Rating: 
Summary: Frank
Review: An absolutely outstanding text for conceptual development in elementary statistics. - I'm currently taking a statistical analysis course, and, after having read the vast majority of the text, I've found it to be the most clear and intelligently written text on the undergraduate market. (I've read most of the competing texts and they really don't compare). Clear, to the point, lucid prose - explaining not only the calculations, but also the CONCEPTS BEHIND THE PROCEDURES, is what seperates this text from the others. A lot of books lose the reader in computational detail without clearly explaining the ideas behind the procedures. - This book clearly surpasses the others in its conceptual clarity and insight that it offers into critical ideas left out of most other elementary texts I've read. I actually went out and got this book after seeing how clearly superior it was in communicating critical ideas necessary to understand the subject - relative to the text that was assigned by the professor for the course. The doctrinaire critiques I've read about the book are, to me, entirely unfounded. If you're looking for a good conceptual foundation in elementary statistics, and calculations that illustrate the concepts, you won't find a better text on the market.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: Having used another stat book before, I feel that this book does a great job of breaking down the proceedures step by step. I find the flow charts to be an invaluable help to understanding the subject. Having taken statistics for a total of 3 times, Once in another book and twice in this particular one, I have found that the difficulty of the material greatly depends on the professor. The only problems that have occurred using this text is in the rounding of numbers. Either the author is not following his own rules or the writers of the sample problems do not follow the authors rules. Possibly the rounding rules need more clarification in future editions.
Rating:
Summary: Not a dry, salty cracker!
Review: I agree with other reviewers that this book actually makes statistics fun and interesting! Triola makes a potentially dull subject quite enjoyable! Triola is a master of the dying art of teaching! Both the CD and the review sheet are extremely valuable and time saving! I wish more textbooks were written in this fashion! Mr. Triola will you please take up writing computer books?
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent text for a intro course in stats.
Review: I found this book to be user friendly with regards to learning statistical foundations. Concepts are presented in a clear understandable format. The use of Margin Essays describing real uses with people in their respective fields of employment were an enormous asset. I found this book to be very helpful with instructor/student interaction.
Rating:
Summary: thank you!
Review: I give the one star rating to not just Triola but to most all the intro stats. books I have seen. Too many of them dumb down the material or have problems which are only pseudo-relevant to anything anyone cares about. If you are going to give a set of purely conceptual exercises to build understanding and clarity, GREAT! If you're going to give REAL applied problems that dig deep and tell people something they care about, GREAT! But if you're going to give half-hearted pseudo-applied problems that really aren't relevant to anything anyone would care about, THAT's BOGUS! I learned basic stats. from a book by McClave and Dietrich that was more rigorous and also had better applied problems. I also saw a book by Sullivan the other day that seemed to have more relevant applications. I've taught from Triola for 5 or 6 years and I'll be glad if we can finally drop him and get a better book. :)
Rating: 
Summary: Typical.
Review: I give the one star rating to not just Triola but to most all the intro stats. books I have seen. Too many of them dumb down the material or have problems which are only pseudo-relevant to anything anyone cares about. If you are going to give a set of purely conceptual exercises to build understanding and clarity, GREAT! If you're going to give REAL applied problems that dig deep and tell people something they care about, GREAT! But if you're going to give half-hearted pseudo-applied problems that really aren't relevant to anything anyone would care about, THAT's BOGUS! I learned basic stats. from a book by McClave and Dietrich that was more rigorous and also had better applied problems. I also saw a book by Sullivan the other day that seemed to have more relevant applications. I've taught from Triola for 5 or 6 years and I'll be glad if we can finally drop him and get a better book. :)
Rating: 
Summary: Disliked teaching from it; my good students did not like it
Review: I had to teach using this text for the last two years (the text choice was not in my control). I thought the text was entirely too wordy and too trite at times. For example, the first of only two examples to illustrate a two-way ANOVA had the two factors sex and type of M&M color eaten, where the dependent variable was SAT score. Certainly a better first example could have been chosen for one of the more difficult concepts in the book. Also, formulae sometimes are glossed over rather than explained or derived. How is the confidence interval related to the hypothesis test? This is explained but not derived. A derivation is not beyond the scope of the text. Another glossed over concept is degrees of freedom. Thus, after the first semester, I wrote my own lecture notes, and only used the text to assign homework problems (and that was only to help out the TA so she could easily grade them using the solutions manual). Some of the exercises also have ridiculous contexts. Most exercises are too easy, and a few are downright insulting to some students. I received poor reviews from good students on this text. Many other students claimed never to have opened the book. It was too wordy (and too heavy), boring, and "never got to the point", are some of the comments I received. Otherwise, the text's chapters follow almost every other elementary stats text on the planet, with some exceptions like a chapter on process control and a chapter devoted to calculating confidence intervals and estimating sample size. I disagree with relegating "nonparametric" tests to the back of the book. In my courses, I integrated them in with the "parametric" tests. I gave the text two stars for effort and for some good points (I really think it deserves about a 2.3). The general discussion of hypothesis testing prior to actually showing any test statistics is good. Also, the vignettes about real people using elementary statistics in their jobs is a nice edition. Finally, there is a plethora of resources on the text's web site, and one can order other resources from the publisher. But, I don't think a serious student will appreciate this text.
Rating:
Summary: Disliked teaching from it; my good students did not like it
Review: I had to teach using this text for the last two years (the text choice was not in my control). I thought the text was entirely too wordy and too trite at times. For example, the first of only two examples to illustrate a two-way ANOVA had the two factors sex and type of M&M color eaten, where the dependent variable was SAT score. Certainly a better first example could have been chosen for one of the more difficult concepts in the book. Also, formulae sometimes are glossed over rather than explained or derived. How is the confidence interval related to the hypothesis test? This is explained but not derived. A derivation is not beyond the scope of the text. Another glossed over concept is degrees of freedom. Thus, after the first semester, I wrote my own lecture notes, and only used the text to assign homework problems (and that was only to help out the TA so she could easily grade them using the solutions manual). Some of the exercises also have ridiculous contexts. Most exercises are too easy, and a few are downright insulting to some students. I received poor reviews from good students on this text. Many other students claimed never to have opened the book. It was too wordy (and too heavy), boring, and "never got to the point", are some of the comments I received. Otherwise, the text's chapters follow almost every other elementary stats text on the planet, with some exceptions like a chapter on process control and a chapter devoted to calculating confidence intervals and estimating sample size. I disagree with relegating "nonparametric" tests to the back of the book. In my courses, I integrated them in with the "parametric" tests. I gave the text two stars for effort and for some good points (I really think it deserves about a 2.3). The general discussion of hypothesis testing prior to actually showing any test statistics is good. Also, the vignettes about real people using elementary statistics in their jobs is a nice edition. Finally, there is a plethora of resources on the text's web site, and one can order other resources from the publisher. But, I don't think a serious student will appreciate this text.
Rating:
Summary: Good! Excellent!
Review: I think Amazon.com is more expensive than bookstore that I went to, so if you find out, please reduce price.
Rating:
Summary: very good intro stats book
Review: I think this is a great textbook. I have been reviewing texts for an AP statistics course and have settled on this book as a middle ground between very basic texts and rigorous textbooks for math majors. It is not intended for math majors. I don't understand why reviewers are criticizing it for it not being more rigorous. It has enough depth for intro undergrad stats, yet is adaptable to lower levels so some of the boneheads I have in high school can comprehend. Excellent explanations. Very readable. Decent problem sets. I approve.
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