"Through his devastating work on common myths about social problems, Joel Best has established himself
as a brilliant observer of our national fads and scares. In this latest book, Best confronts yet more of the pseudo-statistics
by which we are bamboozled day by day. One obvious question comes to mind. If he can deal with highly significant
topics in such lucid and enjoyable prose, why can't other social scientists begin to match him?"
--Philip Jenkins, author of The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice
"Joel Best continues to confront us with the delicious lunacy of statistical gaffes and fantasies. Whether
discussing 'deaths from falling coconuts,' teenage bullying, or likelihood of contracting breast cancer, Best teaches
us to avoid the dangers of statistical illiteracy. As his cogent and comic examples from the media amply demonstrate,
there is much teaching yet to be done. While we like to believe that it is our opponents who are fools with figures,
this volume demonstrates that liberals, conservatives, libertarians, lawyers, physicians, and educators fall in
the same numerical traps."
--Gary Alan Fine, co-author of Whispers on the Color Line: Rumor and Race in America
"Best provides us with another telling compendium of misleading statistics about a variety of topical issues.
His approach to explicating them is lucid, instructive, and quite engaging."
--John Allen Paulos, author of Innumeracy
Publisher Web Site, March, 2005
Summary
In this sequel to the acclaimed Damned Lies and Statistics, which the Boston Globe said "deserves a place
next to the dictionary on every school, media, and home-office desk," Joel Best continues his straightforward,
lively, and humorous account of how statistics are produced, used, and misused by everyone from researchers to
journalists. Underlining the importance of critical thinking in all matters numerical, Best illustrates his points
with examples of good and bad statistics about such contemporary concerns as school shootings, fatal hospital errors,
bullying, teen suicides, deaths at the World Trade Center, college ratings, the risks of divorce, racial profiling,
and fatalities caused by falling coconuts. More Damned Lies and Statistics encourages all of us to think in a more
sophisticated and skeptical manner about how statistics are used to promote causes, create fear, and advance particular
points of view.
Best identifies different sorts of numbers that shape how we think about public issues: missing numbers are relevant
but overlooked; confusing numbers bewilder when they should inform; scary numbers play to our fears about the present
and the future; authoritative numbers demand respect they don't deserve; magical numbers promise unrealistic, simple
solutions to complex problems; and contentious numbers become the focus of data duels and stat wars. The author's
use of pertinent, socially important examples documents the life-altering consequences of understanding or misunderstanding
statistical information. He demystifies statistical measures by explaining in straightforward prose how decisions
are made about what to count and what not to count, what assumptions get made, and which figures are brought to
our attention.
Best identifies different sorts of numbers that shape how we think about public issues. Entertaining, enlightening,
and very timely, this book offers a basis for critical thinking about the numbers we encounter and a reminder that
when it comes to the news, people count--in more ways than one.
