2008-04-12 everyone should read this

All journalists, reporters, politicans and anyone who deals with numbers in the public domain should be forced to read this book before starting their career. It would lead to a much more informed debate than the one we currently get. I write as a qualified statistician (and you certainly don't need to be that to understand this book). It superbly helps the reader disentangle the huge volume of statistics and numbers that they are bombarded with on a daily basis.

The only disappointment with the book was the fact that it didn't deal with the MMR controversy, which is an outstanding example of the misuse of statistics in an area of very real concern to many parents. But it remains an excellent buy.