How to Lie with Statistics: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|Book by Darrell Huff}}

{{sources|date=February 2022}}

{{italic title}}

{{Infobox book

<!-- |italic title = (see above) -->

| name = How to Lie with Statistics

| image = How to Lie with Statistics.jpg

| caption = FirstCover of the first edition

| author = [[Darrell Huff]]

| title_orig =

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| illustrator = [[Irving Geis]]

| cover_artist =

| country = United States

| language = English

| series =

| subject = [[Statistics]]<br/>[[Social science]]

| genre =

| publisher = [[W. W. Norton & Company]]

| pub_date = 1954

| english_pub_date =

| media_type = Print

| pages = 142

| isbn = = 0-393-31072-8

| dewey = 311.2

| congress = HA29 .H82

| external_url =https://archive.org/details/howtoliewithstat0000darr

| external_host = [[Internet Archive]]

}}

'''''How to Lie with Statistics''''' is a book written by [[Darrell Huff]] in 1954, presenting an introduction to [[statistics]] for the [[general reader]]. Not a statistician, Huff was a journalist who wrote many "how -to" articles as a freelancer.

The book is a brief, breezy illustrated volume outlining errorsthe when[[misuse itof comesstatistics]] toand errors in the interpretation of statistics, and how these errors may create incorrect conclusions.

In the 1960s and 1970s, it became a standard textbook introduction to the subject of statistics for many college students. It has become one of the best-selling statistics books in history, with over one and a half million copies sold in the English-language edition.<ref name="fiftyyears">"Over{{Cite thejournal|title=Darrell lastHuff fiftyand years,Fifty Years of ''How to Lie with Statistics''|author-first has=J. soldMichael more|author-last copies=Steele than| any other statistical text."author-link =J. M.Michael Steele. "[http://www-stat.wharton.upenn|journal=Statistical Science |doi=10.edu1214/~steele/Publications/PDF/TN148.pdf088342305000000205 Darrell|publisher Huff and Fifty Years=[[Institute of ''How to Lie withMathematical Statistics'']. ''Statistical Science'',] |doi-access=free|volume=20 (|issue=3), |date=2005, |pages=205–209.}}</ref> It has also been widely translated.

Themes of the book include "[[Correlation does not imply causation]]" and "Using [[random sampling]]"." It also shows how statistical graphs can be used to distort reality,. forFor example, by truncating the bottom of a line or bar chart, so that differences seem larger than they are,. orOr, by representing one-dimensional quantities on a pictogram by two- or three-dimensional objects to compare their sizes, so that the reader forgets that the images do not scale the same way the quantities do.

The original edition contained illustrations by artist [[Irving Geis]]. In a UK edition, theseGeis' illustrations were replaced withby cartoons by [[Mel Calman]].

== Controversy ==

In the 1960s Huff was funded by the tobacco industry to produce a follow-up book titled ''How to Lie with Smoking Statistics'' that attempted to use statistical arguments to undermine claims that smoking was harmful to health. The book was never published but Huff has subsequently been criticised by statisticians for his involvement and the arguments advanced in draft copies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.refsmmat.com/articles/smoking-statistics.html|title=The history of "How to Lie with Smoking Statistics"|website=www.refsmmat.com|access-date=2019-01-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gelman|first=Andrew|date=2012|title=Statistics for Cigarette Sellers|url=http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~gelman/research/published/ChanceEthics4.pdf|journal=CHANCE|volume=25|issue=3|pages=43–46|via=|doi=10.1080/09332480.2012.726563}}</ref>

==See also==

* ''[[FreakonomicsHow to Lie with Maps]]''

*[[Lies, damned lies, and statistics]]

*[[Misuse of statistics]]

*''[[The Tiger That Isn't]]'', a book on taking numbers out of context

== Related books by Darrell Huff ==

* ''How to Take a Chance'' (1959)

* ''Score: The Strategy of Taking Tests'' (1961)

* ''Cycles in Your Life: The Rhythms of War, Wealth, Nature, and Human Behavior'' (1964)

* ''How to Figure the Odds on Everything'' (1972)

* ''The Complete How to Figure It: Using Math in Everyday Life'' (1996)

==Notes==

{{reflist}}

==SourcesReferences==

* Darrell Huff, (1954) ''How to Lie with Statistics'' (illust. I. Geis), Norton, New York, {{ISBN|0-393-31072-8}}

* Darrell Huff, (1991) ''How to Lie with Statistics'' Penguin; New Ed edition, {{ISBN|0-14-013629-0}}

==External links==

{{Wikiquote}}

*[http://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/158 Book review] at www.mooreds.com

*[http://plus.maths.org/content/how-lie-statistics-0 Book review] at plus.maths.org

*[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51291.How_to_Lie_with_Statistics Book reviews] at goodreads.com

*Book readable online: [[iarchive:HowToLieWithStatistics|https://archive.org/details/HowToLieWithStatistics]]

{{Misuse of statistics}}

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