I think that's taking things a little too far. How I see it, Darrell Huff was a writer, not an academic, and he wrote a number of books over the years about all

I think that's taking things a little too far. How I see it, Darrell Huff was a writer, not an academic, and he wrote a number of books over the years about all sorts of stuff. I presume he got a bee in his bonnet about statistics at some point, and wrote his 'How to lie with Statistics' and because this became such a hit, it was assumed he know what he was talking about, and hence the interest from the cigarette manufacturers, the senate etc. This in fact was a mistake, and his credentials for appearing for the senate should have been checked. So, the key take away from the book for me is that Statistics is hard, it's easy to confuse yourself or produce dubious results, but i'd look elsewhere for information about how to avoid pitfalls, and how to spot dubious conclusions beyond the most simplistic manipulation he points out.