The Cartoon Introduction to Statistics

The Cartoon Introduction to Statistics is a fun and easily accessible peek into the world of statistics. The book uses illustrations and humor to draw the reader in and keep his attention, then gradually and comprehensively explains the nature and usage of statistics. The initial reaction to what amounts to being a comic book about statistics is certainly not to take it seriously, but the writers seriously capture and explain statistics in a way that anyone can understand. Dividing the book into gradually more complex sections, the writers move at a steady pace, never explaining a topic too much or too little. Math wizards and dunces alike will understand the basics of stats by the end of this book, and learn a lot about analysis in the process. The book is accessible, informative, and fun for readers of any age, but the group that would benefit the most from reading would be junior high and high school students. A solid, entertaining, and valuable examination of data analysis.

To me statistics is a thoroughly fascinating study of how to put information about almost any subject which deals with controversial (or otherwise) variables in perspective. However, I have family and friends who illogically fear the undertaking of this study more than a root canal without anesthesia. It is for those that this book was written. It very gently leads the reader into the basics of the subject in an extremely friendly and non-threatening comic book format which, in all honesty, is actually humorous with some truly hilarious puns throughout the dialogue.This book is highly recommended for any student who may be facing a required course in college statistics with trepidation or for any adult who is searching for an effective, easily understood primer to introduce them to a fascinating way to use numbers and/or questionnaires to reach conclusions.

This book is not "bad". Sadly, it isn't too great either.A great deal of time is spent explaining the principles behind statistical conceptions, though only the most basic topics are actually addressed and a reader possessing no familiarity with the subject matter would still not be able to use statistics (or even remotely understand principles like standard error, sampling distributions, etc). If you are thinking of buying this, please don't use this as your main source of research --the other "Cartoon Guide to Statistics" (by Gonick) is a much more thorough, albeit slightly more challenging, read. I'd recommend it in conjunction with other educational resources (like Khan Academy). This should be saved for those folks that are barred from the Ferris wheel due to height restrictions.

My granddaughter is taking a heavy load this fall, one of the classes she has is statistics. I got this for her to help with preparing for the class, she says it’s funny and she feels a little less anxious!

Never read before such books (like a commics) about the science, so I can't really compare it to the other similar books, but this book is the nice one. I spend every day not much time in reading just a few chapters, but it gives an ability to think further, than the text (I guess that's because of the illustrations) and in the end I receive plenty of information for a one session. I'm just a beginner in a statistics, so for me it's really helpful to learn and store some facts and concepts in my memory. Paper is nice and the book is big.Recommend to anyone who still don't know any statistics at all. It will be helpful in a today's Big Data world for sure! And it's not just about the numbers...

I have been recommending this book to my public policy doctoral students for a decade, and used to assign a chapter as supplemental background reading in my econ class when we covered Bayes rule. Now that I'm teaching a section of our MPA stats course, it is a required reading. I wouldn't want this to be the only book my students read on stats, but I think it is an extremely useful supplement. (I always needed to read three textbooks in parallel when I was learning this stuff.) He pulls out the core ideas in a parsimious, readable, and humorous fashion.It is an old book, but intro stats is still intro stats.

I have taken three statistics courses at college level. I read another cartoon statistics book, too. That one was mostly about probabilities. This one gets into the guts of statistics. Some people get statistics right away and when they do, they can't be swayed. They just know, and they ruin the curve. The other 95% of us struggle. This is the best book I have ever seen on explaining statistics. Not only does it give you a clear understanding, it's—believe it or not—fun to read.

Fun reading and very informative. Excellent introduction of some of the most important principles of statistics. Statistics are used by politicians, businesses, and drug companies many times to try and lead to unwarranted conclusions. This book shows how to use statistics properly and how to judge whether statistics are valid. I would recommend this book to anyone with a curious mind.