Book Review: Bayesian Statistics the Fun Way: Understanding Statistics and Probability With Star Wars, Lego, and Rubber Ducks

Abstract

Includes index. "An introduction to Bayesian statistics with simple and pop culture-based explanations. Topics covered include measuring your own uncertainty in a belief, applying Bayes' theorem, and calculating distributions"-- Part 1. Introduction to probability. Bayesian thinking and everyday reasoning -- Measuring uncertainty -- The logic of uncertainty -- Creating a binomial probability distribution -- The beta distribution -- Part 2. Bayesian probability and prior probabilities. Conditional probability -- Bayes' theorem with LEGO -- The prior, likelihood, and posterior of Bayes' theorem -- Bayesian priors and working with probability distributions -- Part 3. Parameter estimation. Introduction to averaging and parameter estimation -- Measuring the spread of our data -- The normal distribution -- Tools of parameter estimation : the PDF, CDF, and Quantile function -- Parameter estimation with prior probabilities -- Part 4. Hypothesis testing: the heart of statistics. From parameter estimation to hypothesis testing : building a Bayesian A/B test -- Introduction to the Bayes factor and posterior odds : the competition of ideas -- Bayesian reasoning in the twilight zone -- When data doesn't convince you -- From hypothesis testing to parameter estimation -- Appendix A: A quick introduction to R -- Appendix B: Enough calculus to get by.