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1st out of 33 books
—
4 voters
Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart
by
Ian Ayres
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...more
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...more
Hardcover, 272 pages
Published
August 28th 2007
by Bantam
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Be prepared to encounter the words "supercrunch" (used as any part of speech) and "nano-" (used indiscriminately as a prefix) approximately one billion times in a mere 272 pages. Dr. Ayres wants to write the next
Freakonomics
, and makes his professional association with Steven Levitt known frequently. What comes out is a repetitive book on applied mathematics fleshed out with anecdotes and descriptions of research. It's okay, but nothing groundbreaking.
According to Ayres, supercrunching involve...more
According to Ayres, supercrunching involve...more
What a book! Shockingly good! I heard about this book while listening to The World is Flat by Thomas Freidman. Immediately, I made a mental note to find and read this book about the impact of computing power on everyday lives. Algorithms, formulas, yikes! (I have a bit of a math phobia.) Thank goodness this book breaks down complex ideas into understandable and applicable explanations.
A wide variety of stories about how the computer is enabling huge changes in our schools, businesses, purchases...more
A wide variety of stories about how the computer is enabling huge changes in our schools, businesses, purchases...more
The helpful prompt from an online grocery-shopping site, “Do you really want to buy twelve lemons,” was the phrase that left me feeling troubled; it seemed to encapsulate not just the fears about loss of privacy, but concerns about our perceptions of the “norm,” the classification of humanity into categories, the paternalization of everyday decision-making, and, oh yes, a very personal dislike of being just like everyone else.
While my inner merchant delights at the knowledge that huge data-masse...more
While my inner merchant delights at the knowledge that huge data-masse...more
3 likes
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like
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This book was trying to be another Freakanomics...it definitely missed its mark.
The four interesting things I found in it:
1. The author went over a study done on Greyhound racing, experts vs. a computer model for predicting the winner. All the experts lost and the computer model make a 25% profit. My question: this is a freaking money machine! Why would you ever publish this study? Why not just capitalize on it? Something fishy was definitely going on.
2. All the way at the end of the book he goe...more
The four interesting things I found in it:
1. The author went over a study done on Greyhound racing, experts vs. a computer model for predicting the winner. All the experts lost and the computer model make a 25% profit. My question: this is a freaking money machine! Why would you ever publish this study? Why not just capitalize on it? Something fishy was definitely going on.
2. All the way at the end of the book he goe...more
I think this book should be comprised in the mandatory reading requirements of any Statistics course, its beauty lying in the way that it gives a reason and a meaning to playing with numbers; I know I would have liked to have read "Super Crunchers" beforehand, to get an idea of what all that gibberish can actually help wiht.
And the examples of the applicability of data analysis showcasted are truly enticing, my personal favourites being the poverty eradication in Mexic, the evidence based medic...more
And the examples of the applicability of data analysis showcasted are truly enticing, my personal favourites being the poverty eradication in Mexic, the evidence based medic...more
For anyone new to the field of analytics, data mining, experimentation this is a very good book to start with, to understand the concepts behind data science and most importantly how to use data from making business decisions.
It helps you understand while data-driven decision making is important and how businesses today are taking decisions based on data. The data could either be lying in the data warehouse which can be mined for insights or in other case the data is not readily available but c...more
It helps you understand while data-driven decision making is important and how businesses today are taking decisions based on data. The data could either be lying in the data warehouse which can be mined for insights or in other case the data is not readily available but c...more
Through extremely entertaining anecdotes and stories, Ayres provides a wonderful glimpse at some of the ways in which statistics and big data improve our ability to make intelligent decisions. Ayres tends to stay far away from the actual math or technical aspects and simply focuses on the concepts, making it a great read for anyone unfamiliar with probability, statistics, machine learning, and similar. For someone with some experience behind this, it was a little galling to hear, for example, li...more
I work in the Analytics field and am becoming more involved in prediction and predictive models so it was a genunine pleasure when I first picked up Supercrunchers. I actually read a preview of this book on iBooks on my iPhone at lunchtime which is what got me hooked and convinced me to buy the whole book. Looking back on it, I would still buy it however not with the same enthusiasm as iBooks led me to believe.
The first few chapters are what hooked me. They are filled with examples of real-world...more
The first few chapters are what hooked me. They are filled with examples of real-world...more
Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart by Ian Ayres (pp. 272)
Ayres makes the argument for how evidence-based outcomes based on large controlled datasets are the way of the future. He provides a broad range of examples in education, health, and politics.
The first part of the book he does a nice job talking about how technology has made this new movement possible. He talks about needing more Super Crunching in all avenues despite the how difficult and expensive execut...more
Ayres makes the argument for how evidence-based outcomes based on large controlled datasets are the way of the future. He provides a broad range of examples in education, health, and politics.
