5 ms·

Book review: Head First Statistics vs. The Manga Guide to Statistics

59 points by domedefelice 8y ago

phakding 8y ago
I have seen head first books being recommend by many. The only one I ever read half way though was one on design patterns and I regretted it. When I am learning something new, I want every sentence to be information heavy. So I could learn much more efficiently. Head first books just drag on and on with jokes, unnecessary conversations, cartoons and stuff. I literally gave up and Google searched each design patterns. All my engineers books were pretty dry and to the point.
- riffraff 8y ago
  There is a balance to strike, I'd say. I recall Norvig's Artificial Intelligence as a great text which also had some pretty funny jokes (mostly relegated to footnotes, IIRC)
- kdbg 8y ago
  I recommend the head first books pretty frequently. Never alone though, I've found them to be somewhat divisive. Some people learn well with that more casual writing style, some find it very annoying. So while I recommend people try the head first series, I always have an alternative recommendation that is more seriously written. I've had allot of success with pre/early teens learning with the head first books.
melling 8y ago
There are a few statistics courses on YouTube. Joe Blitzstein’s Harvard 110 Course is good. I’ve got a list of resources here: https://github.com/melling/MathAndScienceNotes/tree/master/statistics https://github.com/melling/MathAndScienceNotes/tree/master/s...
rossdavidh 8y ago
"statistics is something of a blind spot for programmers, who tend to think of themselves as numerically proficient but often dismiss statistics as unimportant “stamp collecting” for people who can’t do “real maths”" ...I've literally never heard anything like this from any programmer (or anyone else, actually). Has anyone else heard a programmer express such an attitude towards statistics? Mostly I've heard people say that statistics is hard, or counter-intuitive.
- haloux 8y ago
  Your sample population sounds skewed ;). There are _many_ intersections of statistics in computer science. Off the top of my head: data analytics processing, anything in the realm of big data, computational theory, security timing attacks, industrial computation in the natural sciences and so on.
  - rossdavidh 8y ago
    Absolutely. I've just never heard the attitude that statistics was for people who can't do "real math", or anything similar. But, my sample population is undoubtedly skewed in some way or another.
    - padthai 8y ago
      I had. Algebra and analysis are still considered by some people harder and "purer" than let's say combinatorics, applied or statistical mathematics.
- oliwarner 8y ago
  That's definitely a viewpoint amongst other branches of mathematics. Statistics isn't too bad, but applied statistics is viewed as a crap shoot of confounding human factors, widely practised by charlatans trying to prove their brand of science by abusing numbers.
  - screye 8y ago
    Isn't all of machine learning, economics, industrial engineering and statistically social science a form of applied statistics ? That's a lot of fields to dismiss by simply handwaving.
    - oliwarner 8y ago
      Yes. These are exactly the sorts of soft science a pure mathematician would snub. It's not, I think, that they're without utility, it's that the science involved in discovery is often accidental or observational.
SomeHacker44 8y ago
I wish high school would put statistics in the primary math curriculum, even over (pre) calculus. I feel a solid understanding of statistics and their occasional counter intuitive nature, and especially how to properly interpret things and significance measures would be enormously valuable to citizens of this modern information age.
- 2020-3030 8y ago
  This is one reason it is not included. Cue up the John Taylor Gatto reading list.
- jkmcf 8y ago
  Outside the U.S., I'd love to know when people learn calculus and stats. I had both as a H.S. senior, which seems very late compared to other countries. I had a stats prof from India who always commented on how he learned calculus in 6th grade. Our "intro to stats for business majors" class had us deriving the statistical proofs with calculus... (I'm aware he's probably an outlier)
Regardsyjc 8y ago
I'm currently enjoying The Cartoon Introduction to Economics and enjoyed The Cartoon Introduction to Statistics.
mettamage 8y ago
Don't forget The Manga Guide to Databases! I needed to have a good working to do some standard CRUD database things with SQL. The Manga Guide to Databases was the most fun and educational read I have ever had. It covered enough skills for me to create whatever CRUD feature my employer needed.
Zren 8y ago
I have A! 5!5!%
- Zren 8y ago
  I... don't remember writing this comment. Changed my password.

