Statistics without Tears: An Introduction for Non-Mathematicians
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2022-03-14 05:52:55
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Derek Rowntree
- ISBN：0141987499
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Summary
THE CLASSIC GUIDE， NOW FULLY REVISED AND UPDATED
Why do we need Statistics？
What do terms like 'dispersion'， 'correlation'， 'normal distribution' and 'significance' actually mean？
How can I learn how to think statistically？
This bestselling introduction is for anyone who wants to know how statistics works and the powerful ideas behind it。 Teaching through words and diagrams instead of requiring you to do complex calculations， it assumes no expert knowledge and makes the subject accessible even to readers who consider themselves non-mathematical。 This clear and informative 'tutorial in print' includes questions for you to respond to in the light of what you have read so far， ensuring your developing ability to think statistically。
Why do we need Statistics？
What do terms like 'dispersion'， 'correlation'， 'normal distribution' and 'significance' actually mean？
How can I learn how to think statistically？
This bestselling introduction is for anyone who wants to know how statistics works and the powerful ideas behind it。 Teaching through words and diagrams instead of requiring you to do complex calculations， it assumes no expert knowledge and makes the subject accessible even to readers who consider themselves non-mathematical。 This clear and informative 'tutorial in print' includes questions for you to respond to in the light of what you have read so far， ensuring your developing ability to think statistically。
Reviews
Sourabh Dhingra
，
The title is indeed justified。 It is amazingly good book for a complete beginner。 To reap the best benefits read it slow， do your own research， Google a lot， comeback， recap yourself and then continue again。
Rebecca
，
Tried to read it， but it's not for scientists or science students。 Tried to read it， but it's not for scientists or science students。 。。。more
Büşra Kılıç
，
Great book for the ones without advanced knowledge in statistics but want to advance it。
Steve Dragon
，
The difficulty of rating this book is that I am not entirely convinced it was for me。 It teaches statistics from the very basics and goes to a relatively good degree of depth。 It is quick， it is streamlined and it gives you the basic tools you need to interpret statistics。 It shies away from some of the terminologies， most notably it refuses to use greek letters， but I think that does not really impact it too much。 A brief and informative read that helped me review the statistics material I had The difficulty of rating this book is that I am not entirely convinced it was for me。 It teaches statistics from the very basics and goes to a relatively good degree of depth。 It is quick， it is streamlined and it gives you the basic tools you need to interpret statistics。 It shies away from some of the terminologies， most notably it refuses to use greek letters， but I think that does not really impact it too much。 A brief and informative read that helped me review the statistics material I had studied， but I need to qualify that by saying this will not be enough。 It's a good starting point， and if you've studied statistics before then it will remind you of the terms and help you conceptually。 However， you will need to supplement this with other reading and practice centred around why you want to understand statistics and the tools you want to use。 All in all， a good review book that covers all the ground from near-scratch。 If that's not what you're looking for， not for you。 For me， it worked because I wanted a brief overview before I dived into it in more depth。 。。。more
Rick Longley
，
Concise introduction and refresher on statistics that is suitable for both math-intensive and non-math intensive majors。 As someone that has previously studied many of the covered topics， this was a comfortable way of reviewing and organising the subject matter。 I found that some of the explanations provided were far more accessible than the way in which I was first taught statistics。This is not a comprehensive guide to statistics and does not claim to be so。 Fortunately， there's an extensive fu Concise introduction and refresher on statistics that is suitable for both math-intensive and non-math intensive majors。 As someone that has previously studied many of the covered topics， this was a comfortable way of reviewing and organising the subject matter。 I found that some of the explanations provided were far more accessible than the way in which I was first taught statistics。This is not a comprehensive guide to statistics and does not claim to be so。 Fortunately， there's an extensive further reading list at the end。 。。。more
Steven Andrews
，
Only a short review here as others have written superbly on this book。 I read this item cover to cover for a maths and algorithms university module and found it an excellent cornerstone to work on the rest of learning material。 Like another reviewer here I've spent years running away from anything that looked remotely mathematical。 I had to find extra time to cover this material but it was well worth it。 A superb publication academically。 A great read generally。 Only a short review here as others have written superbly on this book。 I read this item cover to cover for a maths and algorithms university module and found it an excellent cornerstone to work on the rest of learning material。 Like another reviewer here I've spent years running away from anything that looked remotely mathematical。 I had to find extra time to cover this material but it was well worth it。 A superb publication academically。 A great read generally。 。。。more
