Super Crunchers

How Anything Can be Predicted

By: Ian Ayres

Narrated by: James Lurie

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.

©2007 Ian Ayres; (P)2007 John Murray Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Lively and enjoyable....Ayres skillfully demonstrates the importance that statistical literacy can play in our lives, especially now that technology permits it to occur on a scale never before imagined....Edifying and entertaining." (Publishers Weekly)
"In the past, one could get by on intuition and experience. Times have changed. Today, the name of the game is data. Ian Ayres shows us how and why in this groundbreaking book Super Crunchers. Not only is it fun to read, it just may change the way you think." (Steven D. Levitt, author of Freakonomics)