bah. Statistics in Plain English. Data Analysis Using Regression by Gelman Introduction/Elements of Statistical Learning by Jerome Friedman. I recommend read

bah. Statistics in Plain English. Data Analysis Using Regression by Gelman Introduction/Elements of Statistical Learning by Jerome Friedman. I recommend reading the Introduction and using the bigger book as a reference material when tackling a problem. Bayesian Data Analysis, 3rd edition by Gelman. You need calc 1 & 2 and matrix algebra somewhere along the way. Lots of papers, googling and doing. That's when you got the basics covered. You start being "operational" after Data Analysis Using Regression. When you start working on a problem, you need to go through the relevant literature first. Nobody ix expert or even half-good in more than 2 or 3 (small) areas of statistics. Read the literature, take notes and create a plan first.