Table of Contents

1: Probabilities -- rules and review
2: Distributions of data -- four plots
3: Mean value -- estimation and a few properties
4: Boxplots -- construction and interpretation
5: The lady who tasted tea -- a bit of statistical history
6: Outlier/extreme values -- a difficult decision
7: The role of summary statistics -- brief description
8: Correlation and association -- interpretation
9: Proportional reduction in error -- a measure of association
10: Quick Tests -- four examples
11: Confounding -- African-American and white infant mortality
12: Odds -- a sometimes measure of likelihood
13: Odds ratio -- a measure of risk?
14: Odds ratio -- two properties rarely mentioned
15: Percent increase -- ratios?
16: Diagnostic tests -- assessing accuracy
17: Regression to the mean -- father/son data
18: Life table -- a summary of mortality experience
19: Coincidence -- a statistical description
20: Draft lottery numbers (1970)
21: Lotto -- How to get in .... How to win
22: Fatal coronary disease -- risk
23: Pictures
24: The Monty Hall problem
25: Eye-witness evidence -- Collins versus state of California
26: Probabilities and puzzles
27: Jokes and quotes
28: A true life puzzle
29: Rates -- definition and estimation
30: Geometry of an approximate average rate
31: Simpson>'s paradox -- two examples and a bit more
32: Smoothing -- median values
33: Two by two table -- a missing observation
34: Survey data -- randomized response
35: Viral incidence estimation -- a shortcut
36: Two-way table -- a graphical analysis
37: Data -- too good to be true?
38: A binary variable -- twin pairs
39: Mr. Rich and Mr. Poor -- a give and take equilibrium
40: Log-normal distribution -- leukemia and pesticide exposure
41: Poem -- A Contribution to Statistics
APP: appendix: golden mean, Pythagorean theorem, chord theorem, pi

About the Author

Steve Selvin is a professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley. He has taught on the Berkeley campus for more than 40 years. Professor Selvin is also a member of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health faculty and has taught in the Summer Institute of Biostatistics and Epidemiology for the last fifteen years. He lives in the Berkeley hills with two cats, one dog and a wife who is a well known ceramic artist. He has
authored or co-authored more than 250 scientific papers in the area of statistics applied to epidemiological/health issues with emphasis on birth defects and childhood cancer. In addition he has written 10
books on applied statistical methods. He has received a number of awards for teaching excellence, including the most prestigious award given by the University of California called the Berkeley Citation. His present research concerns the analysis of spatial patterns of childhood cancers in the state of California over the last decade.

Reviews

I recommend The Joy of Statistics to those who want to begin studying statistics or who need a quick refresher book. Dr Selvin does an exemplary job of explaining basic concepts without overwhelming the reader with jargon or dense details.
*ANNA MILLER, AC Review of books *

The format is some 40 or so short chapters...the reader is consistently presented with topics and questions that are specifically not conventional compared to the often rather identikit ones offered and discussed in ordinary textbooks...In the hands of a thoughtful undergraduate, this may well inspire curiosity for the wider subject of statistics. A teacher will certainly find a fresh wrinkle or three to keep a motivated group engaged for a number of classes.
*Andrew Ruddle, Mathematics Today*

The Joy of Statistics provides a short, accessible and, at times, light-hearted glimpse into the vast world of statistics. This book delivers the general background needed to begin understanding statistical methods and how to apply them alongside an assortment of anecdotes, jokes, and historical information...I recommend The Joy of Statistics to those who want to begin studying statistics or who need a quick refresher book. Dr Selvin does an exemplary job of explaining basic concepts without overwhelming the reader with jargon or dense details. Thus, readers from a diverse set of statistical backgrounds can find assistance from this book.
*Anna Miller, AC Review of Books*

This "treasury" of statistical anecdotes offers 41 engaging yet substantive examples of statistics and probability as found in real-life settings. One remarkable feature is the surprising range of everyday contexts from which Selvin draws material, turning now to a TV show, then to a legal case, and often to his own specialty of public health and epidemiology. Another attractive feature is that the text lucidly explains the subtle differences and implications of similar but different concepts: correlation and association, relative risk and odds ratio, to name a few...this book deserves welcome as a supplementary introduction to the discipline.
*S-T Kim, North Carolina A&T State University*