
Seven Pillars
Wisdom hath built her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars. –Proverbs 9:1 I just finished Stephen Stigler’s The Seven Pillars of Statistical Wisdom, and I’m daunted–and embarrassed that I waited so long to read it. Stigler gives us a structure and taxonomy to statistical thinking* that gives us the “big picture” of statistics. Quite a difference from the descriptives-to-inference-to-models approach that most textbook authors follow. This is making me rethink how I approach my introductory courses, especially those for statistics majors. I’m starting with a baby step: adding the (inexpensive, paperbound) book as a required reading in my … Continue reading Seven Pillars