book on this subject with better anecdotes about the scientists and mathematicians. That's the reward in this book if you already know about randomness.

If you know nothing on the subject, this book is the gentlest possible introduction.

Enjoy!

Superb, 10 Aug 2008
Mlodinov is a superb communicator and makes easy and delightful sense of very many confusing but fundamentally important areas. There are important concepts here for anyone interested but this book should be on the syllabus for physicians, lawyers, politicians, business executives and many more. I have already bought 5 copies for friends and colleagues. Enough said !

Intriguing Read On A Random Topic, 31 Jul 2008
I've always been fascinated and intrigued by statistics and the laws of probability. If you too are into that sort of thing (or even if you're not), you will definitely find this book interesting and actually quite fun to read. The content really gets your mind thinking and actually expands ones views on life itself and how things work.

How To Keep Your Man: And Keep Him For Good

Real Life Dramas - Volume One: 1

Darren G. Burton

A great book for the innumerate, 21 Oct 2007
I'm totally innumerate - I'm not proud of it though. There are calculations in this book, but just enough to give you an understanding of the concepts. Unlike "Statistics for Dummies" which has quite a lot of calculations and a lot of unecessary filler, this book is succinct and easily understood. The only downside is the font and the layout are little dated, but that doesn't detract from it's readability. Plus, because it is a small book, it's easy to carry around.

not that good, 17 Aug 2007
i found it very disappointing, after so many recommendations. and the edition is very unpleasant to read: small font, very dark, not visual at all. not that good, you'll need more books to complement it

An excellent intro, 03 Feb 2006
If you're not at ease with stats, this is the book for you. It takes you right from the very beginning, covering all the things you'd like to know but felt too self-conscious to ask about. Questions intersperse the text so that you can test yourself and make sure you've understood the material. The style is friendly and engaging without being patronising -you really get the impression that Rowntree genuinely wants you to develop a good understanding and love of statistics. It’s actually an enjoyable read!
Not for those wanting a book covering advanced statistics, but an excellent introduction for anyone intimidated by maths and a good refresher for those who haven't touched on the topic in years.
I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Excellent, non-technical primer - and refresher, 09 Oct 2004
I've now "done" stats as part of two separate undergraduate psychology courses and one post-graduate one. I read this book before I started and I still keep coming back to it.

It doesn't replace the texts that tell you how to carry out the calculations and apply them to a specific discipline, but it is excellent for explaining the fundamentals, and for reminding you what it is that you're trying to achieve.

Good companion text to a more technical tome, 04 May 2004
Excellent book because it provides a plain English description of statistics. You can learn a lot of background from skimming through it. I've dropped it a star rating though because I'll still need to go and buy a book to give me some more techy details. I do wish I had this book when I was studying undergraduate stats.

Tufte is God, 08 Nov 2005
I think I made Tufte very rich. If I didn't it was not my fault. I was a Displays Manager with IBM and used his book to illustrate how colour & pixels could enhance information. I developed a presentation that used his work to exploit data and its visualisation. As a result I sold one hell of a lot of screens (IBM 3279 colour screens - the first ever colour screens - and at £3,000 a crack I sold 6,000 in the first year alone). I also sold a lot of Tufte's books. The quite brilliant example of Minard's graph of Napoleon's campaign in Russia (contained within the book) would keep an audience occupied for 2 hours - and not a yawn - so if ever the Good Professor decides to make a Will, he should remember me and I hope he predececeases me by a goodly margin so I can drink to his memory in style.

I think Professor Tufte's product is quite safe and unlikely to cause injury or death (Amazon Product Compliance Statement).

Professor Tufte writes simply excellent books., 17 Jan 2002
These books appeal on so many levels. They are informative, interesting and entertaining. Beautifully produced and very well written. One hardly notices one is being educated.

Read it, before you make a really bad mistake., 08 Dec 2001
This book should be a compulsory read for all graphic designers dealing with data visualisation.

The clearly focused chapters, all with superb illustrations, take the reader through some of the best and worst graphics and charts ever printed, with Tufte providing crystalline insights and techniques that will stick in your mind and make your own work better.

