"If I had to trust just one person to interrogate statistical data, I'd trust David Spiegelhalter. He is a master of the art. Here, he shows us how it's done. The result is brilliant; nothing short of an essential guide to finding things out -- delivered through a series of detective-like investigations of specific examples ranging from sexual behavior to murder. The technical essentials are also all here: from averages to infographics, algorithms and Bayesian statistics - both their power and their limitations. All this makes The Art of Statistics a first call for all those setting out on a career or study that involves working with data. But beyond that, it's self-help for anyone with a serious desire to become a clued-up citizen in a world of numbers. If you want pat answers, or meat for your prejudices, go elsewhere.

But if you want to develop the skills to see the world as it is, and to tell it how it is -- honestly and seriously -- this is the book."-- Michael Blastland, co-author of The Tiger That Isn't: Seeing Through a World of Numbers.