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The Art of Statistics: How to Learn from Data Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

David Spiegelhalter (Author), Jonathan Davis (Narrator), Hachette Audio (Publisher)
4.6 out of 5 stars 3,850 ratings

The definitive guide to statistical thinking

Statistics are everywhere, as integral to science as they are to business, and in the popular media hundreds of times a day. In this age of big data, a basic grasp of statistical literacy is more important than ever if we want to separate the fact from the fiction, the ostentatious embellishments from the raw evidence - and even more so if we hope to participate in the future, rather than being simple bystanders.

In The Art of Statistics, world-renowned statistician David Spiegelhalter shows listeners how to derive knowledge from raw data by focusing on the concepts and connections behind the math. Drawing on real world examples to introduce complex issues, he shows us how statistics can help us determine the luckiest passenger on the Titanic, whether a notorious serial killer could have been caught earlier, and if screening for ovarian cancer is beneficial. The Art of Statistics not only shows us how mathematicians have used statistical science to solve these problems - it teaches us how we, too, can think like statisticians. We learn how to clarify our questions, assumptions, and expectations when approaching a problem, and - perhaps even more importantly - we learn how to responsibly interpret the answers we receive.

Combining the incomparable insight of an expert with the playful enthusiasm of an aficionado, The Art of Statistics is the definitive guide to stats that every modern person needs.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

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  1. Listening Length
    9 hours and 1 minute
  2. Author
    David Spiegelhalter
  3. Narrator
    Jonathan Davis
  4. Audible release date
    September 3, 2019
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Hachette Audio
  7. ASIN
    B07WK7KPKH
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length 9 hours and 1 minute
Author David Spiegelhalter
Narrator Jonathan Davis
Audible.com Release Date September 03, 2019
Publisher Hachette Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B07WK7KPKH
Best Sellers Rank

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4.6 out of 5 stars
3,850 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book useful for improving their understanding of statistical principles, with one noting its impressive collection of interesting real data examples. Moreover, the writing style receives positive feedback for being very clearly written, and customers appreciate that the book is brand new and well-made.

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Knowledge levelWriting styleBrand newMaterial quality
29 customers mention "Knowledge level"26 positive3 negative

Customers find the book useful for improving their understanding of statistical principles, with one customer noting its impressive collection of interesting real data examples.

"...And these basics are foundational. They underlie so many aspects of modern analytics--- and even modern AI-based systems ultimately end up using..." Read more

"The book was well presented, brand new despite being advertised as used." Read more

"...In part it treats the usual textbook basics -- summary statistics, graphics, randomized controlled experiments, sampling, regression, statistical..." Read more

"...Almost easy to understand but not that easy... Some point require more elaboration, for example in chapter 10, page 352: "..." Read more

7 customers mention "Writing style"7 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the writing style of the book, finding it very clearly and amazingly written, with one customer noting it is accessible for a broad audience.

"...Prof Spiegelhalter has a remarkable ability to write and tell stories in clear and simple ways that get you to understand the essence of the..." Read more

"He writes in a style that a relative newcomer to the discipline can understand, but not so simply that people with more advanced knowledge can't..." Read more

"Amazingly clear and deep. Really enjoyable and easy to follow. Highly recommended for beginners or experts." Read more

"...Clearly written for a broad audience with plentiful case study examples of how interesting questions can be addressed using statistics...." Read more

3 customers mention "Brand new"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate that the book is brand new.

"The book was well presented, brand new despite being advertised as used." Read more

"The book comes in thick and fresh new" Read more

"It arrived a week sooner and the book was brand new. Really good experience." Read more

3 customers mention "Material quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the material quality of the book, with one noting it comes in thick and another mentioning it arrives in good condition.

"Eventually my book arrived in a good condition. Exactly what I needed for my class." Read more

"The book comes in thick and fresh new" Read more

"love the material..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Javier
    5.0 out of 5 stars Entretenido y pedagógico
    Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2025
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Libro MUY entretenido y pedagógico
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  • Steven Miller (SMU, Singapore)
    5.0 out of 5 stars A TREASURE so you finally understand key concepts/assumptions underlying basic statistical methods
    Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2022
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    I very much enjoyed reading this book- cover to cover- the 380 pages of content- and then the additional glossary which in itself is a great resource. This book is not the "nuts and bolts" of how you do the standard statistical tests. This book assumes you have looked at other resources for the formulas.

