The Cartoon Guide to Statistics

The book is funny and quite helpful - nice material for review purposes. BUT, its merely a supplement to formal statistics study. You must have some working knowledge of the basic concepts.
I recommend BUSINESS STATISTICS (By Ken Black). He explains the concepts quite extensively. This book coupled with the humor of the Cartoon Guide will make Statistics a little but more bearable (especially for non-math majors like me:)

Even though the cartoons made it a little more interesting than a regular text book, the text itself was about the same. I had hoped for different terms and better visual explanations. It also uses some terms I had not hear before. It also seems to be an old edition, hence the few terms I hadn't heard before. I would not recommend this book for purchase to anyone but if borrowing from a friend or teacher it would be worth the time to look at.

This book was recommended in my probs and stats class so I decided to purchase it used. The book came within 5 days and was in good condition as indicated in the ad. It met my expectations and is actually a very helpful aid to the class.

For someone who is new to probability theories and statistics, you might consider something else more basic and introductory. I've had classes in probability and number theories in college. This book stumped me. It could be retitled: Cartoons for Statisticians. Definitely not a book for beginners as it may have been intended.

This book is an excellent mix of a Handbook - for looking formulas for something up, and a Text - for understanding how that something came about. It's written in an enjoyable light-hearted manner, but the treatment of the material is very serious. I bought this copy because I had lost my first copy and found that it is indispensable.

I buy cartoon books for whatever college courses I'm taking. Sometimes it's to help with concepts for myself, most of the time it's so my 9-year-old can read them and we have an intelligent conversation about what I'm learning in school. We've done this successfully with several subjects, including economics and physics - my 9-year-old doesn't much care for reading textbooks, but put a comic book in front of him and he memorizes it.

I was a few weeks into my statistics class when I decided to find a comic book for my son - we were talking about the Rule of Complements and he understood it with no trouble so I thought he could at least get a general understanding of the subject. I ordered this book, along with the Manga Guide to Statistics (The Manga Guide to Statistics). The Manga Guide won hands-down, for both clarity and content.

I've got a pretty good handle on my statistics class, I understand the projects and materials with no problem and I'm pulling a very high A in the class. Even on concepts I know I have down cold, I had a hard time picking up the explanations from this book. And then I came to the page where it was talking about the sexual urges of a historical figure, and I knew I couldn't give this book to my 9-year-old. I wish the book had come with an Adult Content warning, so I could have avoided this purchase. Granted, the Manga Guide has some flirtation in it, but nothing overtly sexual that I'd be uncomfortable with my son reading (or worse, having to explain to him).

This book is a great statistics refresher. I'm reading through it for my graduate level tests and measurements course, and it's helping me remember how to use some of the basic concepts in statistics. I've read through quite a few "guides to statistics" in my school library because it's such a difficult subject for me, and this was by far the easiest to digest. I'm able to focus on the cartoon characters when I lose focus instead of focusing on my own poor stats skills. It eases my tension and anxiety, and decreases my negative self talk while studying.

While not perfect (what book is?), this is a worthwhile treatment of statistics. Topics are covered in a accessible and adequate depth, with appropriately entertaining cartoons intermixed between the pages. At some points, it can be difficult to comprehend what the author is trying to relay, but that's coming from this reviewer (who does not possess even a basic calculus background) --if you don't fully comprehend a passage, re-read it until you do (or quickly research the theoretical aspects of the particular subject from other sources and come back to it then). For example, I could not decipher why averages taken from many samples from the same population would always, in theory, eventually form something bell-shaped (regardless of the actual population distribution) --after reading a bit from other sources, and giving it some thought, I determined that the best explanation relates to the fact that the data, as a whole, is not how the sampling distribution is developed; rather, since the sample averages/means make up the sample distribution, and those averages will tend to cluster more and more around the population mean as the sample averages begin to reflect the central tendency of the population, it will, by default, start to resemble the Gaussian/normal distribution. Consider that the mean only represents the central tendency of a data set (and not the totality of the data). That's an obvious deduction, but this was not explained in the book (the book does explain some theory, but some key points have to be thought about --the "why" for the "what").