Whilst this book deals only with printed graphics, I think that the lessons learned are even more valuable as a foundation for interactive media designers. With the added dimensions of time and user involvement comes the potential to commit far worse design-crimes than many of the examples laid bare in this book!

Like I said: Read it before you make a really bad mistake!

invaluable, every scientist, hell every american should read, 23 Jul 1999
the examples are incredible. this book is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read both for its content and execution. The advice Tufte gives with regard to the presentation of information will only become more important in the future. Whether reading the newspaper or writing a technical report, the proper display of quantitative information is an invaluable skill. this book helps you to think clearly and concisely. one of the best books of all time.

If you have to design anything, read this series, 15 Jul 1999
Whether it is presentation slides or internet sites, the concepts provided in Tufte's books will give you insight and skill that will improve your output 1000%.

There is some overlap between the books, but just looking at the pictures and his explanations and concepts will make you say "AHA!" and improve your next design.

Too much repeat, 10 Jan 2006
I needed a good refershing course about statistics, but this Dummies does not reach it. It is vastly incoherent, trying to make each chapter self-readable with little reference to the previous chapters. As a consequence, there is little structure and too much repeat. It also describes each formula in great detail, at the expense of major points of interests, like quality review, which would deserve a greater focus on practical examples.

A straightforward guide to the fundamentals of statistics, 04 Jan 2006
As software author with over 12 years experience in the industry I utilize facts and figures on a daily basis. Comprehensive, precise and accurate data is essential in my work and moreover the understanding of the methods involved achieving this information.
Approximately one year ago I was at a complete loss on a problematic report I was developing in a peace of software, a co-worker recommended I read the Statistics for Dummies and lent me his book. That evening I glanced over the book to quickly locate exactly what was required. The following morning I solved the problem within 30 minutes. I was so taken back with the transparency of the descriptions and straightforwardness of the explanations in the book I acquired a copy for myself on Amazon that very week.
This book lives not on the shelf but on my desk at hand with a select few.
I am at this time here on Amazon looking to acquire a further copy to exchange my original paperback which is now a little scruffy so while here I thought a quick review was well warranted.
Final note, if you’re a student or an accountant, an educator or a developer or anyone whom needs to use statistics I highly recommend this book to you.
Statistics are actuality extremely straightforward when explained by someone who truly understands them such as Deborah Rumsey the author of this excellent and easy to understand book.

Very Good - Buy it Now!, 12 Dec 2008
A very good book, with a unique and accessible way of explaining statistics. Would reccommend to everyone!

Outstanding Book, Outstanding Author, 13 Oct 2008
Although i may appear biased as i have been fortunate enough to have been lectured (stats lecture) by Andy Field I honestly beleive that this book is a MUST for all psychology students around the world who will be using SPSS at some point in their psychology careers! It is simple, witty, funny, and makes stats easy to understand. Brilliant book! =]

If you are a statistics-phobe...this is the book for you!, 26 Aug 2008
If you are needing to learn both SPSS and statistics at the same time and intimidated at all by the math, this is a great book to help take you through the quagmire of both the SPSS software, the principles of statistics and make sense of it all too! Andy Field has done an excellent job at taking much of the mystery out of how and why to use the various tests. The book is comprehensive but the analysis of my research and study is focussed primarily on correlation, t-tests and regression. There are chapters in the book I will probably never read as I cannot foresee ever needing to read them. But, the book is very useful for referencing particular areas and providing a tutorial as you are working.

I love the way Andy has created and inserted his characters throughout the book - as I can identify myself as a cross between Cramming Samantha and Brian Haemorrhage.

Because I found Andy's book and CD so useful, I have not done any comparisons with other books. So, far, it has provided everything I have needed.

If you thought statatistics is complicated, this is the book for you, 21 Jul 2008
I am a post doctoral civil engineering student. I have been struggling with advanced statistics for months...when the problem was I did not have a good grasp of basic concepts. This book solved it all in a matter of days.
After reading this book.. you will be able to understand all the other more "complicated book" that you need to use.
If what you are paying for is for someone to expain stat and SPSS to you, this is your book.
Galit

Excellent, 23 Jun 2008
This book was my saviour during my dissertation. A must for any psychology student about to tackle SPSS!

