The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics (2020), by Tim Harford, is a fascinating look at statistics and how they have been regularly used and mis-used around the world and throughout history. The author--a British economist, journalist, and radio host--presents readers with ten points to consider when presented with a statistic, in order to better understand what the number is really saying (or not saying). Each point is accompanied by surprising and riveting anecdotes that will help readers think more critically about the information they encounter every day.
I’d recommend this book for anyone who consumes news and has ever wondered where a statistic came from, but it’s also a great read for any fan of pop science or pop psychology.
For more explorations of math gone wrong, try Humble Pi (2022), The Art of Uncertainty (2025), and Robin Hood Math (2025).