Turned out to be something quite different from what I expected, but still I'm utterly grateful to the book for dedicating a whole chapter, full of fascination with Russian mathematician and polymath Kolmogorov. Being from Russia myself I never quite heard such enthusiastic praise in his address here. Yet it looks he absolutely deserves it.

This was not a book I had envisioned as being something that I would read, let alone grow to love. My experience with statistics had been limited to some courses I took in graduate school and then exposed to when I was on my first job, we were all exposed to statistical process control (SPC) and six sigma. My background in statistics only went so far as knowing some of the SPC tools. As I grew more mature I began to appreciate the usefulness of statistics but I had a hard time connecting the SPC tools I was exposed to with the mathematic heavy statistics that are taught in the textbooks. As I tried to parse through the dense formal statistical curriculum I grew frustrated with my own inability to get through to the kernel of the topic. As I struggled I kept seeing this particular book being recommended by a number of people, so I bought it and prepared for the worst, yet another dense explanation of rudimentary statistics that had very little to do with what I wanted.
To my surprise and amazement, this book was so different, different from any other book that I had ever read. It was a love paean to the study of statistics, it was a gossipy and information laden history of the evolution of the art of probability and statistics, it was a summary of the important developments in statistics, it was an invaluable primer in the methods used in the practical application of statistic, and finally, it was a hefty philosophical discussion of the problems and issues that are still plaguing the researchers in statistics. I think you get the idea that I kind of liked reading this book.
David Salzburg is a practitioner of the art of statistics, he has the ability to explain the very dense concepts in statistics, both the applied tools and the mathematical conundrums with adept ease. Most importantly he did this without employing any mathematics. Which in some ways is very impressive and in other times it was frustrating because it would have been more enlightening to resort to the bare bones mathematics, but no matter.
Prof. Salzburg clearly has a great love for the story as well as for the subject, he has a great sense of history as well as a deft touch for the internecine nastiness that occurred with the giants of statistics. His descriptions of the relationship, or lack thereof between Pearson and Fisher kept me riveted to the narrative. His description of some of the great mathematicians who were caught in the destructive totalitarian regimes during and after World War II added the human dimension to these stories. I don’t know which aspect of the book I appreciated more, the historical perspective or the unraveling the mystery of the functional relationship between statistical tools and ideas.
There is a clear devotion in his writing that reflects his devotion to giving credit where credit is due, even though he apologized for his inability to give credit to all that had contributed, the breadth and depth of the book was astounding and gratifying to someone who appreciates a truly “Big Picture” look at the statistical landscape from the 10,000 feet view. I particularly enjoyed the discussions regarding the contributions of Deming and Shewart to the SPC branch of the vast tree of statistical evolution. I was able to make the connections from those chapters to untie the knot that was in my mind.
The piece de resistance was the final chapter where he discusses his own views on the unexplained philosophical contradictions still existing in statistics. It felt like I was in the midst of the discussion even though I am a dilettante in the art of statistics.
This is a book that comprised of some very dense concepts and it was difficult to focus at times but it was well worth the effort in my mind. ( )

An interesting overview of important men and women in the field of statistics from a statistics PhD holder. The author could not decide if he wanted it to be an entry-level statistics textbook, a set of small biographies of important people in the field of statistics or an autobiography. Ultimately, it was a poor mix of these and fell flat in trying to cover too much material from each of the three categories. The book also feels extremely dated, that author kept referring to "high-speed computers" and "digital computers" which made me think he might not have used them that often prior to retirement. ( )

overview of statistical thought and progress in 20th century; needed more math, needed to show links between thought, needed actual examples rather that mere description of where used

A bunch of mini biographies of statisticians, along with sort-of descriptions of why what they did was important. I say sort-of because there was often not enough for me to really understand why what they did was important—I will certainly accept that the difference between parametric and nonparametric statistics is vital and has real-world implications, but this isn’t the book to explain why, and maybe such a book would have to be a textbook. To me, the book hung awkwardly between “popular” and “science,” and I would have liked more on the latter. ( )