Tag: statistics

Book: Alexander Bogachev “Charts That Persuade Everyone”

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Working with numbers, analytics—all of it always ends the same way: with graphical representation to clearly present data to ordinary people, management, shareholders, or even to understand it yourself. Many authors focus on the skill of presenting information in this form, although it’s often just a single chapter in books on broader topics. Even from those mentioned in my blog, you can refer to “The Numbers Game“ by Vasiliy Sabirov or “How to Lie with Statistics“ by Darrell Huff.

Following a recommendation from Vasiliy Sabirov, I read a book entirely dedicated to the correct way to convey any information through charts—“Charts That Persuade Everyone” by Alexander Bogachev. As a manager, I encounter charts frequently, but even I hadn’t considered some of the finer details that can drastically change how information is perceived.

This is a very short book—240 pages, nearly half of which are examples of various charts. But this is precisely its value: there’s almost no filler here; everything is strictly focused on the topic.

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Book: Ben Orlin “Math with Bad Drawings”

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I fell in love with mathematics in the early years of school. I was very fortunate to have a math teacher who not only showed us how fascinating this subject could be but also greatly influenced me and many of my classmates in shaping who we became as individuals. He was truly a Teacher with a capital “T.”

In the fourth grade, I completed both the fourth and fifth-grade math courses (even though the official education system didn’t really support such an approach at the time), and I carried my love for mathematics all the way to university, eventually earning a degree as an officially certified “mathematician-systems programmer.” (Though I must admit that by the time I was in university, I realized I didn’t enjoy all areas of mathematics equally—but that’s a story for another time.)

It was probably this childhood passion that made me pay attention to a book titled “Math with Bad Drawings” when it randomly appeared in my feed. Or perhaps it was the description, which mentioned that not every student is lucky enough to have a teacher like Ben Orlin, who knows how to reveal the beauty of this subject in an accessible and engaging way. I was eager to compare the methods of this unfamiliar American author with the approaches that had such an impact on me.

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