In a previous academic life, I was a marketing major. One of the things marketers have to learn is statistics - the art/science of describing the world in terms of numbers and proportions. So I have a background in statistics, however basic, and that helped me in reading this book.

The first two sections in Statistics Hacks aren't really hacks; they serve as a basic statistics textbook. If your eyes glaze over at terms like "standard deviation," "correlation coefficient," "Z-scores," etc., you will have a tough time getting through the first 100 pages or so. But don't skip them - they are the foundation that the rest of the book is built on. You won't understand why a lot of the hacks later on in the book work unless you read the first 100 pages, and understanding why is a key to hacking anything, whether it's a computer network, an RC car, or the laws of mathematics and probability. Even if you've got a rudimentary understanding of probability, you will be well-advised to read the first hundred pages, as a refresher course if nothing else.

Chapter 3 is where the application begins. Frey teaches us how to understand percentile scores in standardized tests, and how to use a "normal curve" (think bell curve) to predict the future. The normal curve is vital to the rest of the book, so pay close attention to Hack # 25. Frey also teaches us how to establish the reliability of a certain test, how to establish its validity, and what the difference actually is between reliable and valid. We get a hint of the goodies to come in Hack # 33 (Predicting the Length of a Lifetime) and # 34 (Make Wise Medical Decisions).

Chapter 4 and 5 will be the most popular chapters in the book, Beating the Odds and Playing Games. Texas Hold 'Em is covered in Hacks # 36 and 37, but Frey also covers roulette (#39) and blackjack (#40). You can even design your own bar bets using principles of statistics.  But I think that the most useful hack in the book is Spotting Fake Data (#64). Frey goes into a lot of detail here, and invokes Benford's law quite a bit, but I think that with the amount of statistics that we're confronted with daily, we need to be able to spot fake data, and be able to show why it's fake.

Statistics Hacks is not an easy book to read.  As I mentioned, if you've got an aversion to math you might want to skip this one.  But statistics aren't that hard to understand, and there is a lot of valuable (and potentially profitable) information in this book.  Frey set out to make the concepts behind statistical analysis accessible to the average reader, and for the most part I think he has succeeded.  

I'll let you know more after I win the lottery (Hack #41).