# How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/how-to-lie-with-statistics/

6 people recommended How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff in Hacker News comments and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 12 months, in 5 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as an accessible guide to how statistics get manipulated and misread.

Summary written by Claude from 5 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 3 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Highly regarded statistics book (1 comment in the sample): "One of the best is How To Lie With Statistics by Darrell Huff which was written in 1954." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49602523))
- Enjoyable read (1 comment in the sample): "I did enjoy e.g. How to Lie with Statistics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47122375))

## Other mathematics books people recommend

- [Elements by Euclid by Oliver Byrne](https://hackerapproved.com/p/elements-of-euclid/): 14 recommend, 2 mixed, 9 criticize
- [Fermat's Last Theorem by Simon Singh](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fermat-s-last-theorem/): 11 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 criticize
- [Gödel's Proof by Nagel and Newman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/g-del-s-proof/): 9 recommend, 0 mixed, 1 criticize
- [Mathematica: A Secret World of Intuition and Curiosity by David Bessis](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mathematica-a-secret-world-of-intuition-and-curiosity/): 8 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff", https://hackerapproved.com/p/how-to-lie-with-statistics/ (6 recommend, 0 mixed, 1 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 3 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.