Joel Best

Why can't we seem to agree on facts? In this brief volume, sociologist Joel Best turns his inimitable eye toward the social construction of facts. He evaluates how facts emerge from our social worlds—including our beliefs, values, tastes, and norms—and according to those worlds' standards. By developing a sociological perspective towards what we think we know, he argues, we can...

Does a young person commit suicide every thirteen minutes in the United States? Are four million women really battered to death by their husbands or boyfriends each year? Is methamphetamine our number one drug problem today? Alarming statistics bombard our daily lives, appearing in the news, on the Web, seemingly everywhere. But all too often, even the most respected publications...

Here, by popular demand, is the updated edition to Joel Best's classic guide to understanding how numbers can confuse us. In his new afterword, Best uses examples from recent policy debates to reflect on the challenges to improving statistical literacy. Since its publication ten years ago, Damned Lies and Statistics has emerged as the go-to handbook for spotting bad statistics...