» The Complete Idiot's Guide to Statistics, 2nd Edition (Complete Idiot's Guide to)

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Statistics, 2nd Edition (Complete Idiot's Guide to) Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent but with glaring mistakes
Comment: Overall, I think this is an excellent book on statistics; both as an initial primer for beginners and as a review for those non-statistician who have some background in the field. It is well written and flows nicely. The author does a very good job of presenting complex issues in a simple and understandable manner using real life scenarios. He then builds on the simple concepts to higher levels of complexity. It goes without saying that, as with any endeavor that deals with mathmatics, it is essential that the reader perform the exercises at the end of each chapter. This assures a reasonable understanding of the topic before moving on to the next. Contrary to one of the other reviewers, I found the contents and index sufficient. I could easily find specific topics that I was interested in pursuing without having to read large sections. Based on these impressions, I would have given the book 5 stars. However, the mathmatical errors and misstatements, while small for a book of 385 pages, are substantial when you consider the difficulty a beginner might have trying to figure out such concepts as "hypothesis testing" and "z scores". I could easily see a novice spending hours trying to understand or figure out answers to questions when the information given is inaccurate. I would still recommend this book highly, especially for beginners. However, I would suggest that they go to the website that list the errors before starting the book. I would also recommend that the author reference this site at the top of the first page of chapter one in the third edition of the book.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Comment: This is easily the best book on statistics I've ever encountered. Previous books that I've used have generally left me confused and frustrated. This is the first book that I've found that lays out statistics in a straight forward coherent manner. It's very readable and easy to follow. The author uses a limited number of simple, but clear, examples to explain the different statistical topics. Initially I started reading the book to solve a work problem, but I continued reading it because it made the subject so easy (well okay, maybe not easy -but definitely accessible). The book also gives some helpful tips on how to use Excel's suite of statistical tools (which can take a lot of the pain out of analyzing data!).

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Customer Rating:
Summary: This is the best book
Comment: The Basic Practice of Statistics w/CD-ROM Here's the link to the textbook we use in class. This is my second run at statistics and have been frustrated with our textbook, as it doesn't explain what I need to know. I went to Barnes and Noble and extracted all the stats books written for those of us who don't "get it." The Complete Idiot's Guide to Statistics seemed to be just the ticket for me. The author, Bob Donnelly, Jr., uses his family to explain statistics in a very real manner. He even counts the number of showers his sons take! He inserts a picture of his wife and asks us to vote on a ponytail she bought. She must be a very good sport! He brings statistics home. To make things better, he gives a link where we can ask him questions or make comments. I asked him a question about using my TI-84 calculator and he answered me within 24 hours. He's going to write another book, using that calculator! This current book is saving my bacon! I'll give it a great recommendation!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: This really helped
Comment: I bought this book as a supplement for my business statistics class. I ended up using is as my main source. It explained everything so much easier and clearer than my course book. There are a few things that have changed. For instance when you get to confidence intervals the process of using z and t scores are different which created some confusion because my professor was teaching a different method. Overall I have serious doubts that I would have passed the class without this book.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Don't attempt Statistics alone...
Comment: If you are taking an online course in statistics, you need this book.
If you are taking a statistics class where the professor is speaking over your head, you need this book.
Dr. Donnelly breaks it down in a way that is understandable to the most liberal arts minded student. He cuts away all the clutter that most books have that are unnecessary, cuts to the chase and makes you laugh while you learn. This book is the next best thing to a personal tutor. I understood all the topics he presented, and it was perfectly in line with my Introduction to Statistics class.

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