If you are new to statistics, have taken courses in it and need a refresher, or are interested in understanding (key word there) the essential components of the subject, I highly recommend this book. Wheelan's "Naked Statistics" is also a good read, but I don't think that any one title will make you a "stats expert". I recommend that you read EVERYTHING that you can get your hands on, start working through the free online Khan Academy stats material, and practice. Practice, practice, practice.

The book is not light on equations. Half concept, half equations, but I feel that the points get lost in the details. It's not as well organized as I would have liked and the illustrations are mere flourish rather than really helpful to the understanding.

As someone with a lot of applied stats knowledge, I sometimes forget basics. Rather than search through a big book, I can pull out this fun guide, and check what theory/information I'm dealing with.

I don't actually use it often now that I've gotten deeper into stats, but readings from this book are what I gave my students during their one day excel/stats day. They seemed to enjoy it/find it much easier than any other text I've given.

It's easy to understand, but only bcs it makes complex concepts easy, not because it is too simple.

This book was listed as an optional textbook for an introductory statistics class, placing it on a shelf in the campus bookstore next to a book I needed to buy. My eye was attracted by the cartoon cover and, after a quick scan, I decided to buy it. It was worth it.

Larry Gonick and Woollcott Smith cover the same content as many introductory statistics books. The eleven core chapters cover basic statistical concepts, the nature of data, and the essentials of probability, random variables, distributions, sampling, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, comparing samples, designing experiments and regression. It is a lot of material that flows quickly. The final chapter introduces "a biased sample" of advanced statistical techniques. A bibliography--reasonably up-to-date when the book was published--points the reader on to further learning about statistics.

The book's title gives the fun part away. The authors use the panel-by-panel presentation style and humorous asides of cartoons as their primary mode of presentation. This works surprisingly well. It makes readers--particularly those intimidated by statistics--comfortable and ready to just read the panels. An instructionally useful side effect is the repeated use of graphical rather than textual definitions of statistical concepts. The tongue-in-cheek humor reinforces the relaxing experience of reading cartoons and eases the learning experience.

I have never required this book as a text for a statistics class. But I have listed it as an optional text and I have loaned it to a student or two. It is good therapy for those afraid of their first statistics class. And it's a fun read for those who have already passed this hurdle.

Solid review of my undergraduate introductory statistics course. I also picked up on some more nuance in the topics, mainly because they used small examples with computations by hand instead of using black-box computer software. Up to chapter 6 was conversational. I found it helpful to start taking notes after chapter 6.

Only complaint is the font. In some cases the comic sans font made it difficult to distinguish whether something was a random variable, an observation, etc.

CITATION: Gonick, L. & Criddle, C. (2005). The cartoon guide to statistics. New York: HarperCollins Publishers (Collins Reference).

Reviewer: Dr W. P. Palmer

Cartoon guides exist for at least ten different subjects including the Modern World, chemistry physics and sex. I have had to use comparatively elementary statistics in educational work over the years and have noted that it is not the most popular area for many educational students, particularly when carrying out educational comparisons.

This book may not be a full solution to the problems of educational students, but would certainly be valuable in forming some essential statistical concepts. Give it a try!

BILL PALMER

Have you ever chuckled while reading your mathbook? Ever laughed out loud while crunching numbers? Don't worry--neither had I until I read this book. And any book that makes me smile when I'm doing math has got to be a winner.

Yes, Gonick has done it again. I bought the CG-genetics a while back, and loved it. So when I went hunting for a good 'refresher' stats book, I picked up this one.

I wasn't disappointed. Gonick (et al) has great talent for presenting information in a way that almost fools you into thinking you're not learning, but rather, having fun. And although this book wasn't as "easy" to get into as his Genetics book, I believe it's because I'm less familiar with this subject.

Careful though--as others have mentioned, you can't be fooled into thinking this book is THE way to learn statistics. You have to be pretty comfortable with algebra, and pretty determined to read through the book in order to take anything away from it. And don't try this book as a stand-alone or you'll end up with the same frustration you'd have with a college textbook.

I wrote a short review of this book previously for the store and my opinions have not changed very much. However, Gonick deserves credit for coauthoring his cartoon books with experts in the field. This way he avoids mistakes and brings out the important messages that, in the case of this book, a statistician would want to teach his students.
Recently, I used the cartoons on p-values to help another statistician with a presentation on p-values for an audience of medical researchers. I found the relevant cartoons to be humorous and very instructive.

