A Beginner's Guide to R (Use R!) [Paperback]

Alain F. Zuur (Author), Elena N. Ieno (Author), Erik Meesters (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0387938362 | ISBN-13: 978-0387938363 | Edition: 1

Based on their extensive experience with teaching R and statistics to applied scientists, the authors provide a beginner's guide to R. To avoid the difficulty of teaching R and statistics at the same time, statistical methods are kept to a minimum. The text covers how to download and install R, import and manage data, elementary plotting, an introduction to functions, advanced plotting, and common beginner mistakes. This book contains everything you need to know to get started with R. “Its biggest advantage is that it aims only to teach R...It organizes R commands very efficiently, with much teaching guidance included. I would describe this book as being handy--it’s the kind of book that you want to keep in your jacket pocket or backpack all the time, ready for use, like a Swiss Army knife.” (Loveday Conquest, University of Washington) “Whilst several books focus on learning statistics in R..., the authors of this book fill a gap in the market by focusing on learning R whilst almost completely avoiding any statistical jargon...The fact that the authors have very extensive experience of teaching R to absolute beginners shines throughout.” (Mark Mainwaring, Lancaster University) “Exactly what is needed...This is great, nice work. I love the ecological/biological examples; they will be an enormous help.” (Andrew J. Tyne, University of Nebraska-Lincoln)

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews: “A Beginner’s Guide to R is just what its title implies, a quick-start guide for the newest R users. A unique feature of this welcome addition to Springer’s Use R! series is that it is devoted solely to getting the user up and running on R. Unlike other texts geared towards R beginners, …this text does not make the mistake of trying to simultaneously teach statistics. …there are straightforward homework exercises provided throughout…, and the data sets can be downloaded from the authors’ website… …A Beginner’s Guide to R is an essential resource for the R novice, whether an undergraduate learning statistics for the first time or a seasoned statistician biting the bullet and making the switch to R. “ (The R Journal Vol. 2/1, June 2010) “…most suitable for an advanced beginner or a user who needs an introduction to a wide variety of graphical methods. Overall, the book does most things quite well. It shows the beginner how to install R. how to load data into R, how to perform some subsetting operations including the sorting of data and most of all how to plot data using a variety of methods. Throughout, all methods and code are will illustrated and can be easily replicated by anyone using the book. …I learned quite a number of things about R that I did not previously know. Consequently, I would recommend the book not only for the students who need to learn R, but for professionals who need to enhance their basic working knowledge of R." (Math Geosci 2010, 42: 133–137) “The book has many admirable features. It introduces key commands in easy stages. Each chapter has a number of illustrative examples, lucidly explained, and ends with a review of what has been covered. Chapters also contain exercises at the end that reinforce the examples provided. … useful work for self-study or for an introductory course, allowing readers to apply their knowledge of the language to begin learning how to use R for statistical analysis or other purposes. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels of readership.” (R. Bharath, Choice, Vol. 47 (11), July, 2010) “This book explains how to create datasets, variables, functions and plots using R. It is not a simple book though. … somewhat dense and covers each topic thoroughly. … best to follow every example. … I found this book to be well written for its intended audience and purpose. I had no difficulty reading it or following the examples. … This approach will give you a good foundation for using R in your own work and advancing to other books about specific analyses and procedures.” (Mark Bailey, Technometrics, Vol. 53 (1), February, 2011) “This book has a very clear objective. … this is a popular book about the R statistical software. … The book is true to its goal of being a text for the absolute beginner with easy to follow explanations, examples to program, and exercises to build skill. The reader who takes advantages of the available data files and R text editors will find this to be a very instructive book. It will definitely increase your desire to learn and use R in the future.” (Brandon Alleman, The American Statistician, May, 2011)

From the Back Cover

Based on their extensive experience with teaching R and statistics to applied scientists, the authors provide a beginner's guide to R. To avoid the difficulty of teaching R and statistics at the same time, statistical methods are kept to a minimum. The text covers how to download and install R, import and manage data, elementary plotting, an introduction to functions, advanced plotting, and common beginner mistakes. This book contains everything you need to know to get started with R. "Its biggest advantage is that it aims only to teach R...It organizes R commands very efficiently, with much teaching guidance included. I would describe this book as being handy--it's the kind of book that you want to keep in your jacket pocket or backpack all the time, ready for use, like a Swiss Army knife." (Loveday Conquest, University of Washington) "Whilst several books focus on learning statistics in R..., the authors of this book fill a gap in the market by focusing on learning R whilst almost completely avoiding any statistical jargon...The fact that the authors have very extensive experience of teaching R to absolute beginners shines throughout." (Mark Mainwaring, Lancaster University) "Exactly what is needed...This is great, nice work. I love the ecological/biological examples; they will be an enormous help." (Andrew J. Tyne, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) Alain F. Zuur is senior statistician and director of Highland Statistics Ltd., a statistical consultancy company based in the UK. He has taught statistics to more than 5000 ecologists. He is honorary research fellow in the School of Biological Sciences, Oceanlab, at the University of Aberdeen, UK. Elena N. Ieno is senior marine biologist and co-director at Highland Statistics Ltd. She has been involved in guiding PhD students on the design and analysis of ecological data. She is honorary research fellow in the School of Biological Sciences, Oceanlab, at the University of Aberdeen, UK. Erik H.W.G. Meesters is a researcher at the Dutch Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies (IMARES). He specializes in coral reef ecology and applied statistics and conducts research on North Sea benthos and seal ecology.

