Customer Reviews

Multivariate Statistical Methods: A Primer, Third Edition

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bryan Manly is an excellent writer who has published numerous books particularly in the area of permutation tests and resampling procedures. He provides rigor but is not overly detailed. This is the kind of text that would give you a nice overview of multivariate analysis and an appreciation for applications. It also serves as a nice reference source for a refresher on the basics. It would not be used as a course text for a graduate course in multivariate analysis because it is not detailed enough.

Unlike the full textbooks which slog through the material, Manly briskly moves along through the topics and illustrates the techniques with real numbers. References to the original papers are available as are hint for computer support -- which are sadly dated (Lotus 1-2-3?). Lightweight, easy to read on the bus, and nicely typeset.

This is a great first book to read if you are getting started with multivariate methods. It is very easy to read, has a (relatively) low mathematical threshold, and illustrates results with interesting datasets.

What it doesn't have is solid connections to more recent (last decade) results nor to modern statistical program systems, such as R, SAS or SPSS.

The second book you read on multivariate methods should be one published in the last 5 years. A recent book on data mining would be apropos for the non-statistician.

The book was in excellent condition again it didn't come for two and half weeks which was frustrating.