Super Crunchers
Why would a casino try and stop you from losing? How can a mathematical formula find your future spouse? Would you know if a statistical analysis blackballed you from a job you wanted? Today, number crunching affects your life in ways you might never imagine. In this lively and groundbreaking new book, economist Ian Ayres shows how today's best and brightest organizations are analyzing massive databases at lightening speed to provide greater insights into human behavior. They are the Super Crunchers. From internet sites like Google and Amazon that know your tastes better than you do, to a physician's diagnosis and your child's education, to boardrooms and government agencies, this new breed of decision makers are calling the shots. And they are delivering staggeringly accurate results. How can a football coach evaluate a player without ever seeing him play? Want to know whether the price of an airline ticket will go up or down before you buy? How can a formula outpredict wine experts in determining the best vintages? Super crunchers have the answers. In this brave new world of equation versus expertise, Ayres shows us the benefits and risks, who loses and who wins, and how super crunching can be used to help, not manipulate us.Gone are the days of solely relying on intuition to make decisions. No businessperson, consumer, or student who wants to stay ahead of the curve should make another keystroke without reading Super Crunchers.From the Hardcover edition.
Stats for nerds
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21people
2007–2026years
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What Hacker News says
- There are a number of good books to explain the main concepts of statistics without getting bogged down in the technical details. As a grad student at a public university in the USA, I worked as a teaching assistant for the undergraduate course Introduction to Statistics. The course used SPSS software to enable the students to perform statistical analysis on data sets. Although we offered a good textbook (listed below), many of the students struggled with the main concepts, so my colleagues and I added a optional supplemental reading list to the syllabus. The following books are the ones we recommended to the students. I have read all these books, and they are pretty good at explaining statistics to anyone interested in learning the material at a conceptual level; anyone can read and understand these books, regardless of their educational background.
Ian Ayres (2007) Super Crunchers: Why Thinking by Numbers is the New Way to Be Smart.
Joseph Healey (2020) Statistics: A Tool for Social Research [This is the textbook used in the class, which I highly recommend].
John Allen Paulos (1988) Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences.
Nate Silver (2012) The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail, but Some Don't.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2005) Fooled by Randomness, second edition.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2010) The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, second edition.
- As a grad student at a public university in the USA, I worked as a teaching assistant for the sociology class "Introduction to Statistics." The course used SPSS software to enable the students to perform statistical analysis on data sets. Although we offered an excellent textbook (listed below), most of the undergraduate students struggled with the material, so my colleagues and I added a supplemental reading list to the syllabus for those students interested in studying the main concepts. The following books are the ones we recommended to the students. I have read all these texts, and they are pretty good at explaining statistics to anyone interested in learning the material at a conceptual level; anyone can read and understand these books, regardless of their educational background.
Ian Ayres (2007) Super Crunchers: Why Thinking by Numbers is the New Way to Be Smart
Joseph Healey (2020) Statistics: A Tool for Social Research [This is the textbook used in the class, which I highly recommend]
Catherine Marsh and Jane Elliott (2008) Exploring Data: An Introduction to Data Analysis for Social Scientists, second edition
John Allen Paulos (1988) Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences
Nate Silver (2012) The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail, but Some Don't
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2005) Fooled by Randomness, second edition;
_______ (2010) The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, second edition
- You might like SuperCrunchers https://www.amazon.com/Super-Crunchers-Thinking-Numbers-Smar...
- > It would be a birthday gift, so ideally something that is more than a plain textbook, but which also has depth, and maybe broadens their view
> What would you have appreciated having been given at that age?
Deep math is cool and all, but right now I'm working through a used copy of the Freedman, Pisani and Purves Statistics textbook https://amzn.to/2YVvU6o It's chock full of actual examples from real research and statistics, complete with citations. I just worked through some problem sets today, analyzing some twin studies establishing the link between smoking and cancer. Other topics I can recall: robbery trials, discrimination lawsuits, and coronary bypass surgery.
That said, it's an actual textbook, and expects the learning to come from engaging in problem sets. And it's far less technical than the Stats for Engineers course I barely passed. If you're looking for something less textbooky, Super Crunchers (https://amzn.to/3eTz5RL) is sort of a layman's book on the subject of prediction and statistics.
