Books on Various Topics of Interest that Use Statistics in a Significant Way
(You can get bonus points for writing a book report on any of these books in Stat 201 and Stat 571)

---

• Calculated Risks: How To Know When Numbers Deceive You by Gerd Gigerenzer (required book report for Stat 571)
• The Tiger That Isn't: Seeing Through a World of Numbers by Michael Blastland and Andrew Dilnot
• The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
  by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. The role of the unexpected. (Best seller in August 22, 2007.)
• Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
  by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner.
• Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart by Ian Ayres. This very easy to read book discusses how statistics gives a competitive advantage to businesses that uses it, especially, regression and randomized comparative studies. The book has about fifty interesting applications including how to predict the quality of wine, how to predict which potential recruits will turn out to be good baseball players in the major leagues, and which movies will do well based on the script. (Required for Stat 201)
• THE FIRST MEASURED CENTURY: An Illustrated Guide to Trends in America, 1900–2000 by Theodore Caplow, Louis Hicks and Ben J. Wattenberg is a book about social change in the United States during the twentieth century. It relies on statistical trends to tell that awesome story.  This is the book accompanying a three-hour PBS series for which the footing is available and the book are available free at the web site
• Against The Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter L. Bernstein. Turn in a report on how probability and statistics can be used to manage financial risks of all types.
• Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences By: John Allen Paulos
• Beyond Numeracy By: John Allen Paulos
• The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century
  by David Salsburg
• How to Lie With Statistics By: Darrell Huff (Author), Irving Geis (Illustrator)
• More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues [Hardcover] By: Joel Best (Author)
• The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies By: Bryan Caplan. This technical but accessible book shows using studies how voter vote against their interests because they lack an elementary knowledge of statistics and economics.
• Why Do Buses Come in Threes?: The Hidden Maths of Everyday Life By: Robert Eastaway
• The Audit Society: Rituals of Verification By: Michael Power (Author)
• Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists By: Joel Best (Author)
• "In an Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington." Robert Rubin was secretary of the treasury during the Clinton administration. His account of how he uses probability to solve problems and make money
• The Statistical Sleuth: A Course in the Methods of Data Analysis by Fred L. Ramsey and Daniel W. Schafer. Duxbury. This is the best introductory statistics textbook that I have ever read. Turn in a report about randomization as a justification for statistical procedures. This material is at the beginning of the book. This book is the ideal second book to read in statistics. A wonderful reference.
• Designing Clinical Research: An Epidemiologic Approach, Second Edition by Stephen B. Hulley, Steven R. Cummings, Warren S. Browner, Deborah Grady, Norman Hearst, and Thomas B. Newman. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. A text on planning and implementing clinical research, for beginning investigators. Section I examines basic ingredients of research, such as selection of study subjects, hypotheses, and estimating sample sizes. Section II presents design options, covering cohort, cross- sectional, case-control and diagnostic test studies, clinical trials, and confounding. Section III looks at additional skills in ethics, data management, and community and international studies. Emphasis is on common sense as the main ingredient of good science.
• "Statistical Issues in Drug Development" by Stephen Senn. Wiley. Discuss some of the insights of this book.

Foundations of Probability and Statistics

• "Statistics: A Bayesian Perspective" by Donald A. Berry. Duxbury. This is an elementary introduction to statistics from the Bayesian point of view which is very easy to read. Write a report discussing the Bayesian approach as presented in this book.
• "Comparative Statistical Inference, Third Edition" by Vic Barnett. Wiley. This book compares most alternative approaches to statistics using a minimum of mathematics. Discuss the main approaches to statistical inference.
• "The Subjectivity of Scientists and the Bayesian Approach" by S. James Press and Judith M. Tamur. Wiley. Turn in a report contrasting the Bayesian approach with the classical approach to statistics.
• \"Scientific Reasoning: The Bayesian Approach, Second Edition" by Colin Howson and Peter Urbach. Open Court Publishing Company. This book is somewhat hard to read but is accessible to the intelligent layman. Shows why Bayesian statistics is the way to go. And why randomization is not as important as sometimes made out to be. Discuss what the authors think is wrong with classical statistics and how the Bayesian approach overcomes these problems.

This is a wonderful book for those who want to understand the state of the art of Bayesian principles and techniques as they are applied to just about every important statistical situation. What is just as beautiful about this book is that it is designed for the layman, as well as the thoughtful practitioner of statistical reasoning.

Jerrold L. Aronson
International Studies in Philosophy

• "An Introduction to Probability and Inductive Logic" by Ian Hacking. Cambridge University Press. Turn in a report discussing the seven questions requiring inductive reasoning at the beginning of the book and the reasons why many people get them wrong. This book is aimed at mathematically challenged philosophy mayors. "While written as an introductory text, it is full of philosophical wisdom." - David Papineau, King's college, London.
• "Statistics in the 21st Century" edited by Adrian E. Raftery, Martin A. Tanner, and Martin T. Wells. Chapman & Hall/CRC. You can find the titles of the articles in the book at Amazon.com book link. Summarize what you have learned for the report.

History and Origins of Ideas

• "The Taming of Chance" by Ian Hacking. Cambridge University Press. Selected by The Modern Library as one of the 100 most important non-fiction books published in English in the twentieth century. A series of historical examples showing how probability and statistical ideas arose.
• "The Emergence of Probability: A Philosophical Study of Early Ideas About Probability, Introduction and Statistical Inference" by Ian Hacking. Cambridge University Press. An earlier book by the great contemporary philosopher of science.
• "Statistics on the Table: The History of Statistical Concepts and Methods" by Joseph Stigler. Harvard University Press. Stigler is the foremost historian of statistics.