# Statistical Rethinking by Richard McElreath

10 Hacker News commenters recommended Statistical Rethinking by Richard McElreath and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended as an accessible, practical Bayesian statistics introduction and causal modeling reference. Critics say it assumes existing statistics proficiency and reads as written to impress professors.

## Why people recommend it

- Accessible, intuitive introduction to Bayesian statistics (2 comments): "widely regarded as the most accessible intro textbook to Bayesian statistics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49594463)) "practical/applied/intuitive approach to Bayesian Statistics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47493292))
- Popular introductory Bayesian textbook (2 comments): "widely regarded as the most accessible intro textbook to Bayesian statistics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49594463)) "A popular intro Bayesian book Statistical Rethinking has a similar" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49734259))

## What people warn about

- Assumes existing statistics proficiency (1 comments): "Rethinking is indeed written for people who have some or even a lot of existing proficiency in statistics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49601842))
- Feels written to impress professors (1 comments): "Overall it feels like a textbook written to impress other statistics professors" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49595295))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Think Bayes by Allen Downey](https://hackerapproved.com/p/think-bayes.md): 4 recommend
- [Probability Theory: The Logic of Science by Jaynes](https://hackerapproved.com/p/probability-theory-the-logic-of-science.md): 3 recommend
- [The Elements of Statistical Learning by Hastie, Tibshirani and Friedman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/elements-of-statistical-learning.md): 3 recommend
- [Introduction to Probability by Blitzstein and Hwang](https://hackerapproved.com/p/introduction-to-probability.md): 3 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/036713991X?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780367139919) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Statistical Rethinking by Richard McElreath", https://hackerapproved.com/p/statistical-rethinking/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).