DARRELL HUFF is best known as the author of How to Lie with Statistics (1954), a brief, breezy, illustrated volume which is the best-selling statistics book of all time.

How to Lie with Statistics explains the errors that can be made during statistical research, both intentionally and unintentionally, and how they can cause a biased or inaccurate conclusion. When it was first published, this book was hailed as ‘a splendid piece of blasphemy against the preposterous religion of our time’. Today statistics continue to baffle us, and this book remains an invaluable guide through the maze of facts and figures that are designed to make us believe anything.

Huff was born in Gowrie, Iowa, and was educated at the University of Iowa. Before turning to writing full-time in 1946, he served as editor of Better Homes and Gardens and Look magazines. As a freelancer, Huff produced hundreds of ‘How to’ feature articles and wrote at least sixteen books, most of which concerned household projects. One of his own biggest projects was the design and build of a prize-winning home in Carmel, California, where he lived until his death.