How to Lie with Statistics

In reading How to Lie with Statistics, what made the aforementioned, generally mundane subject easily comprehendible, was the author’s wit and the illustrator’s cartoon pictorials. Author Darrell Huff’s levity regarding understanding and manipulating statistics ensures the reader 144 pages of dummy-proof knowledge. Personally, it was the first time I have dealt with statistics and not developed a massive headache.

Most people know that they can manipulate statistics to meet their own personal needs. The thing most do not know, it how to effectively manipulate numerical values or avoid being the one manipulated. There is a method to the madness so that a person may relay the outcome they desire in such a way that it is completely plausible without question. By learning this valuable lesson, one will then know how to decipher, more accurately, data being presented to them.

Chapter Five is a prime example of statistical manipulation. It focuses on manipulating line graphs. Huff explains that we may amplify the “wow factor” by dividing values and keeping time constant. This makes an outwardly straight-looking line appear insane and extreme, all the while portraying the same information. This method of lying with statistics can create the exact “wow factor” needed to manipulate an audience.

In the next chapter, Huff gives examples of how to manipulate pie chart data. In giving direction throughout the book on how to control and maneuver statistical information, he is trying to relay one key point. Huff maintains that people tend to have an innate fear of numbers, coupled with grave confusion about what numbers actually mean. This fear and confusion combined with a subconscious need to trust science as truth makes people vulnerable to always being perplexed by numbers regardless of what the numbers are actually saying. To avoid falling victim to this, Huff contends that one should not allow the terror of numbers to get the best of them. Always view statistics with...