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Oct 16, 2012
Jessica
rated it
it was amazing
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review of another edition
Shelves:
nonfiction,
kindle
I don't know much of anything about baseball, but I really enjoyed reading Moneyball, a book about how the general manager of one of the poorest teams in baseball took advantage of market inefficiencies to hire players that for one reason or another were undervalued by most other professional baseball teams.
Much of the book is about Billy Beane (a former professional baseball player and the general manager of the Oakland A's) or about the players he recruits, so a lot of Moneyball reads like bio ...more
Much of the book is about Billy Beane (a former professional baseball player and the general manager of the Oakland A's) or about the players he recruits, so a lot of Moneyball reads like bio ...more
"It's hard not to be romantic about baseball..."
Finally getting to this book nearly fifteen years after its events is a strange experience.
On the one hand I have a million and one stat-head bloggers' voices in the back of my head; fantasy players who seem more obsessed with the numbers of what has happened than they are excited about the possibility of what will happen. On the other hand, I'm envisioning people like the old guard this book bemoans - people who don't understand the data because " ...more
Finally getting to this book nearly fifteen years after its events is a strange experience.
On the one hand I have a million and one stat-head bloggers' voices in the back of my head; fantasy players who seem more obsessed with the numbers of what has happened than they are excited about the possibility of what will happen. On the other hand, I'm envisioning people like the old guard this book bemoans - people who don't understand the data because " ...more
It held my interest even though I don't read much nonfiction and I don't care much about baseball or statistics. The player stories were great and the ideas were explained well. The prose was a bit overwrought ("natural coruscating skepticism," really?) and the postscript didn't make me like Lewis much. Still, I enjoyed 300 some pages about baseball and math, so 4 stars.
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Enjoyed this on audio. It may have been harder to get into as a book in my crowded day because there is a lot of information. But it is fascinating stuff! Baseball is such a sport of statistics, just ask any high school math teacher, but for some reason the game seems to ignore their relevance. Or keep statistics of odd things, and use them to measure a players value. For example, RBI's: if a player is on a terrible team where no one gets on base...how can he possibly throw up good numbers? I al
...more
Everything I wanted and more. Math and baseball, what more could I want?
Originally read in the mid-2000s. (It came out in 2004.)
Reread October 2011 after seeing the movie. Totally worth the reread - a great look at Oakland, Billy Beane, and the ideas behind 'moneyball'. ...more
Reread October 2011 after seeing the movie. Totally worth the reread - a great look at Oakland, Billy Beane, and the ideas behind 'moneyball'. ...more
Sep 17, 2006
Crystal King
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Jul 18, 2012
Clare
marked it as to-read
Sep 08, 2013
Amy
added it
Apr 20, 2016
Elizabeth
marked it as to-read
Apr 25, 2020
superawesomekt
marked it as bibliocurious
