noBSstats Reading Group

noBSstats Reading Group#

The No Bullshit Guide to Statistics reading group will run between February and April 2026. There will be an assigned weekly reading of one section (roughly 30 pages), which you’re expected to read on your own. I will prepare exercises to check your understanding of the new material, with solutions provided at the end of the week. I’ll also organize a weekly “office hours” video call when you can ask further clarifying questions.

Schedule#

Here is the proposed schedule I have in mind:

This gsheet contains the links to weekly exercises, exercises solutions, overview videos, etc. and it will be updated each week.

Weekly tasks#

Each week includes the following activities:

  • Watch the introductory video tutorial (5-10 mins)

  • Go through the assigned reading for that week (~30 pages)

  • Try to solve the exercises (sent on Monday of each week)

  • Check the provided solutions to the exercises (sent on Friday of each week)

  • Ask clarifying questions in the discussion forum if needed

  • Attend the “office hours” if you have followup questions

Introductory video tutorials#

I plan to record short intro videos for each section of the book. These videos serve as “trailers” for what you’ll learn in each section, and aim to motivate you to dedicate the time needed to read and understand the text. The videos introduce the key ideas using informal language, but you’ll need to read the text for the details.

I’ll be recoding new video tutorials for Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 topics and adding them to the existing playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGmu4KtWiH6-WQrTReNIIQhLxU8cirdxA

Assigned reading#

The No Bullshit Guide to Statistics has 1100 pages in total. The goal of the reading group is help you stick with the reading, which might require several months of sustained effort. If we read the book as group, we’re much more likely to stay on track and finish it. Yes, I’ll be going through the book alongside you to make the final pass of corrections and edits, so we’re in this together!

The weekly reading will not be too demanding: just one or two sections per week, which means you’ll need only about two to three hours to read the material and try the exercises. But, please give me a good morning hours—when you’re properly caffeinated and ready to handle some advanced math and code examples!

Exercises#

Each week I will prepare 5–10 exercises related to the reading material for that week. There are already some exercises in v0.91 of the book, but over the next few months, I’ll be beefing up the exercises for each section, and preparing solutions for them, which I’ll provide for you each week.

The goal for the exercises is not to be hard: they are just spot-checks to make sure you’re on board with the new material. It’s important that you try to solve these exercises on your own: don’t just look at them as a spectator!

Office hours#

Attending the office hours is totally optional. I want to provide you with a space to ask me question live. We’ll do this via google meet or zoom. The weekday and time for the office hours will be determined based on the responses to the sign up form (see the link in the email that I sent via Gumroad). I’m going to try to accommodate people in the EST and PST time zones, but make the time also feasible for people in Europe.

Discussion forum#

I’ve setup a Discord server called noBSstats where we can have ongoing discussions during the week. Sign up link is here: https://discord.gg/6Nsde9tZwK

Use the #chapter1-questions channel to ask questions that come up while reading the assigned reading, and #chapter1-exercises to ask clearing questions about the exercises. You can assume the discussions will happen async, but I’ll try to stay logged in on most days for fast turnaround time.

You can also email me your questions directly at ivan@minireference.com, but if you post your questions on the forum others will be able to learn from you.

FAQ#

  • What if I can’t joint in Feb?
    No problem, you can still benefit from the video intros and the exercises asynchronously.

  • When do we get to Part 2?
    We’re starting by reading Part 1 during Feb, March and April 2026. If things work out, we’ll continue the reading group for Part 2 as well (Spring/Summer 2026).

Sign up#

This the reading group if offered free of charge for readers who bought the No Bullshit Guide to Statistics via Gumroad. I’ll be using the Gumroad customers list for comms, so if you’re interested in joining the reading group, you can buy the book via Gumroad, then send me an email at ivan@minireference.com to let me know you want to join.

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