Statistics on the Table: The History of Statistical Concepts and Methods Paperback – Illustrated, 30 September 2002

Standard Buch das ich jedermann empfehle der Etwas mit Statistik macht! Die Geschichte der Statistik lest sich wie ein Roman

The author is a well-known statistician who has also a gift as historian. The book is a collection of essays on the development of the main ideas in Statistics. These essays are not in chronological order and overlap on several points. That can create some confusion in the reader. The first essay is about the controversy on the effect of parents' alcoholism on children between Karl Pearson and the Cambridge economists (A. Marshall, J.M. Keynes, A. Pigou). While Pearson expected harsh criticism from the medical profession he was unexpectedly broadsided by economists on the ground of logic instead of data. Pearson's response was: statistics on the table, please. The book goes on clarifying the developments of the main ideas in the field: Central Limit Theorem, Normal distribution, least squares, degrees of freedom, regression, Bayes's Theorem, and so on. It also provide the role of famous mathematicians like Gauss, Laplace, Legendre and others. However, Pearson, Galton and Edgeworth maintain a high visibility in the book. It is not a reference book of the historical development of ideas and intuitions in Statistics, and few chapters reflect more the interest of the author than the coherence with the title "Statistics on the Table. The History of Statistical Concepts and Methods" like in Statistics and Standards, and The Trial of the Pyx, or Apollo Mathematicus. Outstanding and funny is the chapter Stigler's law of Eponymy, which states that no scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer. It is definitively an enjoyable reading and I strongly recommend it to whoever has an interest, weak or strong, in the subject.

I am an applied statistician, nothing more than that; yet, understanding why and how statistical concepts emerged helps in better applying models to particular problems. Stigler consistently makes the point in each story that the concepts behind the statistic are as if not more important compared to the development of the mathematics behind the statistic. He is a great story teller.

I've enjoyed learning some of the history behind the statistics. There are some amusing stories. If you've ever wondered where some of those tests came from, this a good read.

This collection of essays is primarily aimed at the statistician or mathematician and includes numerous undefined statistical terms and equations. Nevertheless, its readable prose is sufficiently descriptive for even a non-statistician like me to follow and enjoy.I gave the book four stars only because of my lack of statistical training. I think a reader who has taken even a couple of beginning statistical courses would have no trouble with the concepts described.