Also, I discovered that in addition to the standard topics of estimation, hypothesis testing, regression, correlation and analysis of variance, Chapter 12, simply titled "Conclusion" has a brief description of many advanced topics, particularly in multivariate analysis.

Multivariate topics include Chernoff faces, cluster analysis, factor analysis and discriminant analysis. Other advanced topics mentioned are random walks, time series analysis, image analysis and even resampling (bootstrap, jackknife and randomization).

Each is described with a single cartoon. This reminds me to again warn that these cartoons alone cannot do justice to the various topics being taught. However, careful selection and placement into the context of a course can bring home important points to students better than just conventional teaching methods. I wouldn't hesitate to use this material to supplement and liven up an introductory statistics course.

The bibliography at the end provides a number of very fine introductory texts and other topics and software that could interest the general public (also done in the cartoon fashion of Gonick).

Statistics is a very difficult subject both to learn and teach. I wish I'd discovered this book after I'd been through the first formal class--except it wasn't written then. :) Well anyway, the CGtS is a useful book and I've recommended it to many people, all of whom got a fair amount of mileage from it. You certainly need further references, but the examples are lucid and the silly cartoons help keep people from getting too overwhelmed by seriousness. I also like the fact that the authors go through some of the history of statistics, as the subject is much more comprehensible if you know why people did what they did.
Someone mentioned getting SPSS--this is, IMO, a terrible way to learn the topic. Packages should come AFTER understanding, not the other way around. If you want a computer program to help out, use a spreadsheet.

Stat is obviously not a trivial subject. This book does a good job of providing a cursory introduction. I wish more people had an *accurate* basic understanding of statistical concepts – and this book would help that.

With no training in statistics, I took on some statistical work at my firm three years ago, and that aspect of my job has grown considerably. Of the many introductory guides to statistics I've looked at, this is the only one I've read through--and in three days! The authors do a surprisingly good job of conveying the basic concepts--and the practical value--of statistics in a book that takes only 4-5 hours to read and is fun to boot. It established that the methods I've been using in Excel are valid and encouraged me to learn more. In its very different way, it's as good as Edward R. Tufte's classics on visual and statistical thinking (and it's a lot less expensive). Enjoy!

I liked the book a lot. The cartoons accomplish exactly what they were meant to accomplish--to make the book an entertaining read and thus to facilitate the study of statistics. The characters of de Mere and the guy with a chronic math phobia are so funny that more than once I laughed out loud, looking at them. Difficult statistical concepts are not explained in great detail, so this book should be supplemented by a more conceptually-oriented book to help the beginner. But as a tool for review, this book is perfect for intermediate users.

This is a fun, creative way to learn and understand statistics, a subject that can be intimidating or hard to grasp and apply. It is well worth taking the time to and patience to read, understand, and benefit from what you learn here.

-Rivka Edery, M.S.W., L.C.S.W.
Author of: "Hear Me Sing: Book I" (2016)
“Trauma and Transformation: A 12-Step Guide” (2013)

As a teacher of statistics at the college level, I've recommended Gonick and Smith to many students who were struggling with their traditional textbook. It presents an authoritative body of material in a clear and fun manner. It would be a good text for teaching a college statistics course, except that it lacks practice problem sets and examples on how to work problems. If you have an interest in understanding statistics but don't want to take a formal class, this is an excellent resource.

I disagree with the reviewer who thought the book was not useful for those without a grasp of basic statistics. Gonick presents the material in a comical, yet cogent manner designed specifically for those who might otherwise never grasp WHY and HOW they might use statistics.
The truth is most college level statistics courses start with the development of a theory and only move to practical applications if there is time. Gonick presents a series of real-world problems and works backwards to the theory; a method I have seen work well in the business world. The book is not meant to be an exhaustive resource for graduate level statistics and analysis, but rather a better way for educated users to grasp the application of statistics to understandable problems.
We used this book to help acclimate freshly minted graduates to statistical analysis in banking, financial services and marketing. Every person to whom we gave a copy was very pleased with the book.

Even though this book is written so simply that any one who can read can understand, it still manages to communicate important, and difficult concepts to those readers. My boss (with an MS in metallurgy) recommended it to a department where the average number of degrees is just slightly less than 3.