Let us not be outperformed by a rat, 08 Oct 2008
I was surprised to learn that the Greeks did not have a theory of probability. Their belief "that the future unfolded according to the will of the gods" and their taste for "absolute truth" did not encourage the study of chance. Where pristine philosophy failed, the more grubby pastime of gambling succeeded in motivating probability theory. And, in true statistical style, it only took a handful of gamblers out of a large enough sample to get things going.

Today we might as well be Greeks for all that we understand or even recognize uncertainty. Even if we do not share the view that everything happens for a reason, it is still easy to ignore the role chance plays in our lives. We humans, with our big brains and clever language and propensity for story telling, are well equipped for this kind of failure. When it comes to recognizing randomness, we can be "outperformed by a rat". If this fact piques your curiosity or lowers your self-esteem, read on, and this superb book should satisfy one and restore the other. It is anything but a drunkard's walk through an intellectual maze. Mathematics, the social sciences, psychology, economics, brain studies, all contribute to the modern understanding of this fascinating area. By the end, several important ideas should have become straightened out into the intellectual equivalent of broad, tree-lined avenues, and you might agree with a quotation from Max Born: "Chance is a more fundamental conception than causality."

First off, do not panic. Even a Harvard professor specializing in probability and statistics admits we're not cut out for this kind of thinking - which makes Mlodinow's achievement in writing an entertaining book from which you can actually learn something all the more remarkable. For example, I've come across the Monty Hall problem before, and thought I'd understood it, sort of, although it was like having to read a novel by following the words with my finger. This time, it was easier, partly to do with the way in which Mlodinow introduces the concept of the sample space and breaks down the problem into manageable pieces, and partly because his style is so engaging. It helps that he writes in the first person, and is neither afraid to draw on personal experience nor cringe making when he does so.

One major theme is the "fundamental clash between our need to feel we are in control and our ability to recognize randomness." Research by scientists like Kahneman and Tversky shows how deep-rooted this is. Most of us have been duped by optical illusions, but while these "seldom have much relevance in our everyday world" cognitive biases or systematic errors, on the other hand, "play an important role in human decision making." For example, confirmation bias occurs when we attempt to prove our ideas correct instead of searching for ways to prove them wrong, and "it presents a major impediment to our ability to break free from the misinterpretation of randomness."

Abstract notions are never allowed to wander far before being pinned down by concrete illustrations, often taken from remarkably current affairs. There are two graphs - proper sciency pictures with numbers and axes and everything - which are striking in their portrayal of a startling truth: they show the performance of fund managers over two five-year periods, and while one is a nice orderly ranking from good to bad, the other looks "like random noise". You could have no better illustration of the small print that past performance is no guide to future returns - so why do we pay huge fees to these so-called experts to manage our money, when a large chunk of their "performance" is down to luck? It is salutary to learn that even Wall Street superstars cannot consistently beat the average market return. "People systematically fail to see the role of chance in the success of ventures": the CEO of Merrill Lynch could one year "be celebrated as the risk-taking genius responsible" for the company's success and then, "after the credit market collapsed, derided as the risk-taking cowboy responsible" for its failure. These are important lessons to learn, especially now that even red-blooded capitalists are beginning to question the stratospheric pay packets of financiers.

We need to move beyond "the deterministic view of the marketplace" in which "it is mainly the intrinsic qualities of the person or the product that governs success." The "nondeterministic view" - not confined to the stock market - holds that "there are many high-quality but unknown books, singers, actors, and what makes one or another come to stand out is largely a conspiracy of random and minor factors - that is, luck. In this view the traditional executives are just spinning their wheels." Such a wholesale change in our thinking seems too much to hope for, given how much "we rely on gut instinct" in everyday life and how tempting it is to see purpose where there is none, to "pay lip service to the concept of chance" but to "behave as though chance events are subject to control."

