How to Lie With Statistics (1954)

A classic still worth one's time. ( )

This book explains how numbers and statistics can be manipulated to reflect data results in one's favor. The writing is easy to understand and the author uses relevant examples. However, since this book was originally written in 50s, the examples are a little out dated. Nevertheless, a teacher could find comparative examples using recent situations and events. This would be a great book to use when talking to students about the importance of displaying their data accurately. It could also be used in a history class when talking about politics and election polls. ( )

For a book to remain in print for fifty years it must be good. This one was originally published in 1954 and, as far as I can tell, has been in print ever since. A book less than 150 pages long, generously seeded with amusing cartoons is not what you would expect to find on a graduate school reading list but that is exactly where I learned about this one. Darrell Huff and illustrator Irving Geis produced a little marvel with their book “How to Lie with Statistics”. As Huff points out early in the book a cat-burglar who writes a how-to memoir in prison does not do it for other cat-buglers. They already know how to burgle. The intended audience is people who do not want to be burgled, or, in the case of this book, lied to.

Huff is careful to spread the blame for lying statistics widely, overeager researchers, poor information gathering by statisticians, advertising people willing to apply lipstick of any color to their pig, journalists looking for a marketable story. The fact that most of these lies are “true” is not ignored. For me the most memorable story he uses to make this clear is the restauranteur who explains his rabbit-burger is 50% rabbit, he mixes it in a 1 to 1 ratio with horse-meat. One rabbit to one horse.

After nine chapters of explaining how easy it is for statistics, charts, graphs, and percentages to lie the last chapter makes a serious attempt to explaining how we can avoid being lied to by asking a few simple questions like, who says so, how does he know, what’s missing, and does it make sense. As Huff points out it is important to be able to detect these lies, not just because of misleading advertisements but because we have elections every few years.

As an amateur historian who is just a few years younger than this book I have to admit I enjoyed the window into the past that the many cartoons offered. Yes, we really dressed and smoked like that. The books age was a little disconcerting when Huff dissected an article about the income of the “average” Yale graduate. Going to Yale hardly seemed worth the $25,000 income it offered until I ran it through an inflation calculator, then it made sense. This book is one of the most informative and fun books I have read in a long, long time. It was informative not because I know nothing about statistics, I do, it was informative because nether of the classes I have taken on statistics covered how easy it is to miss-use or misunderstand exactly what it is the numbers say. If you do not like being lied to, consider reading this book. ( )

How to lie with statistics has become a classic since its publication almost sixty years ago. In an easy to read style, author Darrell Huff explains basic statistics and how results can be skewed by using different statistical techniques and graphs. He tells the reader how to get the best advantages while, at the same time, he warns the consumer what may be happening and why things look so “bad” or “good.”

The chapter on averages was exceptionally clear with the explanations of mean, median and mode. I now know what stasticulating means and how to do it or recognize it. In fact, I will not look at statistics in any newspaper or journal article again without questioning the methods and results.

My copy is the original edition with cartoon drawings by Irving Geis. The examples are from the fifties and seem terribly outdated. However, the important information is not outdated and is still relevant. If you need to understand how statistics work and how they can be manipulated for any purpose, this book is just right. ( )

Don't believe anything!
This fast little read does an amazing job uncovering the methods of presenting misleading statistics. This book was first published in 1954, but it reads as fresh as ever. People with axes to grind have been employing the same subversive tactics since statistics have been popularized. Furthermore, this book is often funny, hilarious even, particularly with the illustrations. The "claim to fame" statistic on the cover is an almost certainly deliberate illustration of ironic contempt for misleading statistics. After all, just because "Twighlight" was a bigger seller than "Anna Karenina" doesn't make it better. ( )