The Joy of Stats: Statistics Explained

Hans Rosling is best known for his visualization of statistics data: he makes engaging animated displays that show how statistics (like AIDS rates, economic data, and even census data) change over time. By animating the data, Rosling helps laypeople understand what the statistics mean over time, and how to draw meaningful comparisons between data points. Last month, fellow blogger Ransom posted a short clip from Rosling's documentary The Joy of Stats, an engaging hour-long look at Rosling's work, and an explanation of how statistics are useful in daily life. This film is light on math and heavy on practical applications -- it's worth a look if you're interested in statistics, or if (like me) you don't know much about them but want to understand more. The whole hour-long documentary is embedded below. Here's the hyperbolic YouTube description:

Documentary which takes viewers on a rollercoaster ride through the wonderful world of statistics to explore the remarkable power thay have to change our understanding of the world, presented by superstar boffin Professor Hans Rosling, whose eye-opening, mind-expanding and funny online lectures have made him an international internet legend.

See also: Rosling's TED Talk on AIDS from 2009. Also interesting is Rosling's Gapminder project.

(Via Kottke.org, via Waxy.org.)