Adventures in Statistics: How We Live in a World of Numbers

This book is about how statistics play a role in life, whether in business, psychology, biology, economics, or just about anything short of basket weaving. You cannot make a trip to the doctor, watch a football game, or even go to the grocery store without some statistic staring you down. Your age, weight, and cholesterol make you a high risk for diabetes … the chance that your team will win the game is 12.5 percent … 4 out of 5 dentists like this toothpaste. What does it all mean? Adventures in Statistics: How We Live in a World of Numbers tells you what all those numbers mean. But the book does not spit out a bunch of mathematical formulas; the book tells stories. Stories that explain statistics through popular culture, sports, and history.

You’re confused about that false positive warning in that drug commercial, the 2007 comedy Juno explains how medical tests – including pregnancy tests – fail and why. Not clear about what your coworkers are talking about when they say, ‘black swans.’ the 1997 blockbuster Titanic makes sense of the concept.

Adventures in Statistics: How We Live in a World of Numbers shows how professionals in medicine, business, politics, sports, and many other fields use numbers. So, just about everyone would gain from reading this book, perhaps even basket weavers.

Rob Stewart is currently an assistant professor in the School of Business at Molloy University. Prior to joining Molloy University in 2024, he worked at JP Morgan Chase in the Model Risk Group as a quantitative risk specialist. Before joining the model risk group at Chase, Dr. Stewart spent more than seven years as a quantitative operational risk specialist in the supervision and regulation department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He also spent time at American Express and Discover Financial Services in various roles around the quantitative aspects of consumer credit.