Naked Statistics

My Review

Naked Statistics by Charles Wheelan is a great book if you want to learn about statistics. The author explains things in a very understandable way; he doesn’t just use equations to explain an idea, which makes this book great for anyone interested in exploring statistics.

He uses a bunch of great examples to explain confusing ideas. One of my favorites was his explanation of “The Monty Hall Problem” (which I have written about here). When I had first seen the problem, I was confused: I didn’t understand the probability behind it, but his explanation gave me a clear intuitive understanding of the problem.

Wheelan also emphasizes the importance of not blindly using equations whenever we see numbers (as we may use the wrong equation), but really thinking about the problem first and which process should be carried out next.

My favorite chapter of this book was “Will going to Harvard change your life?”, which I will briefly discuss. In this chapter, he shows that two people who are very similar or achieve similar results (e.g. one person just passes the cutoff score, while another falls just shy of it), are often only marginally different. The two distinct programs wouldn’t cause a significant difference to their lives. I will leave you to read the rest of this chapter if you are interested.

Buy the Book

Overall, I deeply enjoyed this book and it got me more interested in statistics. If you are interested, you can buy the book from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.