Naked Statistics

Charles Wheelan strips the dread out of statistics, taking the same tools that economists and researchers use to find hidden patterns and explaining them in plain language. He covers correlation, regression, probability, and sampling without leaning on formulas, building intuition through stories about baseball performance, casino odds, financial crashes, and medical studies that got the math wrong. The book works in both directions, showing how statistics expose truths that anecdote cannot reach and how the same methods get manipulated to mislead. Wheelan writes as a former journalist turned policy teacher, keeping the tone closer to a witty guide than a classroom, so readers finish able to question a chart, a poll, or a headline claim with new confidence.