Uncertainty is a modern sin that dare not speak its name. There are always pundits on hand to explain the past and prophesy the future, to nurture some of society's "shared illusions". If you want to "learn to view both explanations and prophecies with skepticism" then the "Drunkard's Walk" is an excellent introduction.


Excellent Anecdotal Introduction to How Randomness Fools Us, 14 Aug 2008

Have you ever flipped a coin 100 times to see the sequence of heads and tails that comes up? If you have, you know that there can be long streaks of heads and tails. Random results that end up 50-50 don't look that way in the short term.

Human perception is such that we like to find patterns where none exist. I remember the CEO of a company I worked for would draw a trend line through one data point with great authority, totally unaware of what he was doing.

More often, we judge by samples of behavior and time that are too short to be representative. Professor Mlodinow does a good job of showing how executives are often fired just before they get their best results, and how seldom the new executive does any better than the prior one.

In sports, we get all excited about streaks. Professor Mlodinow dampens that enthusiasm by pointing out that like streaks can occur randomly. We need to check to see if the streak exceeds the expected degree of variation before deciding that something significant has taken place. (But don't stop cheering on your favorite team and players.)

The book also provides lots of thumbnail sketches of the human side of those who have advanced the science and math behind our ability to measure and understand randomness. In fact, I don't recall a book on this subject with better anecdotes about the scientists and mathematicians. That's the reward in this book if you already know about randomness.

If you know nothing on the subject, this book is the gentlest possible introduction.

Enjoy!

Excellent Anecdotal Introduction to How Randomness Fools Us, 14 Aug 2008

Have you ever flipped a coin 100 times to see the sequence of heads and tails that comes up? If you have, you know that there can be long streaks of heads and tails. Random results that end up 50-50 don't look that way in the short term.

Human perception is such that we like to find patterns where none exist. I remember the CEO of a company I worked for would draw a trend line through one data point with great authority, totally unaware of what he was doing.

More often, we judge by samples of behavior and time that are too short to be representative. Professor Mlodinow does a good job of showing how executives are often fired just before they get their best results, and how seldom the new executive does any better than the prior one.

In sports, we get all excited about streaks. Professor Mlodinow dampens that enthusiasm by pointing out that like streaks can occur randomly. We need to check to see if the streak exceeds the expected degree of variation before deciding that something significant has taken place. (But don't stop cheering on your favorite team and players.)

The book also provides lots of thumbnail sketches of the human side of those who have advanced the science and math behind our ability to measure and understand randomness. In fact, I don't recall a book on this subject with better anecdotes about the scientists and mathematicians. That's the reward in this book if you already know about randomness.

If you know nothing on the subject, this book is the gentlest possible introduction.

Enjoy!

Superb, 10 Aug 2008
Mlodinov is a superb communicator and makes easy and delightful sense of very many confusing but fundamentally important areas. There are important concepts here for anyone interested but this book should be on the syllabus for physicians, lawyers, politicians, business executives and many more. I have already bought 5 copies for friends and colleagues. Enough said !

Intriguing Read On A Random Topic, 31 Jul 2008
I've always been fascinated and intrigued by statistics and the laws of probability. If you too are into that sort of thing (or even if you're not), you will definitely find this book interesting and actually quite fun to read. The content really gets your mind thinking and actually expands ones views on life itself and how things work.

How To Keep Your Man: And Keep Him For Good

Real Life Dramas - Volume One: 1

Darren G. Burton

A great book for the innumerate, 21 Oct 2007
I'm totally innumerate - I'm not proud of it though. There are calculations in this book, but just enough to give you an understanding of the concepts. Unlike "Statistics for Dummies" which has quite a lot of calculations and a lot of unecessary filler, this book is succinct and easily understood. The only downside is the font and the layout are little dated, but that doesn't detract from it's readability. Plus, because it is a small book, it's easy to carry around.

not that good, 17 Aug 2007
i found it very disappointing, after so many recommendations. and the edition is very unpleasant to read: small font, very dark, not visual at all. not that good, you'll need more books to complement it

