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I am happy to announce that I’ve just found the book that does this better than any other that I’ve seen: Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data, by Charles Wheelan (W. W. Norton & Company, 2013).

Wheelan teaches public policy and economics at Dartmouth College and is best known for a similar book written several years ago titled Naked Economics.

In Naked Statistics, he selects the most important and relevant statistical concepts that everyone should understand, especially those who work with data, and explains them in clear, entertaining, and practical terms.

He wrote this book specifically to help people think statistically. He shows how statistics can be used to improve our understanding of the world. He demonstrates that statistical concepts are easy to understand when they’re explained well.

If you read this book, you’ll come to understand statistical concepts and methods such as regression analysis and probability as never before.

Statistics is more important than ever before because we have more meaningful opportunities to make use of data. Yet the formulas will not tell us which uses of data are appropriate and which are not. Math cannot supplant judgment.

“Go forth and use data wisely and well!”