Accidental Statistician

GEORGE E. P. BOX, PhD, is Ronald Aylmer Fisher Professor Emeritus of Statistics and Industrial Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His lifelong work has defined statistical analysis, while his name and research is a part of some of the most influential statistical constructs, including Box-Jenkins models, Box-Cox transformations, and Box-Behnken designs. Dr. Box is the coauthor of a number of Wiley books, including most recently, Statistical Control by Monitoring and Adjustment, Second Edition; Response Surfaces, Mixtures, and Ridge Analyses, Second Edition; and Improving Almost Anything: Ideas and Essays, Revised Edition.

Mentioned in The Economist- 20 December 2014

• Foreword xiSecond Foreword xvPreface xixAcknowledgments xxiFrom ThePublisher xxiii1 Early Years 1‘‘Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle.’’2 Army Life 19‘‘Contrarywise, if it was so, it might be: and if it were so, it would be: but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.’’3 ICI and the Statistical Methods Panel 44‘‘Can you answer useful questions?’’4 George Barnard 53‘‘When I use a word . . . it means just what I choose it to mean–neither more nor less.’’5 An Invitation to the United States 63‘‘The time has come, ‘the walrus said,’ to talk of many things. Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings.’’6 Princeton 78‘‘Ah! Then yours wasn’t a really good school.’’7 A New Life in Madison 94‘‘Digging for apples, your honor!’’8 Time Series 124‘‘What do you know about this business?’’9 George Tiao and the Bayes Book 139‘‘It gets easier further on.’’10 GrowingUp (Helen and Harry) 144‘‘There are 364 days when you might get unbirthday presents, and only 1 for birthday presents, you know.’’11 Fisher—Father and Son 151‘‘I only hope the boat won’t tipple over!’’12 Bill Hunter and Some Ideas on Experimental Design 157‘‘There goes Bill!’’13 The Quality Movement 181‘‘The race is over!. . . ‘Everybody has won and all must have prizes.’’’14 Adventures with Claire 197‘‘What else had you to learn?’’ ‘‘Well, there was Mystery.’’15 The Many Sides of Mac 209‘‘There’s nothing like eating hay when you’re feeling faint.’’16 Life in England 218‘‘What matters is how far we go? There is another shore, you know, upon the other side.’’17 Journeys to Scandinavia 224‘‘What sort of people live here?’’18 A Second Home in Spain 228‘‘I know something interesting is sure to happen.’’19 The Royal Society of London 24520 Conclusion 24721 Memories 248Index 265

1. 4/5

   Underhållande berättelse

   George Box är en av förgrundsfigurerna inom statistiken under 1900-talet. Boken beskriver på ett underhållande sätt hur mannen som aldrig hade haft en universitetsanställning blev professor vid ett universitet i USA. Alla som har någon typ av erfarenhet från det statistiska området kommer att ha nöje av att läsa denna bok, där framför allt karriären, men även delar av privatlivet beskrivs. Man får även stifta bekantskap med andra storheter inom statistikteorin som Box har träffat på under åren.Det jag tar med mig från denna bok är hur nyfikenhet kan vara en stark drivkälla i ett liv och att man alrig blir för gammal för att ställa frågor och sedan försöka besvara dem.

   Mr M

   03 september 2014