Damned Lies and Statistics

Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists

By: Joel Best

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

Does the number of children gunned down double each year? Does anorexia kill 150,000 young women annually? Do white males account for only a sixth of new workers? Startling statistics shape our thinking about social issues. But all too often, these numbers are wrong. This book is a lively guide to spotting bad statistics and learning to think critically about these influential numbers. Damned Lies and Statistics is essential listening for everyone who reads or listens to the news, for students, and for anyone who relies on statistical information to understand social problems.

Joel Best bases his discussion on a wide assortment of intriguing contemporary issues that have garnered much recent media attention, including abortion, cyberporn, homelessness, the Million Man March, teen suicide, the U.S. census, and much more. Using examples from The New York Times, the Washington Post, and other major newspapers and television programs, he unravels many fascinating examples of the use, misuse, and abuse of statistical information.

In this book Best shows us exactly how and why bad statistics emerge, spread, and come to shape policy debates. He recommends specific ways to detect bad statistics, and shows how to think more critically about "stat wars," or disputes over social statistics among various experts. Understanding this book does not require sophisticated mathematical knowledge; Best discusses the most basic and most easily understood forms of statistics, such as percentages, averages, and rates.

This accessible book provides an alternative to either naively accepting the statistics we hear or cynically assuming that all numbers are meaningless. It shows how anyone can become a more intelligent, critical, and empowered consumer of the statistics that inundate both the social sciences and our media-saturated lives.

©2001 Paul Best (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

information for a fake news age

Non biased and Essential for making and supporting fact based arguments! Gives clear and direct examples of how numbers are twisted to support agenda. Loved this book!

Loved it

Joel Best's book puts language around statistics to give readers a basic vocabulary of statistical analysis and an awareness that statistics are not sacrosanct. I wish it were longer and jam-packed with additional examples that would really take you by surprise. But then it would be Freakonomics.

Great book that makes you want more...

Only wish there were more. Because the topic is so important, it deserves a longer treatment. Very satisfied with information presented, but was craving more.

No Lie, I Loved It

Some non-fiction books can make my head spin with highly technical information, but this book keeps it real. It presents what can be a rather complicated subject, statistics, in a fun and understandable manner. It explains how others can manipulate statistics to their advantage, how repeating statistics often mangles them, and other interesting facts about all those numbers we see every time we pick up a newspaper or hear a plea from a charity or cause. It warns the reader not to take statistics at face value and teaches us how to untangle the "good" statistics from the bad.

While it deals mainly with statistics, it also deals with the psychology surrounding statistics. We are much more likely to accept a statistic that seems to verify an aspect of our own world view, for instance, and more likely to question statistics (or even discard them completely) if they don't correspond to what we ourselves believe. The author presents the material in a balanced way, without bias, and points out that social statistics are never exactly measurable given the fluid nature of society.

The author starts this book out with a humorous and outlandish example of a mangled statistic that hooks you right in. Unlike many nonfiction books, this book flows right along and keeps you listening for the entertainment value alone.

Patrick Lawlor does a wonderful job with the narration, adding vitality to the subject, understanding and portraying the authors wit flawlessly.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who doesn't want to go around accepting ever number presented to them. If you are an independent thinker, then this book is for you.

Great fun an informative

Entertaining examples and interesting to see how we are sometimes manipulated.
It was a good read.