4 ms·

Another good curation https://web.ma.utexas.edu/users/mks/statmistakes/StatisticsMistakes.html https://web.ma.utexas.edu/users/mks/statmistakes/StatisticsM...

by r4um 8y ago

Another good curation https://web.ma.utexas.edu/users/mks/statmistakes/StatisticsMistakes.html https://web.ma.utexas.edu/users/mks/statmistakes/StatisticsM... How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Lie_with_Statistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Lie_with_Statistics

pitzahoy 8y ago
Love the Huff read. +1 to that.
- hinkley 8y ago
  I'm fairly certain that most of my opening salvos in evaluating the quality of someone's charts come to me from people regurgitating Huff's book. I'd put it in a class with Fred Brooks; dead obvious, but somehow needing to be constantly re-explained to a new group of people (or the same people at a later date).
  - yesenadam 8y ago
    >dead obvious, but somehow needing to be constantly re-explained Because it's not all 'dead obvious', maybe?
    - slavik81 8y ago
      "Science is made up of so many things that appear obvious after they are explained." ~ Pardot Kynes, Dune
      - yesenadam 8y ago
        There's a great book about this, Everything is Obvious (Once You Know The Answer) about how many scientific studies come up with obvious-seeming findings, but if they'd found the opposite, that would have seemed obvious to us too..
hermitdev 8y ago
I don't remember the attribution, but one of my favorite quotes goes something like: "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics." I think I first remember seeing it in the foreword of a chapter in the book "Against the Gods: the Remarkable Story of Risk" by Peter Bernstein
- yesenadam 8y ago
  It seems that no-one knows exactly where it's from. Was in use in the 1890s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_damned_lies,_and_statistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_damned_lies,_and_statist...
capnrefsmmat 8y ago
Those interested in How to Lie with Statistics may also enjoy Huff's other book, How to Lie with Smoking Statistics, commissioned by the tobacco industry in the 60s to fight the growing evidence that smoking causes cancer. It was never published, but I compiled the surviving manuscript and wrote about it: https://www.refsmmat.com/articles/smoking-statistics.html https://www.refsmmat.com/articles/smoking-statistics.html

by r4um 8y ago

pitzahoy 8y ago

Love the Huff read. +1 to that.

hinkley 8y ago
I'm fairly certain that most of my opening salvos in evaluating the quality of someone's charts come to me from people regurgitating Huff's book. I'd put it in a class with Fred Brooks; dead obvious, but somehow needing to be constantly re-explained to a new group of people (or the same people at a later date).
- yesenadam 8y ago
  >dead obvious, but somehow needing to be constantly re-explained Because it's not all 'dead obvious', maybe?
  - slavik81 8y ago
    "Science is made up of so many things that appear obvious after they are explained." ~ Pardot Kynes, Dune
    - yesenadam 8y ago
      There's a great book about this, Everything is Obvious (Once You Know The Answer) about how many scientific studies come up with obvious-seeming findings, but if they'd found the opposite, that would have seemed obvious to us too..

hermitdev 8y ago

I don't remember the attribution, but one of my favorite quotes goes something like: "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics." I think I first remember seeing it in the foreword of a chapter in the book "Against the Gods: the Remarkable Story of Risk" by Peter Bernstein

yesenadam 8y ago
It seems that no-one knows exactly where it's from. Was in use in the 1890s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_damned_lies,_and_statistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_damned_lies,_and_statist...

capnrefsmmat 8y ago

Those interested in How to Lie with Statistics may also enjoy Huff's other book, How to Lie with Smoking Statistics, commissioned by the tobacco industry in the 60s to fight the growing evidence that smoking causes cancer. It was never published, but I compiled the surviving manuscript and wrote about it: https://www.refsmmat.com/articles/smoking-statistics.html https://www.refsmmat.com/articles/smoking-statistics.html