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Summary: Out-of-Date Numbers
Review: When How to Lie --- was first published in 1954, when a $10,000 salary was considered munificent, a Yale graduate at $23,000 would have been considered outstanding. And a CEO at $48,000 grossly overpaid. For those who can still think in 1954 terms, relating to the number examples in this book is possible. For all others, when the book was re-copyrighted in 1993, the number examples should have been made current.
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Summary: original book that gave statistics a bad name
Review: Along with that saying "Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics" this book lets the public know that there are methods out there that distort and can mislead. As a statistician who knows that the proper use of statistical methods is valuable and uncovers truth or quantifies uncertainty I get a bit worried about the continued association of statistics with lies. However, this book by Huff is entertaining and is a classic. If you read it carefully you will see that it is not statistical methods that create the lie but rather unscrupulous people who misuse the methods and take advantage of the public's ignorance of statistical ideas. The message of the book is to learn statistics so that you won't be deceived!
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Summary: A necessity for everyone
Review: I graduated college in 1961 with an engineering degree from a highly rated school. A required non-engineering course was economics. I remember very little from that class except for a little red book authored by someone named Huff and that that book was one of the most enjoyable and educational books from my whole college career. [After an exhaustivesearch for the book, I found it and] I grabbed it! This book has saved me untold dollars by teaching me to look at most statistics with a very jaundiced eye and to laugh at most commercials. I just put my copy in with the materials I use to teach a class at a local community college since I expect that we [will be able to use the book to discussvarious issues related to current day politics.] I am also ordering several copies for gifts including one for my college freshman grandaughter. So what if the author states that a Yale graduate is doing well at an annual salary of $24,000. Everything else is current.
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Summary: popular account of how statistics can be misused
Review: Statisticians hate the old adage "Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics", but statistical methods do have that reputation with the general public. There are many excellent accounts, some even understandable to laymen that explain the proper ways to analyze, study and report the analysis of statistical data. Huff's famous account is illustrative and well written. It gives the average guy a look at how statistics is commonly misused (either unintentionally or deliberately) in the popular media. Graphical abuses are particularly instructive. Readers should recognize that statistical methods are scientific and with proper education anyone should be able to recognize the good statisticians from the charletons. For now Huff's book is still a good starting place. As a statistician I hate the public image portrayed in the quote above. However, I do sometimes have fun with it myself. As I write this review I am in my office wearing a sweatshirt that reads "When all else fails manipulate the data."
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Summary: Good introduction to statistics
Review: This book is excellent reading, not overly complex. The material clearly presented and easy to follow in spite of the topic. I recommend it highly.
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Summary: A superb little book about statistics
Review: This charming, cynical, wittly little book exposes many of the cheap tricks, bogus techniques, and cunning deceptions employed by Madison Avenue, politicians, corporate PR departments and even -- dare we admit it? -- scientists. I am surprised to find that some statisticians here have panned this book. Do they imagine their craft is only used for the good of mankind? That their colleagues are all upstanding citizens who would not think of deceiving members of the public, employers, stockholders, or Members of Congress? Yes, the techniques described here are simple, and any professional should see through them. For that matter, any banker should see through common stock swindles and Ponzi schemes, yet in the business section you will often read about prestigious banks and long-established investment firms that were taken in by these schemes and robbed of huge sums of money. Experts fall for stupid tricks too. Anyway, the book was written for the general public, not for professionals. And the professionals should remember Huff's main point:"The fact is that, despite its mathematical base, statistics is as much an art as it is a science. A great many manipulations and even distortions are possible within the bounds of propriety. Often the statistician must choose among methods, a subjective process, and find the one that he will use to represent the facts. In commercial practice he is about as unlikely to select an unfavorable method as a copywriter is to call his sponsor's product flimsy and cheap when he might as well say light and economical." My mother was a professional statistician. She recommended this book to me at a tender age. I am not much good at mathematics but I never forgot the definitions of average, median, bias, error rate, causality and correlation. The book shows several ways to plot a deceptive graph. It shows how to select a biased sample, and how to take meaningless, small, random fluctuations and blow them up to look like a trend. This may seem a little subversive until you remember, as the author puts it, "the crooks already know these tricks; honest men must learn them in self-defense." The illustrations by Irving Geis are cute. The book is in its 46th printing. Its staying power can be compared to that of the other great short manual, "The Elements of Style."
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Summary: Invaluable. Literally everyone would benefit from reading it
Review: The book is about how statistics can be used to lie and mislead. Despite the cynical title, it is really about how to see through claims supported by bogus statistics. It is concise, amusing, and vastly educational. I cannot say enough good things about this book! The book was written many years ago, and as a result, some of the examples are dated, but these do not detract from the value of the book. I personally find them rather quaint. I recommend this book highly. It is one of the most useful books I can recommend to anyone who would like to better understand how advertisers, politicians, business, and advocates use and abuse numbers.
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Summary: Figures don't lie, but liars often figure ...
Review: My introduction to this book was by way of the 'required reading' list for my undergraduate statistics course. Bad first impression. But the book turned out to be fun to read, and enormously instructive. The class material for my college statistics course taught me HOW to do statistics, but this book gave me a good beginning understanding into the common methods of the abuse of statistics. Conversely, by implication, it also teaches how to present information in as truthful a manner as possible. The knowledge served me well as I further studied statistics at a graduate level, and continues to serve me as a Government Technical person, constantly working with statistical tools. The book gives a good jump start into the interpretation of data presentations. Now, when I see a "Gee-Whiz Graph" I immediately know that the fluctuations shown in the line or bars are magnified, and I begin at once to look for the real difference (base 0) in the data points. This book is living proof that learning can be fun. I highly recommend it to anyone working with or beseiged by data presented as graphs, averages, trends or any other such means. It will open your eyes.
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Summary: The Definitive Guide to Statistical Deceit
Review: This small volume contains a wealth of information that every member of our information-oriented society should understand. The best defense against being lied to is to understand exactly what has been said. Huff provides this information in plain English.
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Summary: Statisticians don't like this book - what a surprise!
Review: For someone who has not read this book, the disparity in reviews is probably striking. Those literally looking for a statistics course, or especially statisticians, will be disappointed. This book is about understanding and interpreting statistics from a practical standpoint. Ignore the statisticians - they are being sensitive about how their work is abused. Ignore the students looking for a statistics book - that isn't the intent of Huff's work. This is one of my favorite books of all time. It helped me become a much more discerning consumer of news. This book is intended to help you better comprehend stat's that are thrown at you to make a point - which essentially means all stat's. Unfortunately, many times this is done is disingenuous ways, and this book will help you see through such foolishness. In short - buy this little book. It is one of the best book values you will ever find.
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