Abdullah
，
Beautiful！ And absolutely zero lacrimation。Unfortunately， I can't recommend it to anyone， since people interested in statistics aren't really representative of the （human） population as a whole。 Beautiful！ And absolutely zero lacrimation。Unfortunately， I can't recommend it to anyone， since people interested in statistics aren't really representative of the （human） population as a whole。 。。。more
Alistair
，
in progressContentsIntroduction - 9How to use this book - 101。 Statistical inquiry - 13making sense of experience - 14What is statistics？ - 17Descriptive and inferential statistics - 19Collecting a sample - 232。 Describing our sample - 28Statistical variables - 28Error， accuracy and approximations - 353。 Summarizing our data - 38Tables and diagrams - 38Central tendency （averages） - 48Measures of dispersion - 504。 The shape of a distribution - 57Skewed distributions - 585。 From sample to populati in progressContentsIntroduction - 9How to use this book - 101。 Statistical inquiry - 13making sense of experience - 14What is statistics？ - 17Descriptive and inferential statistics - 19Collecting a sample - 232。 Describing our sample - 28Statistical variables - 28Error， accuracy and approximations - 353。 Summarizing our data - 38Tables and diagrams - 38Central tendency （averages） - 48Measures of dispersion - 504。 The shape of a distribution - 57Skewed distributions - 585。 From sample to population - 826。 Comparing samples - 1027。 Further matters of significance - 1288。 Analysing relationships - 155Postscript - 185Review - 186Caution - 188Further Reading 191Index - 193 。。。more
Gary
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Book Ranking System:1 - Bad - Do not read2 - Okay - Read Once/ Don’t Bother Twice3 - Good - Read at Least Once4 - Great - Read at Least Twice5 - Incredible - Buy Book and Visit OftenIt was okay but as someone who has no invested nterest in statistics it did get a little information heavy。 If I was more reliant on stats for work or general information I would certainly pick this book up again。 That being said there were some good tidbits of information on misuse of statistics by third parties to Book Ranking System:1 - Bad - Do not read2 - Okay - Read Once/ Don’t Bother Twice3 - Good - Read at Least Once4 - Great - Read at Least Twice5 - Incredible - Buy Book and Visit OftenIt was okay but as someone who has no invested nterest in statistics it did get a little information heavy。 If I was more reliant on stats for work or general information I would certainly pick this book up again。 That being said there were some good tidbits of information on misuse of statistics by third parties to strengthen their cause。 Biases in marketing is a topic that interests me since I am obviously a consumer myself。 I wish I understood statistics better and would definitely give this book another go if it would help me。 。。。more
Arlo Linnard
，
Definitely better than reading a textbook， but by no means has you eager for more
Unknown
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Eh， it was ok。 I'm not sure why these books seem to be so against updating to show use cases with current computational software （R， Python，。。。even。。。ugh， Excel）， but they do seem to cavil at the idea of it。 That would be fine， as I read this book looking for any little intuitions that I may have missed about some basic topics， but unfortunately， both the intuitions and the theoretical portions felt half finished。 If you're looking for a refresher on statistics that helps with intuitions， I woul Eh， it was ok。 I'm not sure why these books seem to be so against updating to show use cases with current computational software （R， Python，。。。even。。。ugh， Excel）， but they do seem to cavil at the idea of it。 That would be fine， as I read this book looking for any little intuitions that I may have missed about some basic topics， but unfortunately， both the intuitions and the theoretical portions felt half finished。 If you're looking for a refresher on statistics that helps with intuitions， I would definitely go with Head First Statistics over this one。Note: I recognize that I'm putting commas in all sorts of places， but some days that comma just speaks to you on a deep level。 I don't feel gross enough about it to fix it。 。。。more
Isabel
，
Read this to get back into statistics again for my Masters after having a 3 year break from uni so I found this a useful refresher book。 It does give an overview of most of the key concepts， but as another person said might be lacking in depth in some places for those without a prior experience of stats。
persy
，
Loved this; easy to read， although it got hard towards the end。 Helped me understand academic articles better。 Will revisit sometime in the future。
Justin
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An admirably clear， non-technical introduction to Statistics。 Explains the concepts in an understandable way， unlike the explanations provided by my professor！
Akshay Bapte
，
Anyone who wants to have a basic understanding of statistics but are fearful of numbers and figures， this book is higlhly reocommended。
Jonatan
