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Statistics are best picked up from what one hopes are reliable internet sources. Can't say as I have a favourite. Nor do I read text books on Cuba (which I presume is the subject you had in mind when you asked the question.) Other favourite sources would include:

THE CUBA READER by Avita Chompsky. A compilation of many short pieces, mostly primary sources, dating from Columbus' landing up through about 2000.

CUBA: A NEW HISTORY by British journalist/historian Richard Gott, also goes up to about 2000.

BACARDI: THE STORY OF A CAUSE offers an interesting perspective on of life at the eastern end of the island (Santiago) from the first war of Independence up through the Revolution.

HAVANA NOCTURN is probably the best thing around on Mafia involvement in Cuba.

THE AMERICANO details the war in the Escambray mountains, both when it was an anti-Batista movement and later, when it became an anti-Castro movement.

FIDEL & RAUL: MIS HERMANOS: LA HISTORIA SECRETO by Juanita Castro, gives what I expect is a pretty honest portrayal of the feelings/reactions of those Cubans who initially supported the Revolution but later turned against it both for its mistakes and for its anti-religious and anti-capitalist values.

DEMOCRACY IN CUBA & the 1997-87 ELECTIONS by Arnold August. Kind of text-bookish, but fairly essential reading if you want to understand how Cuban democracy works (since it is quite unlike US, Canadian, or Mexican democracies.)

VOICES FROM THE OTHER SIDE: AN ORAL HISTORY OF TERRORISM AGAINST CUBA by Ken Bolender. Collection of interviews with the survivors of various acts of US terrorism against Cubans, from Operation Mongoose in 1960 through the arrest of the Cuban Five in 2001.

CUBA UNSPUN, fifteen years of knockaround travel on the island, mingling with Cubans of all classes and observing changes that have occurred in the 15 years between 1997 and 2012.

HERE IS HAVANA. Blog by Havana resident Conner Gorry that goes well beyond the usual tourist-oriented travel writing to make countless pithy (and accurate) observations on modern Havana culture.

There are several entertaining visitor-eye views of the island, such as MI MOTO FIDEL, THE ISLAND THAT DARED,
and TRADING WITH THE ENEMY, but all are dated and thus not very good portraits of 21st Century Cuba. Also seriously dated are novels like DIRTY HAVANA TRILOGY and FRIDAY WATER that likewise hark back to the 1990s or before.

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Thanks ttjpdo. Glad to see that you are back; have been missing your posts for a while. Have just received the woman she was and I am going to read it soon. From your previous comments I am almost expecting to read about Celia’s traveI through China in the 50-ies. Strange though that few young Cubans know who mr Zedong is. Rosa, are you Travis as well, or even more multiple…4…? I also see that Cuba unspun is your own product. I do miss in Cuba, though, the endless amount of polls that western tabloids present, on all from sexual and food preference, to political preference and outlook on global warming. Do you think Silver's 538 would make a best seller in Cuba?

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No, Enram, I'm not Travis; I'm only me. And who knows what would make a best seller in Cuba?

A great sociological-type book I forgot to mention was "In the Fist of the Revolution." by Jose Yglesias.
It was researched (inteviews with people living the Revolutionary changes) in the town of Mayari. But this really is history, as it was written, I believe, in 1969. But at least it's primary source material, some of the best available for that period.

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Thanks ttjpdo. You know so much changes takes place in the world, and also in Cuba. My reply was actually meant to provoke more recent statistics, which the posters, Travis among them, called boring. Would more than 6 to eight years statistics be relevant?

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1. 20 Travis. I am not sure what you wish to say. Start with my post #1 and take it from there..

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#21 Actually it is you who need to reread my posts, which was what i meant. Since you for some strange reason have read that i have called the article boring.

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enram... first you wonder if ttjpdo and Travis are the same poster, that is of course ridiculous. Then you say that Travis called your statistics boring, which he never did. In fact no one on the entire thread said that. What did happen is that your list of "projects" that you felt would "open up Cuba mentally to the world" except they were "far too controversial" caused me to comment that the subject matter was not controversial in the slightest, it was simply boring.

Take Travis' advice and purchase some reading glasses. ;-)

Cheers,
Terry