Resenhas -

Tiago 05/01/2024

Great entry level book for statistics
What a fascinating book "The Art of Statistics" is. It is a very well written book by David Spiegelhalter. It is tailored for the non-expert that has interest in learning about the field of statistics. The book is also a very good for the seasoned professionals such as statisticians, data analysts, data scientists, and, to be truthful, to professions that involves data or reporting from data. The book has a best-practices chapter that is a must-read and is always a good refresher.
The way Spiegelhalter writes makes it the ideal first book on statistics for anyone. "Naked Statistics" is also a good book but it is not as instructive as "The Art of Statistics". The book has no maths (except for the glossary) and lays out the concepts in a different order when compared to the traditional statistics book. Some highlights of the book are:
1) the PPDAC approach, which I did not know.
2) by not starting with probability in the first chapters, the book makes it easier for a beginner to grasp the more important concepts first instead of, sometimes, struggle with an abstract concept.
3) lots of examples that are revisited throughout the book. I really like to see the concepts building on the same examples.
4) as I mentioned before the chapters about how statistics can be done right (and wrong). The book also provides a guide to read news stories that are based on statistics to help the reader weed out the junk and clickbait stories.