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A solid book trying to make statistics just a tad more enjoyable。 If you work your way through it， preferably with a pen and paper at hand， you'll surely discover a thing or two that you didn't think of before。 Were you totally uninterested by statistics before reading， I doubt you'll feel any more passion for the subject after reading。 On the other hand - the statistical probability that you even considered reading this book unless you actually wanted to improve your skills to begin with。。。 is A solid book trying to make statistics just a tad more enjoyable。 If you work your way through it， preferably with a pen and paper at hand， you'll surely discover a thing or two that you didn't think of before。 Were you totally uninterested by statistics before reading， I doubt you'll feel any more passion for the subject after reading。 On the other hand - the statistical probability that you even considered reading this book unless you actually wanted to improve your skills to begin with。。。 is most likely rather low。 。。。more
Ashok Krishna
，
A must read if you are interested in statistics。 More so， if you are not。 A brilliant read！Will share the complete review soon。
Sergej Gurenko
，
I was not able to finish this thin book but it is really great refresher on Statistics。 For example you want get idea about Probabilistic Risk management。。。 Not my bag？
MR LEE KHVAT
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I borrowed this from the library， but intend to purchase one for reference。 Delivers on its promise to cater to the mathematically illiterate （well， A-level， in my case）， complete with clear explanations and examples。
Vipul Musani
，
I believe it should be the first book for the people who wish to learn statistics or to use statistics。 Nice and easy to use concepts。
Mubarak Alsaeedi
，
I select this book to read because I tried to decide whether I take Statistics and Operation Research as my minor or not because the book offered an introduction to this subject。 I'm glad to say that I set my mind to let statistics be my minor。The book is well written， and the topics are adequate， they develop section after section。 I liked the intuitive way of presenting the topics; they helped me to gain the underline principles。 The author has an admirable talent in delivering the concepts。 A I select this book to read because I tried to decide whether I take Statistics and Operation Research as my minor or not because the book offered an introduction to this subject。 I'm glad to say that I set my mind to let statistics be my minor。The book is well written， and the topics are adequate， they develop section after section。 I liked the intuitive way of presenting the topics; they helped me to gain the underline principles。 The author has an admirable talent in delivering the concepts。 Also， a good thing in his style in this book is the reader faces questions in between the ideas presented。 The nature of these questions helps the reader to concentrate more on the topic and can be answered mentally。 The purpose of such questions is to help the reader really understand the topic， not just pass the eyes on it without processing the concepts。The main idea of the book is to present the most basic and essential concepts in statistics。 In the first section， the author starts to talk about what is statistics， what are the alphabetical concepts in statistics， and how statistics help in the real-world problems， and how it relates to the nature of human reasoning。 The second section is about describing the sample， so to analyze the data so we can extract information， we need to categorize them， which is the purpose of this section。The third section is about how to present the data in a useful way so we can obtain the pattern and knowledge from the data instead of just having a separated data with no context。In the fourth section， the author introduces the concept of the normal distribution， "the iconic bell-shaped graph，" and he emphasized the use of it。 I was surprised when he presented the example of Bill and Linda's scores comparison。 He compared Bill's score in economic and Linda's score in law， which at first glance seemed to be uncomparable。In the fifth section， he starts the data-analysis work by presenting the concept of sample and population and how statisticians use the samples to inference knowledge about the population。In the sixth section， he talks about comparing samples to determine whether they came from the same population or not， also， how to camper the means and proportions。The seventh section is about statistical tests that help us to determine the reliability of the results。In the eighth section， which is the last one， he introduces the concept of correlation and regression。 I really liked this section because it is an important topic， and many people may miss interpret it。 In the end， the author summed up the topics and wrote a caution about the use of statistics and how some people misuse it。I recommend this book to anyone interested in the use of statistics or want to study statistics。 It is an easy and smooth book to read nevertheless needs a concentration。 。。。more
Sam
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I'm not sure， whether this book is great， or it is just the cumulative result of many months of studying， but after reading it， I finally got the grasp on many basic things in statistics。 There is the third option - I'm just too silly for statistics。 Anyway， this is not a professional texbook， but this book introduces and very clearly explains not only basic statistics （mean， standard deviation， etc。） but also clarifies the application of basic statistics tools （significance tests， confidence in I'm not sure， whether this book is great， or it is just the cumulative result of many months of studying， but after reading it， I finally got the grasp on many basic things in statistics。 There is the third option - I'm just too silly for statistics。 Anyway， this is not a professional texbook， but this book introduces and very clearly explains not only basic statistics （mean， standard deviation， etc。） but also clarifies the application of basic statistics tools （significance tests， confidence intervals and so on）。 。。。more
