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| Book: How to Lie with Statistics
Author: Darrell Huff Copyright: 1954 (renewed 1982) by Darrell Huff Summary: This book helps teach readers about the manipulative potential of statistics in different forms. Chapter 3 specifically talks about companies using percentages and graphs to their marketing benefit. By teaching you the tricks of the trade, this book will help make you more skeptical of the numbers. Even though it was originally written in 1954 and a bit outdated (the mean Yale graduate made $25,000 a year�which was impressive), the book is still interesting and entertaining. "The crooks already know these tricks. Honest men must learn them in self-defense." All this is wrapped up in a book with simple examples (no math beyond arithmetic, really) and cartoons to help illustrate the topics and keep it humorous. Movie: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room Release year: 2005 Summary: A detailed documentary about what really went down during this infamous business scandal of Enron, one of the United State�s largest companies. It is an informative and easy-to-understand account of the business� failure. It does a good job of explaining how the chairman, Kenneth Lay, CEO, Jeffrey Skilling, and CFO, Andrew Fastow took greed to new heights by deceiving major banks, law firms, and even the President of the United States. It tells all the details about how the company that did so well and then lied when they began to crash, and how they cheated California to try to stay afloat. Sherron Watkins, Enron's Vice President, speaks up towards the end of the movie when she discovers the truth. Also, Fortune magazine reporter Bethany McLean tells her version to help narrate the story. Connections between the Movie and Book I choose the book How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff because it does a great job of teaching students a math concept without actually doing any math. Unlike a math text, which teaches a concept and then asks students to practice some problems, this book would be a great supplement in any math course, especially statistics. I choose to focus mostly on Chapter 3, even though all the chapters are useful and would connect well to the movie. Chapter 3, �The Little Figures that are not there�, had the most in common with the movie. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room connects well with this book, and especially this chapter, because it is about a company that tried to disguise their loss. When Andy Fastow was convincing companies to invest in Enron, even as the company was going under, he was manipulating the numbers to make it look like Enron was still on top. The movie would be a great example of a company that �lied with statistics� for their benefit. Other topics may include morals, values, and business codes of ethics. Note: The movie is rated R because of the excessive use of the �F� word and one unnecessary stripper scene that could be skipped right over. Of course, a permission slip to watch the movie would still be necessary in a high school classroom. |
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