    What this book does better than ANYTHING I have ever come across (and I have come across a lot of books on statistics and analytics over the years) is to get you to understand-really understand-- the key concepts, principles, assumptions and even mindsets that underlie the use of the basic-- and foundational-- statistical concepts.

    Prof Spiegelhalter has a remarkable ability to write and tell stories in clear and simple ways that get you to understand the essence of the principles. He walks you through many real and relevant examples so you understand the essentials of the underlying math models and mental models, and in parallel, that you also understand common mistakes and misconceptions.
    Some of you might say-- why do I need to visit-- or more likely- revisit these basic-- and ubiquitously applied- principles and methods? After all, isn't this becoming increasingly automated? Can't I just "trust" the outputs of my AI-enabled analytic systems?

    Exactly because the use of statistics has become so widespread, so deeply embedded in so many analytics and prediction systems-- it could never be more important than now to understand why people (and the models and systems they design) SO OFTEN misunderstand and misapply the basics. And these basics are foundational. They underlie so many aspects of modern analytics--- and even modern AI-based systems ultimately end up using these basics.

    All I can say is--- even though I have a MSc in Stats from Carnegie Mellon (1981), and have been involved with the use of data, statistics, analytics, and AI applications for decades-- I found Prof Spiegelhalter's way of walking a reader through the essentials of statistical thinking to be a joy to read. It has tremendously helped me to clarify my own understanding and mental models per statistical basics.

    This book truly works for people at ANY level. If you are just beginning with statistics- and you know the formulas but you still don't have the intuitions and insights- please read this book.

    If you work with stats on a regular basis--- EITHER because you are part of a team that uses statistical methods in your work products--- OR--- you regularly REVIEW work products that provide the results of analytic models-- You will find this book invaluable.

    And if you have to get other people to understand how to apply and how to NOT misapply basic statistical principles- this book is a hugely useful resource.
    Thank you Prof Spiegelhalter for producing this work. It is so easy to read. So easy to understand. And at the same time, so insightful, and so thoughtful-- in so many practical ways.
    41 people found this helpful
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  • Wissmon
    4.0 out of 5 stars Presentation
    Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2024
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    The book was well presented, brand new despite being advertised as used.
    Helpful
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  • TG
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
    Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2024
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Eventually my book arrived in a good condition. Exactly what I needed for my class.
    Helpful
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  • Jess
    5.0 out of 5 stars Smell of a new book
    Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2024
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    The book comes in thick and fresh new
    One person found this helpful
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  • David J. Aldous
    5.0 out of 5 stars The gold standard for basic concepts of statistics
    Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2020
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Many books have sought to explain basic concepts of statistics with minimal mathematics, but this book will surely be the "gold standard" for the 2020s. It combines careful exposition with an impressive collection of interesting real data examples. In part it treats the usual textbook basics -- summary statistics, graphics, randomized controlled experiments, sampling, regression, statistical significance, Bayes. Then modern ideas such as algorithmic prediction (and one of my personal favorites, Brier scores). It puts substantial emphasis on "when things can go wrong" and "how we can do statistics better" (both chapter titles) and on journalistic communication of statistical ideas.

    This book should be a required accompaniment to a traditional math-oriented first college course.

    [The 448 pages in the hardback version is rather misleading -- there are few words per page]
    25 people found this helpful
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  • Kung Fu Panda
    4.0 out of 5 stars A non fiction and light text book of statistic
    Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2020
    Format: eTextbookVerified Purchase
    Quite enjoyable and not so dry to read for a statistical book. Almost easy to understand but not that easy...

    Some point require more elaboration, for example in chapter 10, page 352:
    "the fact that this 95% interval include 0 is logically equivalent to the point estimate (-3000) being less than 2 standard errors from 0, meaning the change is not significantly different from 0"

    - i'm totally lost here, i failed understand what the author trying to tell. If there is any material in previous chapter that could help in understanding this sentence, the author should do some kind of revision before dive in. Otherwise, further elaboration is needed.

