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How to Lie with Statistics

Darrell Huff

6 readers recommend it across 5 discussions

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Original Hacker News comments, in the readers’ own words.

yboris
A classic in the Math field is How to Solve It by Georg Polya https://www.amazon.com/How-Solve-Mathematical-Princeton-Scie... (https://www.amazon.com/How-Solve-Mathematical-Princeton-Science/dp/069111966X) And for improving statistical thinking, the classic How to Lie With Statistics by Darrell Huff https://www.amazon.com/How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff-ebook... (https://www.amazon.com/How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff-ebook/dp/B00351DSX2/)

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Pietertje
I'll skip some mentioned already by others. Books I really enjoyed this year: The Wright Brothers, David McCullough - wonderful book on the Wright Brothers, easy to read, shows that persistence and logic thinking pays out. 5/5 The autobiography of Malcom X, Malcolm X - Nice bio, a bit repetitive sometimes. 3/5 Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand - Although the book has more than 1200 pages it really kept me going. I read this book to get a better understanding of the ideology of some republicans. Fun read. 4.5/5 Freakonomics, Steven D. Levitt - Levitt studies all kind of different everyday questions using economics. 4/5, short, easy to read Guantanamo Diary, Mohamedou Ould Slahi - Diary of a Guantanamo prisoner who has been imprisoned since 2002. The US has never charged him with a crime. Profound and disturbing. 5/5 No place to hide, Glenn Greenwald - Story on Edward Snowden, probably read by most of HN. Enjoyed it, that's it. 4/5 How to lie with statistics, Darrel Huff - Short book on statistics, easy to read and fun. 4/5
dmlorenzetti
Check out "Physics for Future Presidents" by Richard Muller. It gives an overview of physics, emphasizing why the concepts are important in the modern world, rather than the math details. If she's interested in biology, you might consider "Animals in Translation" by Temple Grandin. It's more about animals than about technology, but it touches on how understanding animals affects the low-tech systems that you use to handle them. For interesting/easy intros to why some math skills are important, look at Darrell Huff's "How to Lie With Statistics" or John Allen Paulos' "Innumeracy" (or "A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper"). I haven't read any of them, but I hear Petroski's books recommended. For a great short read that touches on architectural engineering, law, and ethics, look for Joe Morgenstern's "Fifty-Nine Story Crisis" which appeared in the New Yorker in May 1995. It's about how the structural engineer for the Citicorp tower realized its design was flawed, after the tower had been built and occupied. You can find it on the web.…