Max DT
，
Partially at the concluding remarks request （although I would have done this anyway）， I'm letting Derek Rowntree know what I thought of his book。I've given this book four stars as it does exactly what it says it'll do: provide an introduction to the subject of statistics， without tears！This book is presented in a "tutorial" or "seminar" style， actively getting the reader involved in what's being taught， not just dumping information on them。 It does this through a string of questions scattered th Partially at the concluding remarks request （although I would have done this anyway）， I'm letting Derek Rowntree know what I thought of his book。I've given this book four stars as it does exactly what it says it'll do: provide an introduction to the subject of statistics， without tears！This book is presented in a "tutorial" or "seminar" style， actively getting the reader involved in what's being taught， not just dumping information on them。 It does this through a string of questions scattered throughout lessons which engage the reader with what they're learning。 Almost no questions take more than 15-20 seconds to sufficiently answer provided you've paid attention， but they do act to keep you actively recalling the material， helping it to stick for a longer time。 I particularly liked this feature and believe it to be one of the book's best and defining features。The content followed mostly the same material as I'm currently covering in a Statistics module as part of my degree， which is a bonus for me but won't help someone reading simply due to interest in the subject other than to feel safe in the knowledge that they're covering much of the same content as first-years across the country - they know they're not learning totally irrelevant stuff， I guess？Obviously， in such a short book， the content covered is in nowhere near as much depth as what you'd find in a full-on textbook， but this makes it much more readable and a perfect introduction to work through before starting such a course （if you are going to）。 It certainly helped ease me into some stats topics before jumping into them properly， so it did its job well。It could perhaps have covered things like regression in some more detail， as I found it top-heavy with some of the very basic stuff， then a fair amount of hypothesis testing， but then only a short overview of other important areas （correlation/regression/X^2 & F distributions/ANOVA etc。）， but this is entirely to be expected from a book that bills itself as only a short introduction and surely further inclusion of some of those topics would cause tears for some people which goes against the book's entire purpose！A decent book。 I recommended it to a few people well before finishing and would still recommend it to anyone about to begin a statistics course （or just interested for whatever reason lmao）。 Thumbs up from meee。 。。。more
Mike Fowler
，
Absolutely fantastic overview of statistics with a minimal of math。 Serves both as an excellent introduction and a very useful refresher。
Derek Bridge
，
This is a beaut of a book。 Short， but elegantly-written， it's the statistics book I wish I'd read first。 For a student starting out， it is perfect。 For me， after all the others that I have plowed through， this one didn't have much to tell me about statistics， but it was instructive nevertheless: a master class in explaining statistics to others。 This is a beaut of a book。 Short， but elegantly-written， it's the statistics book I wish I'd read first。 For a student starting out， it is perfect。 For me， after all the others that I have plowed through， this one didn't have much to tell me about statistics， but it was instructive nevertheless: a master class in explaining statistics to others。 。。。more
Girish B
，
The best introduction to Statistics！ This is the easiest way I have seen such a topic explained。 Loved the real life examples and the way the topics were introduced。 Recommended for anyone starting on Statistics as part of getting into data science or otherwise。
Leah
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This is an excellent introduction to statistical thinking。 The language used is conversational and easy to understand as you are guided through examples and ways of thinking about statistics。The focus of this book is on the 'why' of performing statistical calculations so that the 'how' of those same calculations makes sense。 This is an ideal resource for anyone who needs to understand statistical concepts for their field of study or is simply interested in what statistics is really all about。 This is an excellent introduction to statistical thinking。 The language used is conversational and easy to understand as you are guided through examples and ways of thinking about statistics。The focus of this book is on the 'why' of performing statistical calculations so that the 'how' of those same calculations makes sense。 This is an ideal resource for anyone who needs to understand statistical concepts for their field of study or is simply interested in what statistics is really all about。 。。。more
Sterre
，
If I did not have to do one calculation whilst reading this entire book its counting for my reading challenge。 Ty @Ishak Özdemir for the inspo。 Not a bad read if you want to understand statistics without touching a single calculator
Mihail Nedkov
，
Made me hate statistics。
Oona
，