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(Hypertension. 2002;39:e25.)
© 2002 American Heart Association, Inc.

Book Review

Primer of Biostatistics, 5th ed

Richard B. Chambers, MSPH

Biostatistician, Ochsner Clinic Foundation, Clinical/Outcomes Research, New Orleans, Louisiana, E-mail rchambers@ochsner.org

Stanton A. Glantz, PhD. 489 pp.

New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2001.

US rate: $34.95.

ISBN 0-07-137946-0.

Do we really need another biostatistics textbook? They seem to be being produced hand over fist, and on receiving this one to review, my bias usurped my initial investigation. As a biostatistician, I did not expect to learn anything, and I was especially not looking forward to the same presentation of the same material that purported to do so in a new, different, innovative, applied, or practical manner. Nonetheless, taking the advice of Herbert Spencer not to allow "contempt prior to investigation" to perpetuate my ignorance, I reviewed the book and quickly realized that I was in for a pleasant surprise.

The presentation is really different. Dr Glantz’s target audience is not biostatisticians. There are thorough explanations using clinical terminology without the extensive mathematical proofs that a text for biostatisticians would need. The preface describes the tone as a "confrontational style," which works well for a reference book for physicians in medical research. Furthermore, although the methods are taught with enough thoroughness to allow the reader to actually do statistical analyses, the language and examples provide the option for the reader to easily learn just enough to become a good consumer of biostatistics. Dr Glantz has met a need that I have known to exist in the medical research community, ie, for a course to allow clinicians to better understand statistical presentations in the medical literature, enable readers to question conclusions on the basis . . . [Full Text of this Article]