The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century

by David Salsburg

Paperback, 2002

Status

Available

Genres

Collection

Your library

Publication

Henry Holt and Company

Description

An insightful, revealing history of the magical mathematics that transformed our world. At a summer tea party in Cambridge, England, a guest states that tea poured into milk tastes different from milk poured into tea. Her notion is shouted down by the scientific minds of the group. But one man, Ronald Fisher, proposes to scientifically test the hypothesis. There is no better person to conduct such an experiment, for Fisher is a pioneer in the field of statistics. The Lady Tasting Tea spotlights not only Fisher's theories but also the revolutionary ideas of dozens of men and women which affect our modern everyday lives. Writing with verve and wit, David Salsburg traces breakthroughs ranging from the rise and fall of Karl Pearson's theories to the methods of quality control that rebuilt postwar Japan's economy, including a pivotal early study on the capacity of a small beer cask at the Guinness brewing factory. Brimming with intriguing tidbits and colorful characters,The Lady Tasting Tea salutes the spirit of those who dared to look at the world in a new way.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member sgerbic

Reviewed Aug 2002

This is a math history book for non-math people, I found it really interesting in parts and dry/detailed in others. Salsburg writes well and explains bits of the lives behind the people involved in statistics. He tries to include women as much as possible but leaves out minorities

completely. (are their many to include?) I am interested to learn that Florence Nightingale invented pie charts. She used them to explain that more men die from illness during war than in action. A great quote, "Although it has been studied for about 2,500 years, Aristotle's codification of logic is a relativity useless tool." The part about management setting unrealistic expatiations using red and white beads was great. And Stella Canfiffe who said, "It is no use as statisticians, our being sniffy about the slapdash methods of many sociologists unless we are prepared to try them into more scientifically acceptable thought." John Tukey explains tally marks for counting are useless (llll llll) it is too easy to make a mistake. He suggests using 10 as the base and making dots, lines and crosses.

14-2002

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LibraryThing member neurodrew

This book is a chatty, nonmathematical account of the evolution of statistics as an approach to science in the 20th century. Most of the characters are English. The title refers to an incident of an improptu experiment set up by R.A. Fisher at a garden party when a lady claimed to be able to detect

if tea had milk added or if the milk had been poured first. There is no record of the outcome. The book detailed numerous conflicts between Karl Pearson, R.A. Fisher, and Jerzy Neyman at the University of London. There was a politically correct nod to the inclusion of women, including Florence Nightengale. The book was well written but would have benefited from more mathematics.

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LibraryThing member rivkat

A bunch of mini biographies of statisticians, along with sort-of descriptions of why what they did was important. I say sort-of because there was often not enough for me to really understand why what they did was important—I will certainly accept that the difference between parametric and

nonparametric statistics is vital and has real-world implications, but this isn’t the book to explain why, and maybe such a book would have to be a textbook. To me, the book hung awkwardly between “popular” and “science,” and I would have liked more on the latter.

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LibraryThing member lorin

Salsburg recounts the origins behind many of the statistical tools that are used in everyday science today. Non-statisticians may be surprised at how controversial some of these techniques are in the statistics community. The book also contains some philosophical musings on the nature of the truth

that can be obtained from statistical analysis.

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LibraryThing member hccucctest

This book was not that great but worth checking out.

LibraryThing member FKarr

overview of statistical thought and progress in 20th century; needed more math, needed to show links between thought, needed actual examples rather that mere description of where used

LibraryThing member pbirch01

An interesting overview of important men and women in the field of statistics from a statistics PhD holder. The author could not decide if he wanted it to be an entry-level statistics textbook, a set of small biographies of important people in the field of statistics or an autobiography.

Ultimately, it was a poor mix of these and fell flat in trying to cover too much material from each of the three categories. The book also feels extremely dated, that author kept referring to "high-speed computers" and "digital computers" which made me think he might not have used them that often prior to retirement.

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LibraryThing member RGaryRasmussen

This history of the development of mathematical statistics in the 20th century is delightful. But, at times, it is also frustrating, as it is completely non-mathematical. I enjoyed the book a lot, but would have enjoyed it even more if it had been written at a slightly higher technical level. A few

simple equations would not have deterred the general reader. Compared with the pace of development in the mathematical sciences, the field of statistics has developed remarkably slowly, and recently. Reading this book, you get the sense that the development is still underway.

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LibraryThing member pw0327

This was not a book I had envisioned as being something that I would read, let alone grow to love. My experience with statistics had been limited to some courses I took in graduate school and then exposed to when I was on my first job, we were all exposed to statistical process control (SPC) and

six sigma. My background in statistics only went so far as knowing some of the SPC tools. As I grew more mature I began to appreciate the usefulness of statistics but I had a hard time connecting the SPC tools I was exposed to with the mathematic heavy statistics that are taught in the textbooks. As I tried to parse through the dense formal statistical curriculum I grew frustrated with my own inability to get through to the kernel of the topic. As I struggled I kept seeing this particular book being recommended by a number of people, so I bought it and prepared for the worst, yet another dense explanation of rudimentary statistics that had very little to do with what I wanted.
To my surprise and amazement, this book was so different, different from any other book that I had ever read. It was a love paean to the study of statistics, it was a gossipy and information laden history of the evolution of the art of probability and statistics, it was a summary of the important developments in statistics, it was an invaluable primer in the methods used in the practical application of statistic, and finally, it was a hefty philosophical discussion of the problems and issues that are still plaguing the researchers in statistics. I think you get the idea that I kind of liked reading this book.
David Salzburg is a practitioner of the art of statistics, he has the ability to explain the very dense concepts in statistics, both the applied tools and the mathematical conundrums with adept ease. Most importantly he did this without employing any mathematics. Which in some ways is very impressive and in other times it was frustrating because it would have been more enlightening to resort to the bare bones mathematics, but no matter.
Prof. Salzburg clearly has a great love for the story as well as for the subject, he has a great sense of history as well as a deft touch for the internecine nastiness that occurred with the giants of statistics. His descriptions of the relationship, or lack thereof between Pearson and Fisher kept me riveted to the narrative. His description of some of the great mathematicians who were caught in the destructive totalitarian regimes during and after World War II added the human dimension to these stories. I don’t know which aspect of the book I appreciated more, the historical perspective or the unraveling the mystery of the functional relationship between statistical tools and ideas.
There is a clear devotion in his writing that reflects his devotion to giving credit where credit is due, even though he apologized for his inability to give credit to all that had contributed, the breadth and depth of the book was astounding and gratifying to someone who appreciates a truly “Big Picture” look at the statistical landscape from the 10,000 feet view. I particularly enjoyed the discussions regarding the contributions of Deming and Shewart to the SPC branch of the vast tree of statistical evolution. I was able to make the connections from those chapters to untie the knot that was in my mind.
The piece de resistance was the final chapter where he discusses his own views on the unexplained philosophical contradictions still existing in statistics. It felt like I was in the midst of the discussion even though I am a dilettante in the art of statistics.
This is a book that comprised of some very dense concepts and it was difficult to focus at times but it was well worth the effort in my mind.

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