Statistics

Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter Bernstein A comprehensive history of man's efforts to understand risk and probability, beginning with early gamblers in ancient Greece, continuing through the 17th-century French mathematicians Pascal and Fermat and up to modern chaos theory. Along the way he demonstrates that understanding risk underlies everything from game theory to bridge-building to winemaking. $16.95 Baseball Math by Chris Jennison One of a series using sports as an introduction to math and statistics. Well-presented and enjoyed by Grades 4-8 and older. Lots of "souvenirs" included. $12.95 Baseball's All-Time Best Hitters by Michael Schell A wonderful exposition on the uses you can make of statistics to prove any point you want to emphasize. Schell sends out a lineup of rankings that are as surprising as they are, in fact, logical--if you buy the logic. So who is the best hitter of all time? Well, it's not Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Joe Jackson, or Ted Williams. The best hitter is alive at this writing. As of 1999, he's still playing right field for the San Diego Padres and rapping line drives with astonishing consistency. Lots of fun for avid baseball fans. It will provoke endless discussions. It is very readably written and very enlightening and engaging for the baseball "nut". I loved it! $22.95 Basketball Math by Chris Jennison One of a series using sports as an introduction to math and statistics. Well-presented and enjoyed by Grades 4-8 and older. Lots of "souvenirs" included. $12.95 Calculated Risks: How To Know When Numbers Deceive You by Gerd Gigerenzer We use the world illiteracy with ease. For those who aren¹t sure, it means the inability to read. Innumeracy means numerical illiteracy which means the inability to deal with numbers. It is a personally dangerous state to be in. In this book the author focuses on statistical innumeracy, i.e. the inability to reason about uncertainties and risk.The author uses concrete examples from the real world to make his points. In one hideous example, he describes a surgeon who advised many of his patients to accept prophylactic mastectomies in order to dodge breast cancer. In a two-year period, this doctor convinced 90 so-called "high-risk" women without cancer to sacrifice their breasts in exchange for the certainty of saving them from the threat of breast cancer and thereby protecting their loved ones from suffering and loss. The author shows that the vast majority of these women (84 of them, to be exact) would not have developed breast cancer at all. If the doctor and/or his patients had a better understanding of probabilities, they might have acted more rationally. This book is a real eye opener about how statistics can be manipulated by physicians, special interest groups and the courts. Ignorance is not bliss. I hate to say it but willful ignorance is the height of stupidity. $25.00 Conquering Statistics: Numbers Without the Crunch by Jefferson Hane Weaver The author specializes in demystifying complicated scientific concepts. Although it may not seem possible, the result is a consistently entertaining and extremely helpful guide to numbers and their practical everyday applications. $18.00 Empire of Chance: How Probability Changed Science and Everyday Life by Gerd Gigereenzer $36.99 How to Lie With Statistics by Darrell Huff First published in 1954, this book remains relevant as a wake-up call for people unaccustomed to examining the endless flow of numbers pouring from Wall Street, Madison Avenue, and everywhere else someone has an axe to grind, a point to prove, or a product to sell. "The secret language of statistics, so appealing in a fact-minded culture, is employed to sensationalize, inflate, confuse, and oversimplify," warns Huff. Huff's tone is tolerant and amused, but no-nonsense. Like a lecturing father, he expects you to learn something useful from the book, and start applying it every day. Never be a sucker again, he cries! Whether you encounter statistics at work, at school, or in advertising, you'll remember its simple lessons. Don't be terrorized by numbers, Huff implores. "The fact is that, despite its mathematical base, statistics is as much an art as it is a science." $11.00 Newton on the Tee: A Good Walk Through the Science of Golf by John Zumerchik Due in April, 2002. $23.00 Olympic Math by Chris Jennison One of a series using sports as an introduction to math and statistics. Well-presented and enjoyed by Grades 4-8 and older. Lots of "souvenirs" included. $12.95 Probability 1: Why There Must Be Intelligent Life in the Universe by Amir D. Aczel In a universe infinitely large, what is the probability of intelligent life on another planet? Sounds like a trick question, but for anyone versed in cosmology and statistics, the answer is 1; that is, there must be life on at least one other planet in the universe. This is Amir Aczel's theorem. But, as physicist Enrico Fermi once asked, if that's true, where is everyone? Aczel tackles that paradox after he goes through the statistical calculations for the probability of intelligent life, considering factors such as how many stars are in a galaxy, how many of those stars might be hospitable, how many might have planets, and how many planets might have environments suitable to support life as we know it (or as we don't). Aczel also provides an overview of the relevant developments in astronomy and biology--laying the groundwork to show that the universe's chemistry must add up to life. After teasing readers with scientific history, Probability 1 delivers on its promise to prove Aczel's conjecture through a clearly explained application of known statistical theory to the chaos of the universe. $16.00 Racing Math by Chris Jennison One of a series using sports as an introduction to math and statistics. Well-presented and enjoyed by Grades 4-8 and older. Lots of "souvenirs" included. $12.95 What Are the Chances by Bart H. Holland "Though there are many books on the market that deal with applications of the theory of probabilities and statistics, none contain the variety of examples taken from everyday life found in this book. Holland first arouses the curiosity of the reader, then satisfies it in a remarkable way." The author takes us on a tour of the world of probability. From weaving together tales from real life, from the spread of the bubonic plague in medieval Europe or the number of Prussian cavalrymen kicked to death by their horses, through IQ test results and deaths by voodoo curse, to why you have to wait in line for rides at Disneyworld. As Holland explains, even chance events are governed by the laws of probability and follow regular patterns called statistical laws. He shows how such laws are successfully applied, with great benefit, in fields as diverse as the insurance industry, the legal system, medical research, aerospace engineering, and climatology. Whether you have only a distant recollection of high school algebra or use differential equations every day, this book offers examples of the impact of chance that will amuse and astonish. $24.95 200% Of Nothing: An Eye-Opening Tour Through the Twists and Turns of Math Abuse and Innumeracy by A.K. Dewdney Certainly this country of ours needs to be concerned about its illiteracy problem. It perhaps should be even more concerned about its innumeracy problem, the mathematical equivalent of illiteracy. While many of us would be insulted if someone questioned our ability to comprehend the written word, we quite easily laugh at being idiots when mathematics is involved. It's not funny. If you know the difference between lies, damned lies, and statistics, give a copy of this book to your friends to get them up to speed. If you don't know the difference, consider this book as a crash course in numeracy, the mathematical equivalent of literacy. The author debunks a lot of deliberate and accidental misuse of mathematics in everyday life. Among his favorite targets are lotteries, cancer risks, government finances, media outlets, politicians, and, of course, car salesmen, all of whom deceive their audiences with mathematical sleights of hand. It's all too easy for us to think we're immune to such tactics until we actually see them laid out for us in clear prose. Gambling, advertisements using bizarre-but-normal-looking charts, and bad science all come in for thorough examinations. The book closes with two chapters designed to make readers "mathematically streetwise." $15.95