I bought this book after reading the reviews here on the store.Having never done statistics before,this sounded like a great buy.On to my complaints.This book is way to brief on the topics.Descriptive statistics,the foundation of statistics is only given 10 pages,a lot of which is cartoons and not much explanation.After i finished reading the chapter it didn't feel complete.The next chapter which deals with probability did not explain it well,a topic that tortures students,this should have been written with more care and detail.After this things start to heat up because the authors whip out out the dreaded symbols and some calculus which had me lost.The inferential statistics part of the book i thought was explained well but there is too much equations that isn't explained.Having said all this i still think its a good book but definitely not for newcomers to the subject.I loved the use of the cartoons which i thought was done really great,pictures really help you understand the topic better.If the authors explain in more detail alongside with those great pictures and release an updated version of the book i will be one of the first people to buy it.I recommend this book to people who have already learned statistics but need a refresher and also as a supplementary book.

If you're looking for "Statistics for Dummies" style simplicity, don't think you'll find it here! Although it looks as though it will be a more accessible introduction to statistics, it's not. The cartoons are OK, and some are informative; but most of the explanations are no simpler than you would find in a good introductory stats text, and are often more complex and less accessible or informative. As someone who regularly teaches statistical concepts to adults (many of whom are certifiably mathophobic), I have to say that I would NOT recommend this to any of my students.

As a professor who has taught both undergraduate and graduate level statistics classes, I have recommended this book to students as a supplement to the basic texts I use in class. Several students have told me that this book really helped them understand basic statistical concepts. Let's face it: statistics is a boring subject for most students. Humor can help them make the leap from fear to understanding. This book is a great help!

This book was included in the materials for a business statistics class at Anderson. Bogged down by the reading from the course book and study guide, I didn't even open the cartoon guide for weeks, thinking it was probably too dumbed down to be helpful. Was I ever wrong. Concepts that were very difficult to understand in the course book were elucidated by the excellent examples and explanations in this guide. Made reviewing general concepts for the final exam much easier as well.
This book won't help you much in the practical application of statistics (for that you need problem sets), but will certainly aid in understanding the general ideas behind the math.

Sometimes using the cartoon style is a way to cover up a lack of clear understanding with humor, but in this case the authors have succeeded in covering the topics for a non-technical person to grasp key ideas in statistics without burdening them with the theory. Great introductory text, but not deep enough for the mathematically inclined to get under the hood. But then again, there are plenty of other books for that purpose.

Larry Gonick was very successful in describing statistical terms in a funny and accessible way. The book covers a wide range of topics, and it gives all the background necessary to understand most statistical concepts.

When I read it, I already had a basic knowledge of statistics, but it did not make the book boring to me. The way Gonick presents the subjects is a good revision, and it brought a few smiles to my face.

I cannot recommend a book more highly than this!
To overcome the boring, confusing instruction you received in college or high school about statistics you NEED this book.
Never has math been so easy.
Written with humor and the "picture is worth a thousand words" style of cartoon books, you'll get the message.
And remember 5 out of 4 people have trouble with statistics.

I purchased this book on the recommendation of my statistics professor. It was intended as a supplementary text to help out with the class. It starts out with some basic concepts and explains them enough to understand. The cartoons are cute, and there is not so much info on each page that it takes intensive reading. However, there is not much explanation or background material either, so I can't imagine a statistics newbie getting much after the first few chapters. I am grasping all the concepts in class very well, but when I read the Cartoon Guide to Statistics I am lost! As someone with a pretty good mind for math and logic, I don't understand how others get much out of this book unless they are already familiar with the concepts.

The book itself is nicely done - good illustrations, easy to handle size. But I cannot recommend it. In fact, I would like to sell my half-read version!

bought it for the undergraduate statistics class I teach. I thought it would have some useful cartoons, but it doesn't work for me, it might for someone else. a good idea (cartoons and statistics) but falls flat.

I graduated with an Engineering Degree having taken three statistics classes in College, getting solid B's in each. Yet after being out of school for a while and needing to brush up, I picked up this book and found it very good at reminding me of the major concepts. Excellent book.

This is yet another great book in the "Cartoon Guide..." series. The authors deliver very dry subject in a fun manner while keeping true to the content. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in Statistics.