Fascinating
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A fascinating book. On the face of it, it is about statistics, but actually it is about something far deeper - how we perceive and interpret the information that affects all our lives deeply. Ex post, everything you read seems like common sense, ex ante however it is not. This simple, highly entertaining book will provide you with a practical sense of how to interpret much of what you hear in the press. You will never view a number in the same way again (and that is a very good thing).
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Very Very Basic
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While the topic of this book is interesting and the authors do well in presenting each type of analysis / data fallacy with interesting examples anyone who can remember any maths from school should find this very basic and really not worth their time.
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Making the boring bit of the news interesting.
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Freakanomics got a big push by its publishers and was quite the book to be seen to be reading about a year ago. Here with "The tiger that isn't" is a similar book aimed at a similar market but with nowhere near the same exposure.
Essentially this is a very well written book that talks the layman (like me) through the fog of averages, chance and statistical anomalies. Yes, that does sound a bit dull but there are excellent down-to-earth examples and information that will stick in your mind. Did you know for example that you almost invariable have MORE than the AVERAGE number of feet?
It didn't get the full 5 stars as it is quite a slender tome (like Freakanomics) but it is always well written with thought provoking examples and a definite sense of humour.
If you want an intelligent and fun read on a topic that you are unlikely to know much about, or you want to know more about what numbers actually mean when they are grandly announced on the news then this is the book for you.
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