Naked Statistics - Charles Wheelan

 Sub-title: Stripping the Dread from the Data

With the vast amount of bu**sh**t tossed around on social media, television and advertisements it is difficult to step back and critically analyze the information out in the world.  Back in the day I took courses in statistics at least 3 times and applied some of my learnings during my working years.  This book helped me re-visit the core tools, how they are supposed to be used and how to interpret their results.  I found it a great refresher and a calming, reasoned voice in the age of flashy, attention-getting headlines with numbers. 

Quotes I noted: 

"Probability can be used to catch [test] cheaters.  ...flag exams in which there are a number of identical wrong answers ...as this is highly unlikely unless they are cheating."

"The one social factor researchers agree is linked to longer lives in every country where it has been studied is education." 

published: 2013  Read: November 2025  Genre: Non-fiction

Salvage the Bones - Jesmyn Ward

 This book was highly recommended to me by my sister, who had seen the author discuss her writing. 

It's the story of a about a week in the life of a very poor family living on the Gulf of Mexico awaiting the Katrina hurricane. It's told by the only daughter, Esch, a pregnant 15 year old.  Her two older brothers, Randall and Skeetah, seek to escape, one pursuing basketball and the other raising puppies with his fighting pit bull, China.  Their mother died giving birth to their youngest brother, Junior and the older children raise him during the neglect of their angry, detached, hard-drinking father.  

What makes this story so powerful is that it is told entirely by Esch in a matter-of-fact voice that reveals their miserable living conditions and twisted family dynamics of extreme poverty.  It's not a book you enjoy but one you cringe from as the reality of the lives of those living this way.  Strongly recommended.

Published: 2011  Read; November 2025  Genre: Fiction

The Berry Pickers - Amanda Peters

 A 4 year-old girl disappears on the edge of blueberry fields where her parents are First Nation pickers from Canada.  The book tells the story of a grown woman who questions her origins and the brother of the missing girl whose life is destroyed with guilt.

A very sad read.  Some beautifully worded phrases and overall a story of forgiveness, family and life struggles.

Published: 2023  Read: November 2025 Genre: Fiction