I definitely have to agree. There is nothing more dangerous than plugging some numbers into R, typing t.test(some_numbers) and proclaiming "Hey look at this gre

I definitely have to agree. There is nothing more dangerous than plugging some numbers into R, typing t.test(some_numbers) and proclaiming "Hey look at this great p-value!" without understanding what a p-value is actually telling you. The most important part of doing statistics right is actually understanding what you're doing, and you're far better off using less powerful tools that you understand than pumping data into fancy functions that you can't really explain. And more important than just raw number crunching: understanding statistics gives you an improved intuition regarding data. The real value in statistics is the new tools it provides for thinking about problems. A better solution than "learn R" would be to read through something like Head First Statics and the move on from there to more advanced stuff, and only then start hacking around in R.