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.

Great way to teach important information.

Exciting story about weird terrorists, numbers and sosages that will easily explain you all you need to know about statistics.
After this book you will reevaluate every word you hear in news.

Terrific explanations, terrific narrator.

I loved this audiobook. I have taken advanced stats courses, yet found new ways of thinking about well-worn tools. Funny, warm, and intuitive. Yay.

Not for a novice

First half was very good as a refresher for someone who enjoyed statistics in college. Second half was way too difficult to grasp as an audiobook. It would have been fine if one had the paper version to see the graphs and formulas. Visualizing it was difficult at best.

Amazing read for building a statistics mindset

Great book that walks you through general statistics concepts. Great examples are used to help with your understanding.

Ye Shall Know the Truth

People who listen to this audio book are 99% more likely to become savvy consumers of just about everything. Statistically speaking.

very insightful!

I did think some chapters were much better than others but overall I learned a lot (math and data nerd here though).

Great intro to modern data analytics and statistical understanding

I really enjoyed the author’s continued reminder that we need to be careful when we look at a data set and the resulting proclamations we glean from it. The whole concept is fascinating that as we gather more and more data we can see more and more trends and make inferences based on those trends to what people will do or have already done. If you are curious about polling data or how you see “recommended products” give this book a listen.

Statistical story telling

Most of the book was good, except few parts. Concepts were explained with the real world examples, that’s the good part about the book.
Would like to have another statistics book from the author, with many statistical studies.

A good intro

I was hoping for more insights than the basics, but it a great intro into how science uses stats.

Not comprehensive, but good overall

Not comprehensive, but good overall. I liked the examples. You can understand things better after you listen to the book.