Naked Statistics

Stripping the Dread from the Data

By: Charles Wheelan

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Finalist, Business/Educational, 2014

Once considered tedious, the field of statistics is rapidly evolving into a discipline Hal Varian, chief economist at Google, has actually called "sexy". From batting averages and political polls to game shows and medical research, the real-world application of statistics continues to grow by leaps and bounds. How can we catch schools that cheat on standardized tests? How does Netflix know which movies you'll like? What is causing the rising incidence of autism? As best-selling author Charles Wheelan shows us in Naked Statistics, the right data and a few well-chosen statistical tools can help us answer these questions and more.

For those who slept through Stats 101, this book is a lifesaver. Wheelan strips away the arcane and technical details and focuses on the underlying intuition that drives statistical analysis. He clarifies key concepts such as inference, correlation, and regression analysis, reveals how biased or careless parties can manipulate or misrepresent data, and shows us how brilliant and creative researchers are exploiting the valuable data from natural experiments to tackle thorny questions.

You’ll encounter clever Schlitz Beer marketers leveraging basic probability, an International Sausage Festival illuminating the tenets of the central limit theorem, and a head-scratching choice from the famous game show Let’s Make a Deal - and you’ll come away with insights each time. With the wit, accessibility, and sheer fun that turned Naked Economics into a best seller, Wheelan defies the odds yet again by bringing another essential, formerly unglamorous discipline to life.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2013 Charles Wheelan (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Good overview

Good overview of research and its utility in our lives. References several other fairly recent works such as Asminov and Gladwell expanding on similar themes

most was fine as a listen, but...

there were a couple sections where looking at the math and graphs would have made all the difference.

Great book but ...

Excellent and important book. I preferred The Drunkard’s Walk though. Perhaps because I listened to it first?

needs supporting materials

overall book was good but difficult to follow without handouts. there were quite a few times where the reader says "see the chart below" which is kind of hard to do when there is no handout. otherwise review would be higher

A great read

This was a fun, interesting, and insightful read for anyone who is interested in refining their analytic mind and skill set.

very satisfying book.

this book was great. if your interested in learning about data this book is fantastic.

Could have been better

The book was a decent review of statistics but the author created an imaginary situation which he referenced throughout the book to make his points about the use of statistics. The example was not relatable and it seems he missed the opportunity to use real studies to make his point. He also under-represented the problems with poor study design.

Awesome book! I learned so much.

Awesome book! I learned so much. He is a terrific writer. I recommend anybody interested in statistics listen to this book. It’s highly entertaining and incredibly informative. I am definitely gonna go listen to his other book called naked economics

Basic, but very well explained

This is a very good entry point (or refresher) for statistics. The author obviously invested time in putting together clear and simple examples. More advanced stats people might be disappointed. I like this better than another broad-audience statistics book, "The Signal and the Noise" by Nate Silver. For me, the explanations here are clearer and the concepts flow better.

A stats audio that I could finish

What did you love best about Naked Statistics?

He did a great job making a very complex subject understandable in audio format. I did have to go back to a couple of topics and listen again, but that is just the nature of the subject. I think I did learn a few new things.