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.

Solid and digestable summary of statistics

Very well written - engaging and interesting. It's a stats class that woudl have been fun to take in school. Covers basic stats from mean and median up to regression analysis and things to watch for when interpreting these statistics.

Due to the content, it's sometimes difficult to follow in the audio version and a visual would have been helpful but otherwise, a useful and worthwhile discussion of important understandings of the use of statistics in the real world.

Great book, excellent narration.

The narration of this book is excellent. Topics covered are very interesting to a newby in statistics.

After listening to this book, you want to know more!

I wish I had this book in College.

Wheelen reels you in by using humor and anecdotes to relate statistics to the real world. He makes conplicated concepts easier to understand. Davis does a great job narrating. I'd recommend this book for people who don't have prior knowledge of statistics, yet are intrigued by science, data, or want a beginner's knowledge.

Fantastic book for understanding concepts!

I understand statistical concepts better after reading this book than ever before (even after taking undergraduate and graduate statistics classes). This book does not teach you the math, but does give you the intuition to understand what is going on. I highly recommended to anyone. It would be a great book to read (or listen to) before, during, or after a statistics class - or for anyone wanting to better understand how statistics can be used to address important societal challenges. It also gives you the tools to detect the incorrect application of statistics and spurious conclusions. The book gives a great description of multivariate linear regression. I finally understand what is going on behind the scenes when 'controlling for other factors' (thank you!). Also, the narration is very good and highly engaging. Definitely recommend!

Terrific!

I've always naturally be skeptical of statistics posted online. This book helped me understand why I was skeptical and what to look for in the future to be more aware of questionable findings.

Great Information

Great information. Even those without a background in statistics should be able to understand most of the concepts. Does have quite a bit of numbers and calculations which can be hard to follow along with in audio book form.

Very basic yet awesome

This is a very engaging book and in my opinion quite fit for anyone regardless of their background

Not that bad!

Having listened to a bunch of audio books on statistics and math, I was expecting many parts to be completely incomprehensible when presented in audio form. Luckily this wasn't the case, although the supplementary pdf was quite short on the topics covered!

Some actual math involved here...

For what it is, I think there have been a number of books on the subject which were more exciting or mind bending, perhaps. Yet, I thought the coverage of the subject was excellent, and unlike some of the other books, there were actually equations. I was happy to read this book, as it is important to be reminded of where life itself can be counter intuitive. It's also good to be reminded of good statistical practices. We get bombarded with all kinds of data and not all of it is properly presented or properly vetted. It's good to be able to sort some of the issues with what were being presented with.

Simplified, but not quite simple.

With a general knowledge of statistics this book is a great refresher and simple explanation of statistical principles. If you are starting from scratch this book is still a little too deep. But anyone reading it will get something from it. The stories are well told and the examples are funny. Overall an enjoyable book.