An excellent intro, 03 Feb 2006
If you're not at ease with stats, this is the book for you. It takes you right from the very beginning, covering all the things you'd like to know but felt too self-conscious to ask about. Questions intersperse the text so that you can test yourself and make sure you've understood the material. The style is friendly and engaging without being patronising -you really get the impression that Rowntree genuinely wants you to develop a good understanding and love of statistics. It’s actually an enjoyable read!
Not for those wanting a book covering advanced statistics, but an excellent introduction for anyone intimidated by maths and a good refresher for those who haven't touched on the topic in years.
I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Excellent, non-technical primer - and refresher, 09 Oct 2004
I've now "done" stats as part of two separate undergraduate psychology courses and one post-graduate one. I read this book before I started and I still keep coming back to it.

It doesn't replace the texts that tell you how to carry out the calculations and apply them to a specific discipline, but it is excellent for explaining the fundamentals, and for reminding you what it is that you're trying to achieve.

Good companion text to a more technical tome, 04 May 2004
Excellent book because it provides a plain English description of statistics. You can learn a lot of background from skimming through it. I've dropped it a star rating though because I'll still need to go and buy a book to give me some more techy details. I do wish I had this book when I was studying undergraduate stats.

Tufte is God, 08 Nov 2005
I think I made Tufte very rich. If I didn't it was not my fault. I was a Displays Manager with IBM and used his book to illustrate how colour & pixels could enhance information. I developed a presentation that used his work to exploit data and its visualisation. As a result I sold one hell of a lot of screens (IBM 3279 colour screens - the first ever colour screens - and at £3,000 a crack I sold 6,000 in the first year alone). I also sold a lot of Tufte's books. The quite brilliant example of Minard's graph of Napoleon's campaign in Russia (contained within the book) would keep an audience occupied for 2 hours - and not a yawn - so if ever the Good Professor decides to make a Will, he should remember me and I hope he predececeases me by a goodly margin so I can drink to his memory in style.

I think Professor Tufte's product is quite safe and unlikely to cause injury or death (Amazon Product Compliance Statement).

Professor Tufte writes simply excellent books., 17 Jan 2002
These books appeal on so many levels. They are informative, interesting and entertaining. Beautifully produced and very well written. One hardly notices one is being educated.

Read it, before you make a really bad mistake., 08 Dec 2001
This book should be a compulsory read for all graphic designers dealing with data visualisation.

The clearly focused chapters, all with superb illustrations, take the reader through some of the best and worst graphics and charts ever printed, with Tufte providing crystalline insights and techniques that will stick in your mind and make your own work better.

Whilst this book deals only with printed graphics, I think that the lessons learned are even more valuable as a foundation for interactive media designers. With the added dimensions of time and user involvement comes the potential to commit far worse design-crimes than many of the examples laid bare in this book!

Like I said: Read it before you make a really bad mistake!

invaluable, every scientist, hell every american should read, 23 Jul 1999
the examples are incredible. this book is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read both for its content and execution. The advice Tufte gives with regard to the presentation of information will only become more important in the future. Whether reading the newspaper or writing a technical report, the proper display of quantitative information is an invaluable skill. this book helps you to think clearly and concisely. one of the best books of all time.

If you have to design anything, read this series, 15 Jul 1999
Whether it is presentation slides or internet sites, the concepts provided in Tufte's books will give you insight and skill that will improve your output 1000%.

There is some overlap between the books, but just looking at the pictures and his explanations and concepts will make you say "AHA!" and improve your next design.

Too much repeat, 10 Jan 2006
I needed a good refershing course about statistics, but this Dummies does not reach it. It is vastly incoherent, trying to make each chapter self-readable with little reference to the previous chapters. As a consequence, there is little structure and too much repeat. It also describes each formula in great detail, at the expense of major points of interests, like quality review, which would deserve a greater focus on practical examples.

