StandardDeviations

DID YOU KNOW that building a quarry in your backyard can increase your property value? Or that America’s unemployment rate is actually zero? Or that drinking a full pot of coffee every morning adds years to your life, but drinking two cups a day increases the risk of cancer? If you believe the above, then Professor Gary Smith has a World Cup– predicting octopus he’d like to show you. The sad truth is that “facts” like these are routinely presented with a straight face by credentialed academics and backed up with reams of raw data. In Standard Deviations, Smith skillfully unpacks the various ways we are duped by data every day. He deftly demonstrates how a straightforward set of findings can be teased and manipulated to reflect whatever the researcher wants to see. Lying with statistics is a time-honored con, and in this age of Big Data even the most accredited findings can be suspect. Blending the keen statistical eye of Nate Silver with the probing insights of Daniel Kahneman and Dan Ariely, Smith demystifies the math behind the dismal science, making it easy to spot flaws all around and find the truth hidden in plain sight. MORE ADVANC......