The first part of the book he does a nice job talking about how technology has made this new movement possible. He talks about needing more Super Crunching in all avenues despite the how difficult and expensive execut...more
Jan 10, 2010
Trevor
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
economics,
behavioural-economics
The best of this one is his discussion of the 100,000 lives campaign (http://www.ihi.org/IHI/Programs/Campa...) which I didn’t really know about until Jim put me onto this book. A previous book I had read said that hospitals were trying to do something to improve their safety record in line with that of airlines, but the previous book didn’t mention this campaign as what was being proposed. I particularly like their slogan, ‘Some is not a number, soon is not a time’. The discussion of this campa...more
4 likes
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like
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This is essentially the story of how multiple regression analysis is increasingly being used in academics and industry to outsmart the humans who design the statistical models. A big part of the story--and a fundamental truth--is that we humans ardently resist conceding our intuitive judgment to something that is often demonstrably superior… and not just our own judgments, but the diagnoses, predictions, and decision-makings of recognized experts. The bottom line is that we need to not only acce...more
"Super Crunchers" presented some interesting evidence demonstrating how statistics are being used more and more frequently in our day to day lives. I knew data mining was an important industry and this book showed me how. However, I found the writing to be repetitive. I think the author was attempting to clarify ideas, but instead, he just restated things he had already written.
One concern: While I absolutely agree that most Americans don't have a good understanding of what standard deviation i...more
One concern: While I absolutely agree that most Americans don't have a good understanding of what standard deviation i...more
A good introduction into what the author calls super-crunching. This is mainly about a couple of statistical techniques that have become much more feasible to apply at higher speed and bigger scale now that storage and processing power are cheap: randomized experiments, regression techniques and neural networks. The book is full of examples of how these are used to do "data-driven decision making" and thinks this will ultimately help society. As Ayres writes: "Here's a rule of thumb: any large o...more
regret starting this book. I'm a computer
geek already, and this book stated a lot of the obvious for me; using
data and performing statistical analysis of that data enables
corporations, and people to make better informed decisions. Throughout
the book he gives various examples of different businesses and people
using data to make better decisions.
He, for example, gives an example of how Monster.com provided random
variations of their website to visitors of their site, and based on
the number of click...more
geek already, and this book stated a lot of the obvious for me; using
data and performing statistical analysis of that data enables
corporations, and people to make better informed decisions. Throughout
the book he gives various examples of different businesses and people
using data to make better decisions.
He, for example, gives an example of how Monster.com provided random
variations of their website to visitors of their site, and based on
the number of click...more
Super Crunchers is sort of a Freakanomics introduction to how statistical analysis on large data sets leads to different, and better, conclusions. The statistical techniques introduced in the book are not something statisticians or mathematicians with even a minimal introduction to probability and stats will be blown away by: linear regression, confidence intervals, standard deviation, Bayes theorem, and such. Do not expect new knowledge there unless you are wholly unfamiliar with these topics....more
Did this one as an audiobook, and there were a couple of questions and diagrams that it would have been useful to, you know, see. It was as good as any book about the power of statistical analysis can be, which means it was interesting, but certainly not something I'd recommend to anyone unless you're really interested. The application of the methods to the real world was even more enlightening than I expected, and I thought the author (who obviously is a huge proponent of statistical methods) d...more
Imagine The Deciding Factor rewritten by someone with a sense of humour rather than a copywriter for a huge data-mining company, mix in a little of The Long Tail, some Malcolm Gladwell, and you get this book. Mostly the book presents how regression analysis and randomized testing are used in a series of anecdotal stories. It does not go into how these numbers are crunched, just how the results can be used. The only thing I learned here was the concept of "making your own data" using randomized t...more
I'll save most of you the trouble of reading this book with a one-sentence summary:
If you already believe that, you won't get a lot more out of this book than a host of examples across government, medicine, and commerce. Many of the examples are actually pretty interesting, and if you're not already convinced, this will provide a readable (and fairly convincing) introduction to the many appl...more
Large data sets together with statistical models can outperform human judgment in a wide variety of cases.
If you already believe that, you won't get a lot more out of this book than a host of examples across government, medicine, and commerce. Many of the examples are actually pretty interesting, and if you're not already convinced, this will provide a readable (and fairly convincing) introduction to the many appl...more
Many of the specific companies and technologies mentioned, especially startups, are comical now that it's four years since publishing, but the principles in this book are without a doubt key to success in our technology and data-laden future. Ayres covers the basics of statistics, including regressions, variance, and combining probabilities using Bayes' theorem in a way that makes sense - figure out how confident you are in your guesses, and add new information to make even better decisions. Ayr...more
Super crunching is the application of computers to large-scale social analysis. Other journalistic works on big data (aka data-mining) don't explain clearly what big data is or how it is being used for public and private profit.
The work takes a bullish attitude towards data-mining techniques and applications. It is claimed that big data means quick profits for all, but problems are swept under the carpet until late chapters. All that glistens isn't gold. Making it easier to satisfy short-term de...more
The work takes a bullish attitude towards data-mining techniques and applications. It is claimed that big data means quick profits for all, but problems are swept under the carpet until late chapters. All that glistens isn't gold. Making it easier to satisfy short-term de...more
I picked this book up because Lessig called it "the most important book I've read in as long as I can remember". That's some high praise. Indeed, the thesis of this book is an important one to take to heart when thinking about the world today and in the future, but to my mind the book falls short of being an excellent defense of that thesis.
