Head First Statistics, by Dawn Griffiths

I had the good fortune of receiving this book just before the completion of the last U.S. Presidential Election and used the information in it to properly predict the winner. No, that's not true - but what is true is that I had a lot of fun with the statistical smorgasbord of the Elections as I refreshed myself on Statistics with Head First Statistics.

That's the trouble with statistics; there's so much. Maybe too much. Few people who quote statistics seem to understand the way that data is coaxed into giving up fresh statistical data. It's something that I hated learning in high school but something which I have found invaluable since then. Maybe it was being taught statistics by an Irish ex-priest from a book so dry that there are Holy Wars probably still going on in it. I don't know.

Head First Statistics

Weighing in at 677 pages (including the Appendices), this soft cover continues the classic 'Head First' tradition of combining images, information and humor which is infectiously sticky. There's even kung-fu references where the Ancient Masters are skewing a data set.

But what does the book offer? Quite simply, a lot. This list doesn't do it justice:

• Visualizing Information: Different sorts of charts, with their strengths and weaknesses.
• Measuring Central Tendency: Mean and Median
• Measuring Spread: Power Ranges
• Calculating probabilities (probability charts in Appendix ii)
• Discrete Probability Distributions: probability distribution, expectations, variances and probability distributions...
• Permutations and Combinations: sometimes relations within the data are important, like in horse races. Or the Electoral College.
• Geometric, Binomial and Poisson Distributions: You can win a swivel chair in here. Well, not really, but there's a lot of hands on stuff.
• Normal Distribution (in two separate chapters).
• Taking statistical samples.
• Making predictions (estimating population), sans tea leaves and rabbit entrails.
• Constructing confidence intervals (educated guesses).
• Hypothesis Testing: considering the evidence.
• Chi Square Distribution: No kung-fu. Slot machines!
• Correlation and Regression: Putting your data on the couch before your psychoanalyst puts you there.

And after all of that, the author points at ten things that couldn't be covered completely - a bonus to the book.

Well written? Check. Informative? Check. Easy to follow? Check. Useful? Check. Fun? Yes, the author did make statistics fun. It's a good book. Head First Statistics scores a KnowProSE.com 9/10 for these reasons - a 10/10 is simply impossible because the reader has to put in the effort for that one point to make it a 10. Thus, the probability of a 10/10 for the person who wants to learn or brush up on their statistics increases with their use of the book. Seriously.

On a personal note, I'd love to see more mathematically inclined gems come out of the Head First series - so much of mathematics seems intimidating to people when it really isn't as hard as some make it look. And maybe that 'Head First Bobbin Lacemaking' would be a cult hit, Mrs. Griffiths...