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 b...
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Apr 30, 2009
Garrett
rated it: 
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 t More...
According t More...
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Mar 02, 2009
MsSmartiePants
rated it: 
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 More...
A wide variety of stories about how the computer is enabling huge changes in our schools, businesses More...
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May 29, 2008
Racquel
rated it: 
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 hug More...
While my inner merchant delights at the knowledge that hug More...
Jan 12, 2009
Andy
rated it: 
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 t 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 t More...
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Jun 23, 2010
Elizabeth
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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 dif 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 dif More...
Jan 10, 2010
Trevor
rated it:
The best of this one is his discussion of the 100,000 lives campaign (http://www.ihi.org/IHI/Programs/Campaign...) 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
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Aug 11, 2009
David
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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 ac
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Jul 20, 2009
Lisa
rated it:
"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 More...
One concern: While I absolutely agree that most Americans don't have a good understanding of More...
Jul 31, 2011
Hans
rated it:
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 thu
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Apr 11, 2009
Sedi
rated it:
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 visitor 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 visitor More...
May 22, 2010
Nate
rated it:
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.
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May 03, 2011
Eric
rated it:
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
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Feb 25, 2010
Chad
rated it:
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 ra
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Sep 04, 2011
Sean
rated it:
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) intro 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) intro More...
Aug 07, 2011
Vanessa
rated it: 
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
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Sep 10, 2011
Parker
rated it:
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 More...
Ayres uses the words "Super Crunching" (over and over) to refer to the act of analyzing large data sets to make evidence-based More...
May 16, 2010
Nicole
rated it:
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 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 More...
Feb 18, 2009
Bob
rated it:
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
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Mar 19, 2009
Victor
rated it:
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 sensat
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Jan 19, 2011
Andrew
rated it:
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 s 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 s More...
Jan 07, 2010
Francis
rated it:
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
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Oct 29, 2009
Andy
rated it:
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 statis More...
It should be no surprise that statistics provides some immensely powerful tools. The Internet is chock-full of ingenuitive applications of statis More...
Apr 23, 2011
Babyjules25
rated it:
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 con
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Aug 24, 2009
Ashley
rated it:
This book reminded me a lot of Freakonomics in the beginning - statistics and economic theory applied in interesting ways. Whereas Freakonomics looked more at the relationship between two seemingly unrelated things, Super Crunchers explored how crunching data in new and unexpected ways can yield surprising results. Lots of examples, which I liked - kept the math from becoming boring and overwhelming.
One of my favorite examples was how casinos are computing individual gambler's " More...
One of my favorite examples was how casinos are computing individual gambler's " More...
Apr 02, 2010
Kelly
rated it:
This was quite an interesting book about the field of data mining, from a very applications perspective. In other words, it was not technical at all. Ayres explained a few mathematical concepts that are fundamental to "number crunching", but he did so in a simple and non-intimidating way. The book was clearly written not for scientists or engineers, but for social scientists and businesspeople who would benefit from doing extensive analysis of their data. Ayres is actually quite passio
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Feb 02, 2009
JM
rated it:
You don't have to be smart or to love math to read this book. In fact, you will think you are smart and you love math if you open it up. If you're like me and you like to read Economics books like other people like to watch "Saw" and "Friday the 13th" movies, this is just for you. The scary part isn't that corporations have already screwed up our planet or that people in charge are greedy bastards that have screwed up our country. The scary part is how much we know about
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Apr 21, 2009
Jeweleye
rated it:
I can't believe I read a book about statistics. What a geek! But it was actually pretty good. Ian Ayres took a dry subject and used a lot of real life examples to make his points. I did kind of doze off towards the end, but that's a personal problem. Anyway, it was worth reading just to learn how data mining works and how statistics can help doctors do a better job. He talks about a diagnostic program called "Isabel" into which a doctor enter a patient's symptoms and receives a list of
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Jan 23, 2010
Scott
rated it:
Super Crunchers had a promising beginning to its premise. Namely, that statistics and regressions, when applied properly, will beat so-called "experts" almost every time. The notion of proof over intuition appeals to me greatly. The book is a good primer, but it never really gets past certain hand-selected anecdotes. This book is written for the masses rather than statistics majors. So, it will be watered down for that audience. The main theme may be expressed by saying "Look at t
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Mar 08, 2011
Allysworld
rated it:
An interesting and informative overview of how data mining/data analysis is being used in the industry.
However, unlike Freakonomics, I felt that the author consistently underestimates the readers intelligence, oversimplifying, overstating, and basically giving the impression that there are these geniouses in the world, who are holier than thou, who are capable of understanding data and finding patterns that is just beyond the capabilities of the normal reader.
That Utterly disgust More...
However, unlike Freakonomics, I felt that the author consistently underestimates the readers intelligence, oversimplifying, overstating, and basically giving the impression that there are these geniouses in the world, who are holier than thou, who are capable of understanding data and finding patterns that is just beyond the capabilities of the normal reader.
That Utterly disgust More...
Oct 24, 2009
David
rated it:
The idea isn't really new, that with increased data available as a result of computers and the Internet, statististical analysis in being more frequently applied to analyse the world and make decisions, yet the book describes a good number of interesting situations where data crunching is being applied -- in predicting future prices of airplane tickets, designing ads on the web, aiding doctors in diagnosis, etc.
Towards the end Ayres starts giving lessions in statistics, and...I'm no More...
Towards the end Ayres starts giving lessions in statistics, and...I'm no More...
