Here, by popular demand, is the updated edition to Joel Best's classic guide to understanding how numbers can confuse us. In his new afterword, Best uses examples from recent policy debates to reflect on the challenges to improving statistical literacy. Since its publication ten years ago, <i>Damned Lies and Statistics</i> has emerged as the go-to handbook for spotting bad statistics and learning to think critically about these influential numbers.
Does a young person commit suicide every thirteen minutes in the United States? Are four million women really battered to death by their husbands or boyfriends each year? Is methamphetamine our number one drug problem today? Alarming statistics bombard our daily lives, appearing in the news, on the Web, seemingly everywhere. But all too often, even the most respected publications present numbers that are miscalculated, misinterpreted, hyped, or simply misleading.<br> <br> This new...
Every kindergarten soccer player gets a trophy. Many high schools name dozens of seniors as valedictorians—of the same class. Cars sport bumper stickers that read «USA—Number 1.» Prizes proliferate in every corner of American society, and excellence is trumpeted with ratings that range from «Academy Award winner!» to «Best Neighborhood Pizza!» In <i>Everyone’s a Winner</i>, Joel Best— acclaimed author of <i>Damned Lies and Statistics</i> and many other books—shines a...
In an accessible and droll style, well-known sociologist Joel Best shines a light on how we navigate these anxious, insecure social times. While most of us still strive for the American Dream—to graduate from college, own a home, work toward early retirement—recent generations have been told that the next generation will not be able to achieve these goals, that things are getting—or are on the verge of getting—worse....
This illuminating investigation uncovers the full dimensions of the student loan disaster. A father and son team—one a best-selling sociologist, the other a former banker and current quantitative researcher—probes how we’ve reached the point at which student loan debt—now exceeding $1 trillion and predicted to reach $2 trillion by 2020—threatens to become the sequel to the mortgage meltdown. In spite of their good intentions, Americans have allowed concerns about deadbeat students, crushing...
The myths and truths of teen's sexual behavior. Winner of the 2015 Brian McConnell Book Award presented by the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research To hear mainstream media sources tell it, the sexlives of modern teenagers outpace even the smuttiest of cable television shows.Teen girls “sext” explicit photos to boys they like; they wear “sex bracelets”that signify what sexual activities they have done, or will do; they team upwith...
