The internet is full of good free literature for R languagefree literature for R language, so there is really no point paying for a mediocre book, which ends up being used as an office decoration most of the time. The R home site lists books related to Rbooks related to R and there are a lot of them. To be more exact: 115. Only one of them is advertised with words “standalone statistics reference bookstandalone statistics reference book”. It is 8 years old now and may be outdated. The fourth edition of Modern Applied Statistics with SModern Applied Statistics with S is even older. The R BookThe R Book is often chewed out as too basic and not recommendednot recommended because of lack of references, poorly formatted code and sloppy finish.
Since I am not a statistician and would need this (not existing?) book to answer the question it's hard for me to write about the contents. Because The R BookThe R Book clearly intends to be the reference book for statistics with R, but is often criticized, I copied the table of contents from the book as a starting point for the table of contents for the standalone R statistics reference book. Additional task: please, provide additions, suggestions, deletions, etc for the table of contents.
StackExhange contains several treads asking statistics and R book suggestions. Books for learning the R languageBooks for learning the R language asks about a reference book learning R language without statistics aspect. The Art of R ProgrammingThe Art of R Programming is ranked out as the best single suggestion. Book to Learn Statistics using R asks for an ideal introductory book to statistics, which is really not the same thing than a reference book. Open Source statistical textbooks ranks Multivariate statistics with R as the best alternative. What book would you recommend for non-statistician scientists? asks about the best statistics reference book without specifying the program of choice. Reference or book on simulation of experimental design data in R scores perhaps closest to my question. Introduction to Scientific Programming and Simulation Using R is the most recommended book here and might be close to what I am looking for. However, this book either won't suffice as a single reference book to statistics with R.
R in ActionR in Action has received better reviews than The R Book, yet it is apparently rather introductoryrather introductory.
Biostatistical design and analysis using R: a practical guide is perhaps close to what I am looking for. It has received a good reviewgood review, but apparently also this one contains many typos. In addition, this book does not concentrate on explaining statistics, but rather gives statistical analyses as readymade recipes for researchers to use.
Ecological Models and Data in REcological Models and Data in R skips the introductory level. This is a very useful feature seeing that word "introduction", scores 43 occurrences in the R book listthe R book list, but perhaps not entirely satisfying, if we’re after the reference book for statistics…?
Introduction to Scientific Programming and Simulation Using RIntroduction to Scientific Programming and Simulation Using R received very positive reviewpositive review, but is limited to data simulation.
Richiemorrisroe suggests that Modern Applied Statistics with SModern Applied Statistics with S is sufficient for a standalone statistics reference book with R. This book has received excellent reviews (1,2) and is probably the best candidate for the title at the moment? The most recent version came out 10 years ago, which is quite a long time considering program development.