How to Lie with Statistics
How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huffby Darrell Huff
Shares rank 7 of 19 mathematics books by recommenders
People recommend it as an accessible guide to how statistics get manipulated and misread.
6 people recommended How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff in Hacker News comments and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 5 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 3 of those comments still count.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- mixed feelings
- 0
- warn against or regret it
- 1
The record
Recommended in 5 of 12 months
In 5 different threads.
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 5 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 33% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 3 of the 7 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Highly regarded statistics book
“One of the best is How To Lie With Statistics by Darrell Huff which was written in 1954.”
Comment from 7 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: Would you read a statistics textbook?” Enjoyable read
“I did enjoy e.g. How to Lie with Statistics”
Comment from 23 Feb 2026 in “Six Math Essentials”
Other mathematics books people recommend
The four most recommended other mathematics books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elements by Euclidby Oliver Byrne | 14 | 2 | 9 | 61% | 8 | — | — |
| Fermat's Last Theoremby Simon Singh | 11 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Gödel's Proofby Nagel and Newman | 9 | 0 | 1 | 90% | 2 | — | — |
| Mathematica: A Secret World of Intuition and Curiosityby David Bessis | 8 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | — |
| How to Lie with Statisticsby Darrell HuffThis page | 6 | 0 | 1 | 86% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
3 of the 7 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“One of the best is How To Lie With Statistics by Darrell Huff which was written in 1954.”
“a work of a morally bankrupt guy who used the very same tricks he criticized”
“I did enjoy e.g. How to Lie with Statistics”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.