# How to Lie with Statistics [View on juvoni.com](https://juvoni.com/book/how-to-lie-with-statistics) Book author: Darrell Huff Review and notes by Juvoni Beckford. Rating: 7/10 Posted: 2017-04-29T20:00:00.000-04:00 Read: 2016-11-28 ## Review Defensive statistical thinking delivered in a clear, short and direct manner. For a book that was first published over 60 years ago, a lot of it seemed relevant in how people can be easily misguided by numbers. A dose of healthy skepticism and awareness around statistics can help you live a smarter life and filter out bad news and information. ## Why I read it We live in a more data oriented world and statistics are often used to convey information and persuade. But statistics can and are being used to deceive and spread misinformation. This isn't a new concept and I wanted to learn more about statistics, so I can be more informed to spot bad statistics and hopefully create more accurate ones. ## Reasons to read - Understand how statistics can be used to misinform you - Learn how statistics affect your daily life - Gain knowledge on spotting abuse of and bias in statistics ## Quotes — Darrell Huff > "In the end it was found that if you wanted to know what certain people read it was no use asking them. You could learn a good deal more by going to their houses and saying you wanted to buy old magazines and what could be had?" — Darrell Huff > "To be worth much, a report based on sampling must use a representative sample, which is one from which every source of bias has been removed." > — Darrell Huff > "Here is a bias introduced by unknown factors It seems likely that the most effective factor was a tendency that must always be allowed for in reading polls results a desire to give a pleasing answer. Would it be any wonder if, when answering a question with connotations of disloyalty in wartime, a Southern black world tell a white man what sounded good rather than what he actually believed?" > — Darrell Huff > "Place little faith in an average or a graph or a trend when those important figures are missing. Otherwise, you are as blind as a man choosing a camp site from a report of mean temperature alone." > — Darrell Huff > "One of the trickiest ways to misrepresent statistical data is by means of a map. A map introduces a fine bag of variables in which facts can be concealed and relationships distorted." > — Darrell Huff --- [Site index](https://juvoni.com/llms.txt)