A straightforward guide to the fundamentals of statistics, 04 Jan 2006
As software author with over 12 years experience in the industry I utilize facts and figures on a daily basis. Comprehensive, precise and accurate data is essential in my work and moreover the understanding of the methods involved achieving this information.
Approximately one year ago I was at a complete loss on a problematic report I was developing in a peace of software, a co-worker recommended I read the Statistics for Dummies and lent me his book. That evening I glanced over the book to quickly locate exactly what was required. The following morning I solved the problem within 30 minutes. I was so taken back with the transparency of the descriptions and straightforwardness of the explanations in the book I acquired a copy for myself on Amazon that very week.
This book lives not on the shelf but on my desk at hand with a select few.
I am at this time here on Amazon looking to acquire a further copy to exchange my original paperback which is now a little scruffy so while here I thought a quick review was well warranted.
Final note, if you’re a student or an accountant, an educator or a developer or anyone whom needs to use statistics I highly recommend this book to you.
Statistics are actuality extremely straightforward when explained by someone who truly understands them such as Deborah Rumsey the author of this excellent and easy to understand book.

I have often seen those damned little dots before, but I never knew until now what they meant, 18 Dec 2008
There is still much to lament in our ruling classes, but thank goodness we are no longer led by the likes of Lord Randolph, whose epiphany with regard to the decimal point is quoted above. However low your opinion of contemporary politicians, Gordon Brown is unlikely to mistake ".34 per cent" for "34 per cent" (although our financial ruling class would probably reward themselves handsomely for being out by only a factor of a hundred). Before we congratulate ourselves too readily for our mathematical sophistication, we should reflect upon the salutary fact that Darrell Huff's classic text is as necessary today as it was when it was first published over half a century ago. It is remarkable that, despite certain figures showing their age (we might be heading back to an average wage of £1,400 but we're not quite there yet), there is nothing dated about his style. A maths book on statistics from the fifties? If this seems as appetizing as a cold spam butty during a power cut, you're in for a surprise. That decade was not entirely in black and white.

If you spotted the fast one I pulled in the first paragraph, you're either one of "the crooks" who already know these tricks or else are an honest soul who has learned them "in self-defence". Hence the title of this fantastic little book: knowing how a burglar thinks helps secure your house. Most of the time, I would pass over the phrase "average wage" without a second glance. We all know what an average is, don't we? Distant maths lessons are just that for most of us, and even if I'd dredged up the question - what kind of average? - would I have been bothered to ask it? Complacency translates into vulnerability.

"When you are told that something is an average you still don't know very much about it unless you can find out which of the common kinds of average it is - mean, median, or mode." Without a clear understanding of these different kinds of average, you have to hope it doesn't really matter which one is being used, but this is only the case "when you deal with data... that have the grace to fall close to what is called the normal distribution." Otherwise, it makes a big difference, so much so that, "as usually is true with income figures, an unqualified 'average' is virtually meaningless."

Advertisers, of course, are among the most culpable and capable when it comes to lying with statistics (although at least their motives are plain). It is typical of Huff's sense of mischief that, alongside the calculations, he presents us with an ethical dilemma of enormous proportions: should we feel sorry for advertisers who are themselves victims of statistical skulduggery? For example, a magazine publisher is happy to state the median age of its readership, while leaving the kind of average for incomes "carefully unspecified". "Could it be that the mean was used instead because it is bigger, thus seeming to dangle a richer readership before advertisers?"

This is a short book, made even shorter by pictures of cows and charts that take up half a page. (How the innocent-looking graph can be manipulated by adding "schmaltz" is another example of Huff's style: a simple unpicking of the familiar to demonstrate an important point.) It is also unreasonably funny in parts. I don't recall maths, let alone statistics, ever being this entertaining at school. And yet the intellectual content is not compromised. Huff's message is a serious one and perhaps more important now, since our propensity for attaching numbers to almost anything shows no sign of diminishing. It ought to be common knowledge that samples can be "biased by the method of selection", that "well-biased samples can be employed to produce almost any result anyone may wish", that it can be difficult to obtain "a representative sample... one from which every source of bias has been removed", that people who answer survey questions have "a desire to give a pleasing answer", that strange results "crop up when figures are based on what people say".

