Book Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 5

Book Review - Essay Example Huff then explicates how the reader can see through the smoke and to get to what really lies behind the mirror. "There is terror in numbers," writes Darrell Huff. His book aims to decipher the terror that lies beneath the world of averages, trends, graphs, and correlations. Huff sought to break through "the daze that follows the collision of statistics with the human mind.† The book remains relevant as an awakening for people unacquainted to delve deeper into the nonstop flow of numbers pouring from Madison Avenue, Wall Street, and everywhere else; where someone has a point to prove, a product to sell or an axe to grind. Darrell Huff investigates the breadth of every popularly used type of statistic, explores such things as the tabulation method, the interview technique, the sample study, or the way the outcomes are derived from the figures, and points up the infinite number of dodges which are used to deceive rather than inform. "The secret language of statistics, so appealing in a fact-minded culture, is employed to sensationalize, inflate, confuse, and oversimplify," warns Huff. On t he other hand, he said that we should not be terrorized by numbers. "The fact is that, despite its mathematical base, statistics is as much an art as it is a science." Synonymous to a lecturing father, he expects you to learn and ponder on something valuable from the book, and start applying it every day. Never be a sucker again, he cries! Seeing graphs illustrating numbers if properly done are very helpful in interpreting and analyzing data. And yet, truly deceiving if completed in a fishy fashion If you want to show statistical data, clearly and quickly. Draw a picture of it. When a graph is constructed with a y-axis that is numbered from 1 to 100 without skipping a unit, Huff explained, "Your ten percent looks like ten percent—an upward trend that is substantial but perhaps not overwhelming. That is very