Statistics without tears

That's the title of an interesting introductory book on Statistics that I'm reading through at the moment. Written by Derek Rowntree and published by Penguin (ISBN: 0-14-013632-0), the book provides an introduction to the theory and practice of statistical analysis without (much) recourse to formulae, calculations, charts, graphs or tables of figures.

Aimed at people that have to deal with statistics and statistical analysis, but who could go their lives seeing without a Gaussian distribution and not view it a loss, the 184-page text takes the reader on a fairly painless journey through descriptive and inferential statistcs; their meaning, use, and calculation.

If you've ever found yourself struggling to make headway into the topic of statistics then this book may offer you an olive branch.

Alternate titles for the book were: Statistics without calculations; Statistics for the innumerate; Statistics in words & pictures; The underlying ideas of statistcs; or How to think statistically.

PS: I'm reading this in preparation for a presentation on statistical analysis of usability and user research data to a largely non-mathematical audience later this year.

Australian football comes of age?

Un-f^%#ing-believable!!

I spent my childhood surrounded by kids of European and South American backgrounds, being taunted by them about Australia's (and, by implication, Australians') complete absence from the soccer World Cup. Whenever it rolled around the Italians, Croatians, Brazilians, Uruguayans, Chileans etc would cheer on their national sides, and laugh at our failure (again) to even qualify.

Earlier this morning Australia's Socceroos played their first World Cup game since '74. Behind for a good portion of the match they put in a tremendous effort in the last 20 mins, finally scoring in the 84th minute of the game. A second goal in the 89th minute put us in front; and a sealer in the 92nd minute made it comfortable.

It may be an overstatement to say we've come of age, but we've certainly proven we belong.

Very OT: Socceroos World Cup appearance

A little bit excited in the lead-up to the Socceroos first appearance in a football World Cup since 1974. The Aussies take the field in about 90mins to meet Japan.

In their last appearance, also in Germany, the Socceroos failed to win a game - or score a goal - so I'm hopeful we'll see a much improved performance this time around.

Anyway, we'll know in about three hours whether this World Cup will be a different story.