Product Description

Companies used to rely on human experts and their years of experience to guide them. Now, cutting-edge organizations are mining the data and crunching numbers instead, to come up with more accurate, less biased predictions. As Freakonomics detailed, statistical analysis can reveal the secret levers of causation. But economist, Ian Ayres argues that that's only part of the story: super crunching is revolutionizing the way we all make decisions. Beginning with examples of the mathematician who out-predicted wine buffs in determining the best vintages, and the sports scouts who now use statistics rather than intuition to pick winners, "Super Crunchers" exposes the world of data-miners, introducing the people and the techniques. It illuminates the hidden patterns all around us. No businessperson, academic, student, or consumer (statistically that's everyone) should make another move without getting to grips with thinking-by-numbers - the new way to be smart, savvy and statistically superior.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #536567 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Review
Groundbreaking ... Not only is it fun to read. It just may change the way you think' -- Stephen D Levitt co-author of Freakonomics

About the Author
Ian Ayres is a professor at Yale, both in the Law School and in the School of Management, as well as a lawyer and author. He is a regular commentator on National Public Radio in America and a columnist for Forbes magazine. A contributor to the New York Times and editor of the Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, he has written eight books.

Customer Reviews

Contains one golden nugget - the rest is dull
I'm quite fond of these 'pop economics' books. At least there seem to be a few of them on my bookshelves now, so I feel well qualified to pass judgement on this one.

On the whole, a big disappointment. I have to admit I skipped a few chapters in the middle because I was bored. Most of the interesting stuff could easily have been condensed down into something the size of an article in the Sunday supplements. I should have known the book was going to be a duffer when I saw the testimonial on the front. It was written by one of his best buddies, so hardly impartial, and whose own book, Freakanomics, I also thought was overrated.

Also, given the subject matter you think the author would have worked out the chances of the book being read by people who aren't American and adjusted his style appropriately. I'm not sure words like 'kvall' and 'glommed' are words even in America, so why use them? And although I still got the point, examples evolving around baseball and other such Americana left me cold.

A much better read is The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford (British, so his writing is much more worldly).

But I'm still giving this book 4 stars. Why? Because towards the end there is some really interesting stuff about statistics and particularly something called 2SD. Most books I read, understand (or not) then forget. However this statistics stuff is genuinely useful and has stayed with me. Now I reckon that a few quid to learn something good that most people don't have a clue about is a bargain.