Most of us can understand these ideas when they are explained by someone like Huff (although it might help not to be an aristocrat). If we're honest, out in the wild without a guide, we're not so sure. Have you ever been scared by "accident statistics"? Would the fact that more people "were killed by aeroplanes last year than in 1910" give you pause for thought? Are modern planes really more dangerous? "Nonsense. There are hundreds of times more people flying now, that's all."

"It is sometimes a substantial service simply to point out that a subject in controversy is not as open-and-shut as it has been made to seem." Or, as Goldacre's slogan has it: "I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that..." Both belong to that noble tradition of satire with a serious message, and it is a tribute to Huff's writing style that he can end with a quote from Mark Twain that fits perfectly: "There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact."


Essential, 06 Sep 2008
You gotta have read this!

A life changing book, together with "Straight and Crooked Thinking" R H Thoulesss and the deBono books.

For great fun read the last chapter of "Freakanomics"


Spot on!, 26 Apr 2008
A must-read for anyone who thinks the figures and statistics, which we read about in the media every day, and often spurious conclusions which come from them, are in any way reliably presented or interpreted.

Excellent primer, 09 Dec 2007
I love this book. Short, sweet, to the point.

In our modern world of spin and advertising this book is a valuable antidote. In tests 8 out of 10 readers said they preferred this book...After reading it you'll know to ask "preferred it to what?"

This book is a valuable and valid aid to those who prefer truth to fiction. Children just getting to grips with statistics will enjoy it, and adults will remind themselves of much basic good sense.

Highly recommended.


Lies? Oh yeah. And zebras are plain black in color., 03 Jan 2007
Imagine a book entitled, say, "How to lie". Yeah, just in general - how to lie. Imagine that the advice given there is mostly around things like "You can lie by giving a negative answer when the true answer is positive and you know it". I mean, it's hard to argue with it, it will constitute quite a bold lie, but if you need that sort of hints, I would suggest the next book you read is "Don't eat yellow snow and other useful advice" (it may not have been written yet, though).
Now give it all a statistical flavor, and you'll get an impression of what the book is like.
To anyone more or less familiar with fundamentals of statistics most of the "cunning lies" described in the book will look as straightforward as stating that the full Moon is rectangular in shape - more of a mauvais tone rather than dark conspiracy.
It still makes some more or less entertaining reading, so if you get fascinated by statements like "two by two is more or less four", go ahead, you'll enjoy it.

Very Good - Buy it Now!, 12 Dec 2008
A very good book, with a unique and accessible way of explaining statistics. Would reccommend to everyone!

Outstanding Book, Outstanding Author, 13 Oct 2008
Although i may appear biased as i have been fortunate enough to have been lectured (stats lecture) by Andy Field I honestly beleive that this book is a MUST for all psychology students around the world who will be using SPSS at some point in their psychology careers! It is simple, witty, funny, and makes stats easy to understand. Brilliant book! =]

If you are a statistics-phobe...this is the book for you!, 26 Aug 2008
If you are needing to learn both SPSS and statistics at the same time and intimidated at all by the math, this is a great book to help take you through the quagmire of both the SPSS software, the principles of statistics and make sense of it all too! Andy Field has done an excellent job at taking much of the mystery out of how and why to use the various tests. The book is comprehensive but the analysis of my research and study is focussed primarily on correlation, t-tests and regression. There are chapters in the book I will probably never read as I cannot foresee ever needing to read them. But, the book is very useful for referencing particular areas and providing a tutorial as you are working.

I love the way Andy has created and inserted his characters throughout the book - as I can identify myself as a cross between Cramming Samantha and Brian Haemorrhage.

Because I found Andy's book and CD so useful, I have not done any comparisons with other books. So, far, it has provided everything I have needed.

If you thought statatistics is complicated, this is the book for you, 21 Jul 2008
I am a post doctoral civil engineering student. I have been struggling with advanced statistics for months...when the problem was I did not have a good grasp of basic concepts. This book solved it all in a matter of days.
After reading this book.. you will be able to understand all the other more "complicated book" that you need to use.
If what you are paying for is for someone to expain stat and SPSS to you, this is your book.
Galit