Book Review: Bayesian Statistics for Beginners. A Step-by-Step Approach

Abstract

Bayesian Statistics for Beginners. A Step-by-Step Approach (Donovan and Mickey, 2019) is, perhaps, the “truest-to-title” book I have read on Bayesian inference and statistics, insofar (a) it is written for novices to probability, inference, the scientific method, and Bayesian methodology, (b) it introduces those four topics step-by-step, repeats them as needed, and emphasizes them throughout the entire book, and (c), despite the authors claiming that “this is not meant to be a course on statistics”(p. 269), the book delves into enough Bayesian statistics to last a lifetime. The most important contribution, however, is that this is a book purposely devoted to highlighting the role of Bayesian methodology and inference in the conduct of science.