Hacker News Comments on "Statistics in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly))" Amazon Repository

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Hacker News Comments on
Statistics in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly))

Sarah Boslaugh, Dr. Watters, Paul Andrew · 2 HN comments

HN Books has aggregated all Hacker News stories and comments that mention "Statistics in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly))" by Sarah Boslaugh, Dr. Watters, Paul Andrew.

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Amazon Summary

Need to learn statistics as part of your job, or want some help passing a statistics course? Statistics in a Nutshell is a clear and concise introduction and reference that's perfect for anyone with no previous background in the subject. This book gives you a solid understanding of statistics without being too simple, yet without the numbing complexity of most college texts. You get a firm grasp of the fundamentals and a hands-on understanding of how to apply them before moving on to the more advanced material that follows. Each chapter presents you with easy-to-follow descriptions illustrated by graphics, formulas, and plenty of solved examples. Before you know it, you'll learn to apply statistical reasoning and statistical techniques, from basic concepts of probability and hypothesis testing to multivariate analysis. Organized into four distinct sections, Statistics in a Nutshell offers you: Introductory material: Different ways to think about statistics Basic concepts of measurement and probability theory Data management for statistical analysis Research design and experimental design How to critique statistics presented by others Basic inferential statistics: Basic concepts of inferential statistics The concept of correlation, when it is and is not an appropriate measure of association Dichotomous and categorical data The distinction between parametric and nonparametric statistics Advanced inferential techniques: The General Linear Model Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and MANOVA Multiple linear regression Specialized techniques: Business and quality improvement statistics Medical and public health statistics Educational and psychological statistics Unlike many introductory books on the subject, Statistics in a Nutshell doesn't omit important material in an effort to dumb it down. And this book is far more practical than most college texts, which tend to over-emphasize calculation without teaching you when and how to apply different statistical tests. With Statistics in a Nutshell, you learn how to perform most common statistical analyses, and understand statistical techniques presented in research articles. If you need to know how to use a wide range of statistical techniques without getting in over your head, this is the book you want.

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Hacker News Stories and Comments

All the comments and stories posted to Hacker News that reference this book.

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Oct 25, 2009 · sh1mmer on Ask HN: Statistics for hackers?

I've been pretty impressed by the O'Reilly book on statistic: http://www.amazon.com/Statistics-Nutshell-Desktop-Reference-...

⬐ fhars
I am pretty ambivalent about that book. It covers a lot of territory with pointers to deeper literature with a clear emhasis on using these techniques with a statistics program like SPSS (or R), which is nice, but it still wastes a lot of space printing intermediate tables for simple examples which don't do much except filling pages.
But the real bummer is the editorial quality. There aren't any three consecutive pages without major typographical or editorial errors like missing parantheses in complex formulas or cases where they obviolsly replaced examples with simpler ones but forgot to change the illustrations together with the text.

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Oct 25, 2009 · zackattack on Ask HN: Statistics for hackers?

You should write a book, statistics for hackers. I would buy it. Make sure it explains things really well. The best person to teach someone is a beginner, because they understand the beginner's perspective. So you are in a unique position to create this.
O'Reillys statistics in a nutshell is a good reference* book, but not quite a textbook. Here you go. Including my refid. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596510497?ie=UTF8&tag=...
*True masters have beginner perspectives, so they are good teachers as well.

⬐ haliax
I'm tempted. Though might a blog be better? Also, it might be nice to have someone to do it with, as then I could get explanations for things that befoggle me.

⬐ zackham
I'd like to learn the same things as you - interested in doing so collaboratively? I am also interested in exploring online collaborative learning methods, so this appeals to me for both reasons. Find my email in my profile and get in touch if you're interested, I have a few ideas on how this could benefit us both.

⬐ zackattack
It'd be better to have it with a table of contents. You could probably get sufficient explanations through a combination of research on wikipedia and then probing #math on freenode.

⬐ anonymousDan
Just out of interest, how long does it generally take for a question to get answered on #math? Does it vary quite a lot, or is it fairly stable (assuming someone can actually answer it)?

⬐ zackattack
i typically get answers immediately, but i've only asked questions up to college algebra

⬐ liebke
I've enjoyed blogging about statistical programming (http://incanter-blog.org), it's been a great way to dig into subjects that interest me.

Hacker News Comments on Statistics in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly))

Hacker News Stories and Comments

Hacker News Comments on
Statistics in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly))