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More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues ReviewI didn't read the first Damned Lies, but the author says that he is making the same points but organizing the information differently for this follow-up. This is one of those books that has the potential to radically alter how we look at numbers. Best shows the reader how a data set can be manipulated to give a desired result.Best is careful not to single out one side of the political spectrum when making his points. Says the author: "I don't believe that any particular group, faction, or ideology holds a monopoly on poor statistical reasoning." Rather than wallowing in this often-debated territory, the author turns to spheres of academia and the sciences, where radical-sounding results lead to more and more publications and grant dollars. This is a world not seen by most pundits and commentators.
When the issue of school shootings was sensationalized during the late 1990s and early 2000s, accounts in the popular media left out statistics that showed school crime had actually fallen over the past decade. The author calls this omission "missing numbers." Given what looked like a spike in shootings from around 1997 to 2001, few would believe, without seeing those numbers, that there was a clear, growing problem in our schools.
In his chapter, "Confusing Numbers," Best shows how figures can be reported, sometimes in a disingenuous manner, to make them sound better than they are. A good example of this is cited when the author turns to the Bush tax cuts of 2001. The administration claimed that their package would reduce the average family's taxes by over $1,000. Opponents shot back that half of all families would see less $100 of relief. Clearly, this is a case in which averaging wildly lopsided numbers doesn't tell the whole story.
The subject here isn't an exciting one, but given the author's ability to use highly relevant examples and his penchant for fair-mindedness, I was able to work through most of this one. Recommended for those interested in research, public policy, or statistics.More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues Overview
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