The Book of R, 2nd Edition: A First Course in Programming and Statistics -- Tilman M. Davies, Paperback

This long-awaited second edition folds years of updates into its beginner-friendly lessons on using R for data and statistical analysis.

Even if you have no programming experience and little more than a grounding in basic math, The Book of R, 2nd Edition will teach you everything you need to know to begin using R effectively in statistical analysis.

You'll start with the basics, like how to handle data and write simple programs, before moving on to more advanced topics, like producing statistical summaries of your data, performing statistical tests, and modeling. You'll also learn how to create impressive data visualizations with R's graphics tools and contributed packages, like ggplot2 and ggvis, as well as interactive 3D visualizations using the rgl package. Over 30 hands-on exercises (with downloadable solutions) take you from theory to practice, as you explore:

• The fundamentals of programming in R, including how to write data frames, create functions, and use variables, statements, and loops
• Statistical concepts like exploratory data analysis, probabilities, hypothesis tests, and regression modeling, and how to execute them in R
• How to access R's thousands of functions, libraries, and data sets
• How to draw valid and useful conclusions from your data
• How to create publication-quality graphics of your results

The long-awaited second edition has been revised and updated from start to finish, folding years of updates into its beginner-friendly lessons on R. It also contains new content that expands the book's coverage of statistical operations, data plots, date-time-objects, and more -- including dozens of fresh exercises to strengthen your skills.

Combining detailed explanations with real-world examples, The Book of R is your doorway into the wide world of data analysis.

Includes one 8-page full-color insert.

Author: Tilman M. Davies
Publisher: No Starch Press
Published: 11/25/2025
Pages: 936
Binding Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9781718503687

About the Author
Tilman Davies (BCM, BScHons, Ph.D.) is an academic at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Otago in New Zealand, where he lectures in statistics at all university levels. He has been programming in R since the early 2000s and uses it in all of his courses, which in turn inspired authorship of The Book of R. Dr Davies has received multiple significant research grants for his methodological work in spatial statistics, and in 2024 received the Littlejohn Award - the premier research award of the New Zealand Statistical Association.