Naked Statistics

Stripping the Dread from the Data

By: Charles Wheelan

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

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.

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.

Good narration but not a book suited for audio

There are a lot of references to graphs and charts that make this book hard to follow completely in audio

It's good but it's not what you think it is

this was actually a pretty decent book. this box down the thinking behind statistics. not much on mathematical equations but the reason why the equation exists and how you would use them. If you're looking for mathematical. understanding this isn't the book, but if you're looking for philosophical understanding of why this is definitely the book.

Highly enjoyable for non-geeks also

Fun, informative and quite insightful!
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