Fay and Brittain present statistical hypothesis testing and compatible confidence intervals, focusing on application and proper interpretation. The emphasis is on equipping applied statisticians with enough tools - and advice on choosing among them - to find reasonable methods for almost any problem and enough theory to tackle new problems by modifying existing methods. After covering the basic mathematical theory and scientific principles, tests and confidence intervals are developed for specific types of data. Essential methods for applications are covered, such as general procedures for creating tests (e.g., likelihood ratio, bootstrap, permutation, testing from models), adjustments for multiple testing, clustering, stratification, causality, censoring, missing data, group sequential tests, and non-inferiority tests. New methods developed by the authors are included throughout, such as melded confidence intervals for comparing two samples and confidence intervals associated with Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney tests and Kaplan-Meier estimates. Examples, exercises, and the R package asht support practical use.

In the early part of the eighteenth century, Francesco Bianchini of Verona turned his primitive telescope - a refractor of only a few centimetres aperture but with an enormous focal length of around 20 metres - on the planet Venus. He recorded some of the first telescopic observations of Venus, outstanding in terms of care and accuracy. Bianchini determined the parallax of the planet, estimated the period of rotation, and carefully mapped surface features (although we now know that only Venus' atmospheric clouds can be seen in visible light).
Peter Fay and Sally Beaumont have translated this historic document into English, keeping as much as possible of the flavour and appearance of the original 1728 publication. As part of his research, Peter Fay constructed and tested a telescope similar to the one Bianchini had used. The results are given as an appendix to the text. Astronomers and historians alike will find this book fascinating. It is published by Springer-Verlag London to celebrate the launch of the Astronomy publishing programme in the UK.