Product Details

• Paperback: 236 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (July 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387938362
• ISBN-13: 978-0387938363
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,309 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Medical Books > Basic Sciences > Biostatistics

More About the Author

Alain F. Zuur is senior statistician and director of Highland Statistics Ltd., a statistical consultancy company based in the UK. He has taught statistics to more than 5000 ecologists. He is honorary research fellow in the School of Biological Sciences, Oceanlab, at the University of Aberdeen, UK.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A a great start, July 26, 2009

By 

I Teach Typing (Stanford, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Beginner's Guide to R (Use R!) (Paperback)

If you want to start (from scratch) to learn to use R for data manipulation and graphics get this book. The authors say, in the forward, that it was designed to support a 3 day (8 hour per day) introduction to the R language without teaching statistics and it does a fabulous job. It covers R data types and data manipulation nearly as well as my favorite book on the topic Data Manipulation with R (Use R) but it also does a good job covering basic plots (all the typical one or two variable plots) out to intermediate graphics (making a lattice with lots of pictures) (a good next step for graphics is Data Analysis and Graphics Using R: An Example-based Approach (Cambridge Series in Statistical and Probabilistic Mathematics)) and also gives a very accessible introduction to applying functions to sets of variables and the R version of looping.

The organization and flow are excellent. Each chapter has many exercises and as you read their are pointers saying to go try the corresponding problems. There is no answer key for the problems but they are so closely tied to the material that should not be a major issue.

The index is okay but not good because there are functions used in the body of the book that are not indexed and it is missing an overall summary index/table that covers all the functions.

If the publisher will clean up the indexing, so that it is easier to return and find the information in the book, it is a solid 5 star product. Another possible complaint is that it is very expensive for a 200 page paperback but the quality of the writing offsets for the bloated price.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great introduction to a powerful program, August 23, 2009

By 

BlueDaisy (Northern US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Beginner's Guide to R (Use R!) (Paperback)

As the previous poster noted, if you are new to R, and especially if you are new to programming, this is the book for you. R is a very powerful statistical language with a steep learning curve if you attempt to master it on your own. For those who are used to black-box statistical programs, R can be intimidating since the user must enter syntax rather than relying on point-and-click programs.

The authors' experience in teaching R to all levels of users shines throughout this informative and friendly handbook. They show how to perform routine statistical tasks in a step-by-step format, describing common mistakes and remedies which alone are worth the price of the book.

I strongly advise that newcomers to R take an afternoon to work systematically through the book rather than treating it like a set of recipes for programming to pick through as needed. This approach will build confidence and competence, and will save considerable time when work is due. I wish I had had this book when I first encountered R, and even after years of use, I found more efficient methods in this book than ones I had picked up along the way. Excellent.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential book for new users to R, December 11, 2009

By 

G M Smith (Somerset, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Beginner's Guide to R (Use R!) (Paperback)

Firstly, I confess a possible lack of objectivity in this review as I have co-authored a couple of other books with the lead author of this book.

For anyone new to R, an occasional user of R, or indeed if you teach R, there seems to a recurring set of questions that need answered to get R to do what you want it to do. Many simple things seem to take a frustratingly large number of hours or even days to resolve. Not because they are difficult to do, just difficult to find out how to do.

Based on many years experience of using and teaching R, the authors have pulled together the answers to the types of questions that most beginners find themselves asking. There is no attempt at teaching statistics in this book, it is strictly a compilation of "how to do things in R". But with the added bonus of passing on many tips on the best ways of doing things, and a useful chapter of common errors that new, and sometimes not so new, users of R often make.

For the beginner, and occasional user who forgets how to do things in between R sessions, this book will be invaluable, and almost certainly save you hours of searching. Additionally, simply leafing through the book is likely to draw your attention to ways of using R, or ways of avoiding problems with R, that you are unlikely to come across when leafing through more comprehensive and wider ranging books on R.

If you are an R beginner and value your blood pressure and your time, this book is well worth the money.