59 points by domedefelice 8y ago

I have seen head first books being recommend by many. The only one I ever read half way though was one on design patterns and I regretted it. When I am learning something new, I want every sentence to be information heavy. So I could learn much more efficiently. Head first books just drag on and on with jokes, unnecessary conversations, cartoons and stuff. I literally gave up and Google searched each design patterns. All my engineers books were pretty dry and to the point.

riffraff 8y ago
There is a balance to strike, I'd say. I recall Norvig's Artificial Intelligence as a great text which also had some pretty funny jokes (mostly relegated to footnotes, IIRC)
kdbg 8y ago
I recommend the head first books pretty frequently. Never alone though, I've found them to be somewhat divisive. Some people learn well with that more casual writing style, some find it very annoying. So while I recommend people try the head first series, I always have an alternative recommendation that is more seriously written. I've had allot of success with pre/early teens learning with the head first books.

melling 8y ago

There are a few statistics courses on YouTube. Joe Blitzstein’s Harvard 110 Course is good. I’ve got a list of resources here: https://github.com/melling/MathAndScienceNotes/tree/master/statistics https://github.com/melling/MathAndScienceNotes/tree/master/s...

rossdavidh 8y ago

"statistics is something of a blind spot for programmers, who tend to think of themselves as numerically proficient but often dismiss statistics as unimportant “stamp collecting” for people who can’t do “real maths”" ...I've literally never heard anything like this from any programmer (or anyone else, actually). Has anyone else heard a programmer express such an attitude towards statistics? Mostly I've heard people say that statistics is hard, or counter-intuitive.

haloux 8y ago
Your sample population sounds skewed ;). There are _many_ intersections of statistics in computer science. Off the top of my head: data analytics processing, anything in the realm of big data, computational theory, security timing attacks, industrial computation in the natural sciences and so on.
- rossdavidh 8y ago
  Absolutely. I've just never heard the attitude that statistics was for people who can't do "real math", or anything similar. But, my sample population is undoubtedly skewed in some way or another.
  - padthai 8y ago
    I had. Algebra and analysis are still considered by some people harder and "purer" than let's say combinatorics, applied or statistical mathematics.
oliwarner 8y ago
That's definitely a viewpoint amongst other branches of mathematics. Statistics isn't too bad, but applied statistics is viewed as a crap shoot of confounding human factors, widely practised by charlatans trying to prove their brand of science by abusing numbers.
- screye 8y ago
  Isn't all of machine learning, economics, industrial engineering and statistically social science a form of applied statistics ? That's a lot of fields to dismiss by simply handwaving.
  - oliwarner 8y ago
    Yes. These are exactly the sorts of soft science a pure mathematician would snub. It's not, I think, that they're without utility, it's that the science involved in discovery is often accidental or observational.

SomeHacker44 8y ago

I wish high school would put statistics in the primary math curriculum, even over (pre) calculus. I feel a solid understanding of statistics and their occasional counter intuitive nature, and especially how to properly interpret things and significance measures would be enormously valuable to citizens of this modern information age.

2020-3030 8y ago
This is one reason it is not included. Cue up the John Taylor Gatto reading list.
jkmcf 8y ago
Outside the U.S., I'd love to know when people learn calculus and stats. I had both as a H.S. senior, which seems very late compared to other countries. I had a stats prof from India who always commented on how he learned calculus in 6th grade. Our "intro to stats for business majors" class had us deriving the statistical proofs with calculus... (I'm aware he's probably an outlier)

Regardsyjc 8y ago

I'm currently enjoying The Cartoon Introduction to Economics and enjoyed The Cartoon Introduction to Statistics.

mettamage 8y ago

Don't forget The Manga Guide to Databases! I needed to have a good working to do some standard CRUD database things with SQL. The Manga Guide to Databases was the most fun and educational read I have ever had. It covered enough skills for me to create whatever CRUD feature my employer needed.

Zren 8y ago

I have A! 5!5!%

Zren 8y ago
I... don't remember writing this comment. Changed my password.