Ayres uses the words "Super Crunching" (over and over) to refer to the act of analyzing large data sets to make evidence-based conclusions about things that...more
Ayres uses the words "Super Crunching" (over and over) to refer to the act of analyzing large data sets to make evidence-based conclusions about things that...more
Ayres provided a lot of examples of situations in which statistics can now be used to make more accurate predictions than the experts can. While he seemed mostly in favour of using data mining in any given situation, he did address some of the ethical implications and why statistical analysis can't entirely replace human expertise.
Super Crunchers was light on the math, but it did provide a few basics and encouraged readers to learn more if they're interested. A few things (like the frequent rep...more
Super Crunchers was light on the math, but it did provide a few basics and encouraged readers to learn more if they're interested. A few things (like the frequent rep...more
If you don't understand the importance of statistics in today's world you should read this book. If stats were new to me I would have probably marked this a 3 or 4 star book. If you already have a strong understanding of stats (especially the concepts of regression and standard deviation), this book isn't going to teach you much. I enjoyed the read OK, just didn't learn as much as I thought I would. This book does provide a little more of the math that lies behind a book like Freakonomics, if yo...more
Super Crunchers is a fascinating look at how statistical methods can be applied to problems in business, medicine, education, and more. The author, Ian Ayres, is to be commended on his presentation of technical concepts in an easy-to-understand manner. For teachers, the book is a virtual treasure trove, with example after example of individuals and organizations harnessing statistical methods to make superior decisions. The only drawback is the tone: the first half of the book borders on sensati...more
Was a mildly interesting book. While it didn't really say anything that you didn't really "know" already (that companies collect your data and analyze it, or that businesses actually try to keep their most profitable customers and avoid dealing with unprofitable customers), it did do a good job of bringing these to the readers attention.
however, one egregious error that almost sunk this book to the "hated it" category, is that the author accuses one of his "rivals" in the field of "supercrunchin...more
however, one egregious error that almost sunk this book to the "hated it" category, is that the author accuses one of his "rivals" in the field of "supercrunchin...more
Mostly a, "please take note of this trend," sort of book. Interesting, but not mind blowing. It's internet-connected, click-tracking, barcode reading, computer processed, database-driven...statistics.
It's a more repetitive through the middle, causing it to become dry, but not because it revealed any more depth on the subject. It was just tiring itself out.
I agree with other reviewers who commented that the final chapters, specifically on the usage and relevance of standard-deviation analysis, we...more
It's a more repetitive through the middle, causing it to become dry, but not because it revealed any more depth on the subject. It was just tiring itself out.
I agree with other reviewers who commented that the final chapters, specifically on the usage and relevance of standard-deviation analysis, we...more
This is an engaging and eye-opening introduction to the rapidly rising role of data mining techniques (referred to in this book as Super Crunching) in many aspects of our everyday lives. He starts with an example of how regression analysis predicted the prices of Bordeaux vintages from a few weather variables better than the evaluations of wine critics, dispelling a significant portion of the esoteric mystique that the wine critics maintained about the art of tasting. He moves on rapidly to the...more
A statistician to his core, Ian Ayres has used statistical methods to choose the title of this book. Inside, he describes running a click-through preference experiment using Google Ad Sense, and the end result—Super Crunchers?—shows that, while powerful, these techniques are certainly not, as Ayres seems to think, a panacea. Super Crunchers.
It should be no surprise that statistics provides some immensely powerful tools. The Internet is chock-full of ingenuitive applications of statistics—from Am...more
It should be no surprise that statistics provides some immensely powerful tools. The Internet is chock-full of ingenuitive applications of statistics—from Am...more
I think this book is a good read for the average person to explore what a significant role statistics and analytics play in our lives and will continue to play in the future- statistics isn't just a dry boring subject that a few weird people take in college. Analytics is a growing field and a skill that is continually expected of people in the business world. I think it is important for people to develop a basic understanding of statistics and this book certainly helps. Ayres explains the confid...more
This book disturbed me about the amount of data we offer up to the world, to governments, to websites, and how it's being used by corporations and government.
The unwavering belief in a correlation and our human tendencies to follow the herd makes it upsetting. The author pretends that standardized tests, consumer behavior are ways to mine what makes us individuals, and what we are about.
The information is both compellingly believable, disgusting, and many benevolent and evil applications can be...more
The unwavering belief in a correlation and our human tendencies to follow the herd makes it upsetting. The author pretends that standardized tests, consumer behavior are ways to mine what makes us individuals, and what we are about.
The information is both compellingly believable, disgusting, and many benevolent and evil applications can be...more
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May 01, 2009 09:22am
Aug 11, 2011 09:45pm