Manga Guide to Statistics

Reviewed by Harry {doc} Babad

      (c) 2008

 

Author: Shin Takahashi No Starch Press San Francisco, CA http://nostarch.com/mg_statistics.htm   Released: November 28, 2008; 1st Edition Pages: 224 Size:  9.25 x 7.0 x 0.7 inches   $19.95 List (USD); $36.58 CND,  £20.20 UK,  Û23.81 by calculation.   ISBN-10: 1-59327-189-3 ISBN-13: 978-1593271893   Product and company names and logos in this review may be registered trademarks of their respective companies.   Audience: Statistics Beginner or wannabe.   Strengths: A comics book worth reading, with well organized examples and lessons, easy to learn from.   Weaknesses: I was initially off put by the cutsey graphics and the immature nature of Rui, its central character, but that annoyance soon passed.

Introduction

 

As a person who has been both trained formally in statistics at least as used by experimental chemists to analyze experimental data, and one who hates all thing mathematical  —  this book was both a joy and a challenge. Note this is not a book for one who wants to become a statistician, except perhaps as a pleasant and fulfilling introduction. However the value of this book is that it can be used, with a little practice, to test all the meaning of some of the lists of numbers that prove pollsters or advertisers claims, providing they post the data.  Otherwise of course the conclusions are likely to be untestable, with no way prove the stated conclusion. Indeed one of my favorite books, several years ago was ÒHow to Lie with StatisticsÓ. By Darrell Huff É ISBN-10: 0393310728 (available from Amazon). My favorite quote from that book, which parallels my instructorsÕ statements, was ÒEven if you can't find a source of demonstrable bias, allow yourself some degree of skepticism about the results, as long as there is a possibility of bias somewhere. There always is.Ó  

 

 

The Book Itself

 

The Manga Guide to Statistics capitalizes on the international manga phenomenon. This first is in a series of EduManga titles from No Starch Press (co-published with Ohmsha, Ltd. of Japan). The Manga Guide to Statistics uses manga to introduce the reader to the world of statistics. Rather than learning from a dry textbook, readers follow the animated adventures of Rui, a 17-year-old female Japanese student, and her teacher, Mamoru Yamamoto. As Rui interacts with a colorful cast of characters, the teacher leads her and the reader though some of the basic and most useful tools of statistics, those associated with challenging data to check whether data makes sense as claimed by its creator. IÕve provided a, also low-resolution sample below:

 

 The book consists of seven chapters, each containing a cartoon, text to supplement the cartoon, an exercise or two to test your knowledge and of course an answer section, and chapter overview summary. Readers learn about working with numerical and categorical data; probability; relationships between two variables; tests of independence and even how to perform calculations in Microsoft Excel.

 

The chapters are logically arranged and the subject matter is explained so that even a bright adolescent can follow lessons.

 

1. Determining Data Types
2. Getting the Big Picture: Understanding Numerical Data
3. Getting the Big Picture: Understanding Categorical Data
4. Standard Score and Deviation Score
5. Let's Obtain the Probability Density Function
6. Let's Look at the Relationship Between Two Variables Do they make sense?
7. Let's Explore the Hypothesis Tests [I got lost.]

 

Once Mr. Takahashi gets to the statistics tools, he uses a "set of example-driven" approach. Each lesson (chapter) starts with a well-chosen, realistic example of why you'd want to figure something out from data tabulations being presented to you. Although aimed at the interest of Rui, the examples easily translate into areas the readers might be interested in, such as sports, politics or even product claims. No, this will not allow you to figure out conflicting drug benefits claims, but it will certainly work on gaining a better understanding of the skills of the members of your Saturday night poker or bridge club.  Each Òcase studyÓ is followed by a fully worked example. The initial material is followed by a more detailed explanation of what the statistical analysis means and how Rui might want to use it.

 

Overall, the author provided the reader with answers to the traditional pedantic:  What tool? Why use it? How to use it? And at times, where the tool is useful. This was helpful in evolving the statistics exercises throughout the book. 

 

 

Kudos and an Occasional Ouch

 

Scope — This book is an excellent introductory book on statistics. The material is well organized around the fundamental, basic concepts you would expect to find in a beginners book that serves as an introduction to the field of statistics. Th examples are easy to visualize and manipulating the numbers is made easy by its author, Shin Takahashi. This EduManga book is a translation from a bestselling series in Japan, co-published with Ohmsha, Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan. It follows the traditional Manga graphics style, which I found attractive, but that may distract some readers.

 

Balance — The book is a well-paced and illustrated "introductory study of use of statistics". I can personally attest that I, as do others, perceive this as hard to learn or even impenetrable.  The author made the study, dare I say it, fun. Studying statistics will never be easy, but it might as well be enjoyable.

 

The Depiction of Rui —I found the story line both funny and interesting. I was a little put off with the juvenile depiction of Rui, who after all is a 17 year-old young lady, not a pre-pubescent adolescent. Perhaps IÕve been around American teenagers too long (grandkids and their friends). The at times silly depiction of Rui, made me more than a bit uncomfortable. It may be because IÕm a septuagenarian (72), all that says of about cultural memes and outlooks. I suspect this will be a put-off for most American teenagers, but donÕt know how to fix it without losing the manga element.

 

CramerÕs Coefficient — This material lost me completely. I asked myself what would be lost had I skipped it and my answer was very little.

 

Factoring Fractions — A well-thought-out piece of help for those a bit slow at math.

 

Ties to Excel — A good thought, since most HS student have access to computers and MS Office is a generally adopted standard. I hate number crunching; especially when doing the math three times that gives three different answers. Math classes well into college have never taken holdÉ it must be my brain conformation.

 

More Everyday Examples Needed — Although the author describes this well, I would have preferred additional examples, not related to Rui and High School, to exemplify the use of the different methods. The single example on Page 149 is the short fall that IÕm concerned about. I missed having more examples of applicable areas (scenarios), not their analysis.

 

Possible Errors or Omissions —

¤       The material on Page 152 about Chi squared appear twice in the same words, therefore makes no sense. It this wording indeed correct?

¤       The material on pages 164 and 176 needs to be cross-referenced.

 

 

Conclusion

The Manga Guide to Statistics will teach you everything you need to know about this essential discipline, while entertaining you at the same time. Reluctant statistics students of all ages will enjoy learning statistics in this unique, easy-to-read guide, which uses real-world examples like teen magazine quizzes, bowling game results, dating preferences and ramen noodle prices. I fully agree with the review in ÒGood Math, Bad MathÓ by Mark C. Chu-Carroll, that "This is really what a good math text should be like. Unlike the majority of books on subjects like statistics, it doesn't just present the material as a dry series of pointless-seeming formulas. It presents statistics as something fun, and something enlightening. It shows you why you should care about this material, and how it's useful even to people in non-mathematical fields." http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2008/12/book_review_the_manga_guide_to.php>

 

 

Recommendation

If you are one of the intended readers, add it to your must-read collection. If you are someone who needs to manage conducting and understanding data analysis for research or business, but who does not necessarily need to actually design and conduct data analysis, the book is aimed at you.  If you are interested in getting an introduction of what the world of statistics is like, you may enjoy the book because it a light hearted, but factual treatment of a subject youÕve likely shied away from.

 

Buy it. Most of you will like it, and with a little patience, you too can become more comfortable with the concepts of statistics. You might even want to try crunching the numbers as I did. The book is no substitute for formal statistics training, but having gone through it, you may be more ready to accept more formal (dry) training.

 

PS:

I would love to see a book associated with probability, another subject both not understood or misused by most of us.