This book is an old classic by Darell Huff. He went out of his way in the 1950s to explain how cognitive biases and statistical manipulation are used in research, media, and business opportunities.
Every founder and investor should read this book, mostly because it brings to life some of the most basic forms of statistical and emotional manipulation one might try to present to you during a pitch.
As investors and founders, we get paid to have an opinion about the future and to be right ahead of others. As you build your self-fulfilling prophecy, make sure that you are aware of others trying to manipulate information to convince you of their agenda.
My favorite excerpt:
Possibly more important to keep in mind is that the distortion of statistical data and its manipulation to an end are not always the work of professional statisticians. What comes full of virtue from the statistician's desk may find itself twisted, exaggerated, oversimplified, and distorted through selection by salesman, public relations experts, journalists, or advertising copywriters.
But whoever the guilty party may be in any instance, it is hard to grant him the status of blundering innocent. False charts in magazines and newspapers frequently sensationalize by exaggeration, rarely minimize anything.
Go forward and do the work. Breathe. Continue to apply yourself and listen calmly to have proper judgment and rescue yourself back to serenity.
You are the only person capable of bringing tranquility and inner peace to yourself. It is not your mother, girlfriend, or partners. It comes from within.
Inevitably, someone will attack you in life. It might sometimes come hidden in humor, explicitly demonstrated in public or private aggression.
