The Numbers Game: The Commonsense Guide to Understanding Numbers in the News, in Politics, and in Life by Michael Blastland
This is a really cool book that interprets common statistical and information-gathering misunderstandings in a way that everyone can understand. Maybe that doesn’t make it sound interesting, but trust me, it is.
This book will explain why if you get a positive result on a test that’s 90% accurate, it doesn’t mean you have a 90% chance of having that disease. It explains how and why people game the systems put into place to measure comparisons. It explains why two people can measure the same issue and come up with wildly different results.
It’s short, it’s easy to read, and it will make you smarter.
