《统计数字会撒谎》书评

Book Review of How to Lie with Statistics

达莱尔·哈夫的经典著作《统计数字会撒谎》是一部揭露数据滥用与统计误导的里程碑式作品。本书以犀利的批判视角和生动的案例分析, 解构了日常生活、商业广告及学术研究中常见的统计陷阱, 揭示了数据如何通过选择性呈现、样本偏差、图表操纵等手段扭曲事实。哈夫通过通俗的语言与逻辑严密的论证, 不仅教会读者识别“伪统计”的典型套路, 更从根本上培养了公众对数据的批判性思维。本书至今仍是统计学普及与数据素养教育的核心读本, 对推动理性决策具有深远意义。

Darrell Huff’s classic work How to Lie with Statistics is a landmark masterpiece that exposes data misuse and statistical manipulation. With incisive critical perspectives and vivid case studies, the book deconstructs common statistical pitfalls in daily life, commercial advertising, and academic research, revealing how data can distort reality through selective presentation, sampling bias, and graphical manipulation and other means. Using accessible language and logically rigorous arguments, Huff not only teaches readers to identify typical patterns of “pseudo-statistics” but also fundamentally cultivates public critical thinking toward data. This book remains a core text for statistical literacy and data education, with profound implications for promoting rational decision-making.