- Hello, I studied economics and statistics in college and grad school, and worked as a teaching assistant for undergraduate statistics courses. Here is a short, annotated bibliography of my favorite statistics books.
1. Ayres, Ian (2007) Super Crunchers: Why Thinking by Numbers is the New Way to Be Smart
[Good introductory summary of the main concepts in statistics with many real-world examples]
2. Bernstein, Peter (1996) Against the Gods: Remarkable Story of Risk
[Intellectual history of statistics, accessible to beginning students.]
3. Healey, Joseph (2005) Statistics: A Tool for Social Research, 7E
[This is the text book that was used in the undergraduate statistics courses while I was working as a teaching assistant at UC Santa Cruz.]
4. Kahneman, Daniel (2011) Thinking, Fast and Slow
[Kahneman combines cognitive psychology with statistical concepts; highly recommended]
5. Silver, Nate (2012) Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail, but Some Don't
[Silver's book offers an excellent summary of major concepts in statistics and how they are applied to real-world problems]
6. Taleb, Nassim Nicholas (2005) Fooled by Randomness, 2E
_________ (2010) Black Swan: Impact of the Highly Improbable, 2E
[Important critique of statistics and how it is mis-used and mis-applied, particularly in econometrics]
Hope this helps. Shoot me an email if you have any questions. Good luck. mitchelldeacon9@gmail.com
- Here is my short list of favorite books on finance and economics:
FINANCIAL SECURITIES / BANKING / VENTURE CAPITAL
Bruck, Connie (1988) Predator's Ball: Inside Story of Drexel Burnham and Rise of Junk Bond Raiders
Draper, William (2011) Startup Game
Graham, Benjamin and Jason Zweig (2006) Intelligent Investor, revised ed.
_________ and David Dodd (2008) Security Analysis, 6E
Greenblatt, Joel (1999) You Can Be a Stock Market Genius
Greenwald, Kahn, Sonkin, Biema (2001) Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett and Beyond
Henwood, Doug (1997) Wall Street: How It Works and for Whom
Levitt, Arthur (2003) Take on the Street: How to Fight for Your Financial Future
Lewis, Michael (1989) Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street
_________ (2010) Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
STATISTICS
Ayres, Ian (2007) Super Crunchers: Why Thinking by Numbers is the New Way to Be Smart
Bernstein, Peter (1996) Against the Gods: Remarkable Story of Risk
Kahneman, Daniel (2011) Thinking, Fast and Slow
Silver, Nate (2012) Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail, but Some Don't
Taleb, Nassim Nicholas (2005) Fooled by Randomness, 2E
_________ (2010) Black Swan: Impact of the Highly Improbable, 2E
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT / ENTREPRENEURSHIP / INNOVATION
Christensen, Clayton (1997) Innovator's Dilemma
Stone, Brad (2013) Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
Wallace, James and Jim Erickson (1992) Hard Drive: Bill Gates and Making of the Microsoft Empire
Walton, Sam with John Huey (1992) Sam Walton: Made in America
Wilson, Mike (1996) Difference between God and Larry Ellison: Inside Oracle Corp
POLITICAL ECONOMY / THEORY / ECONOMIC HISTORY
Arrighi, Giovanni (1994) Long Twentieth Century
Braudel, Fernand (1979) Civilization & Capitalism 15th-18th Century, vol. 3: Perspective of the World, trans. Siân Reynolds
Brechin, Gray (2006) Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin
Heilbroner, Robert (1999) Worldly Philosophers: Lives, Times & Ideas of Great Economic Thinkers, 7E
Marx, Karl (1867) Capital, vol. 1
Stiglitz, Joseph (2003) Roaring Nineties: A New History of the World’s Most Prosperous Decade
_________ (2010) Freefall: America, Free Markets and the Sinking of the World Economy
Vallianatos, E.G. (2014) Poison Spring: Secret History of Pollution and EPA
Vilar, Pierre (1976) A History of Gold and Money: 1450-1920
Yergin, Daniel (1992) Prize: Epic Quest for Money, Oil and Power
Would enjoy email correspondence with anyone interested in these subjects: mitchelldeacon9@gmail.com All the best
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