    "A two sided P-value is less than 0.05 if the 95% confidence interval does not include the null hypothesis (generally 0)" - Seem like a lot of info, but at the same time abstracted in statistical language. Totally lost. can use a bit more explanation in layman term about this "p-Value" in the context of "two sided", "95% confidence interval", "null hypothesis" combination of terminology. I am no total layman in statistic but these term and definition always confuses me, especially now it comes together

    Regards
    14 people found this helpful
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  • Jackie Telford
    5.0 out of 5 stars Explains clearly a wide variety of statistics, including risk and uncertainty.
    Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    This book could be considered just a new statistics text, aiming to increase the statistical literacy of the general public and taught with interesting, real-life, often high-profile examples to be engaging and accessible. It succeeds on that level but the book is much more. "The Art of Statistics" is the compilation and distillation of David Spiegelhalter’s 40 years of professional experience and wisdom, mostly in medical statistics, for which he was knighted in 2014. Dr. Spiegelhalter sincerely cares about conveying the information clearly and understandably. In particular, he explains the topics of Risk and Uncertainty so that we can differentiate between the risks that should be of concern and those that are unfounded fears. Speigelhalter is the chairman of the Winton Center for Risk and Evidence Communication at Cambridge University, which has as its motto “To inform, not persuade”- those four words perfect sum up this highly recommended book.
    32 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Robefian
    5.0 out of 5 stars Illuminante e di piacevolissima lettura
    Reviewed in Italy on May 1, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    Essenzialmente non è un libro di statistica, ma un libro sulla statistica. Aiuta a comprendere concetti fondamentali troppo spesso trascurati nella usuale didattica “meccanicistica”. È vero che si “impara facendo”, ma se non sai quello che fai…
    Indispensabile affiancamento ai corsi tradizionali di statistica.
    Report
  • Jeremy
    5.0 out of 5 stars A great book of foundational knowledge
    Reviewed in Australia on May 27, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Very good book with fantastic examples.
    Report
  • Cesar Sarmiento
    5.0 out of 5 stars Moría por leerlo!🤩
    Reviewed in Mexico on May 26, 2024
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Fue rápido el envío y llego en perfectas condiciónes!
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    Cesar Sarmiento
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    Moría por leerlo!🤩

    Reviewed in Mexico on May 26, 2024
    Fue rápido el envío y llego en perfectas condiciónes!
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  • ＪＫ
    5.0 out of 5 stars ヒッグス粒子は本当に発見されたのか？　まやかしか？
    Reviewed in Japan on June 6, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    統計から来るイメージは平均値、中央値、標準偏差等ですが、本書の統計は「対象事象の観測値を記録し、解析し、起こるべき結果（例：選挙結果｝を予測する」事を意味します。例えば、「ヒッグス粒子は存在する」と言う仮説（対象事象）が正しいかを巨大加速器（CERN）から得た膨大なデーターをスパコンで解析し、仮説が高い確率で信頼出来る値で有る、よって、ヒッグス粒子は存在する。別にヒッグス粒子そのものを見つけなくても、少しでも関連性が有る実験結果から統計数式とスパコンで成否を推論し人間が結論付けるのが現在の主流。ただその結論は科学者の希望・願望、CERNの存在意義、メディアの思惑、その他社会的事情などから成り立ち、必ずしも客観的では無いと著者は述べている（著者自身も英国統計学会会長なので曖昧模糊としている）。天気予報、癌生存率、医薬品の有効性、選挙予測、からスポーツ競技の掛率等殆ど全ての方面で統計が使用されメディアを通じ報道されている、但し叩き出された確立を解釈するのは人間。そして多くの確率がヒッグス粒子同様、その人間・機構・メディアの立場・利益によって解釈され、少なからずの事象が間違って報道されていると著者は警鐘している。一読に値する内容の濃い一冊です。
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  • Arpan Ganguli
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great “in-depth” introduction for the lay reader.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    Statistics is complex. And the author does a great job of explaining the underlying principles and the effort required to perform statistical analyses that underpin our daily lives. There is some unavoidable mathematical rigour that is demanded from the reader but those are kept to a minimum so with a bit of effort, the reader can intuitively grasp the concepts.

    A key aspect that I would have liked to see more around (and I’m being pedantic here), would be to see more on the effective communication of statistics. To be sure, the author does delve into the topic at various places in the book and does emphasis to a great extent the importance of effective communication of statistics.

    Overall, I’d highly recommend this book to anyone - both the lay reader as well as practitioners of statistics.
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