Customer Rating: 
Summary: Not much new here.
Comment: Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart
If you have ever taken a probability and/or statistics class, you won't find much new here.
If you are naïve or paranoid don't read this book. (As if you didn't know the government and business are busy collecting every bit of data about you.)
The main theme is the power of modern computers to crunch vast quantities of information and sometimes produce counter intuitive results. There are too many repetitive examples of data collection and number crunching. All in all, an easy read, but fairly shallow book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Comment: Supercrunchers is a very fun introduction to data mining and serious numerical analysis. It is light reading, and is filled with examples of current uses and results obtained throughout the world by churning large amounts of data. The book has examples from all industries, government and NGOs. It includes information on uses of data analysis for HR which is usually skimmed over. It fills you with ideas of further uses of data analysis and has info that is interesting for everyone. I couldn't stop talking about it for a week after I read it
Customer Rating:
Summary: Numbers Advice: Save Your Money
Comment: If you're looking for another "Freakanomics," you won't find it here.
SuperCrunchers doesn't deal with details or with the unexpected ways numbers can be used but rather sticks to broad abstract statements about a trend (hint: the use of statistics is on the rise).
Most of the book can be summed up in one sentence: The government and business are increasingly using statistics to predict behavior and increase sales.
Most people, I'm assuming, are already aware of this and won't be too surprised.
Most of the information you've probably already read about in the newspapers.
This book is riding on the popularity of "Freakanomics" and it seems to have been written in a hurry in order to publish while economics is "hot." It's more of chronicling than a well-thought out idea.
Here's some numbers advice: save your money.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Nothing to see here
Comment: By Ayres' definition, I guess I am a professional Super Cruncher. I really didn't enjoy this book. While some of the anecdotes were interesting, he doesn't go into enough depth with each story and after a while the book just feels like a grab bag of anecdotes. Sure, I would have appreciated a more accurate and less sensational use of technical terms, but I would have walked away from this book with a much better feeling if he fleshed out more context with each anecdote. As a counterpoint, take "Money Ball" by Michael Lewis - this book is a single Super Crunching story and is a fantastic read.
It is a shame that such a recent book fails to discuss any of the serious debate of the issues that arise from data mining techniques in hypothesis formation and testing. For a fairly lay description of these issue in the medical field, track down the paper "Why Most Published Research Findings Are False" by John Ioannidis.
All in all, this text succeeds as a quick run through of various applications of data mining. But as a book, it isn't satisfying.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Super book for those who are curious
Comment: The author has a two Bachelors (Russian Studies and Economics) from Yale, PhD (Economics) from MIT, JD from Yale. He is a bonifide genius and he sprinkles this book with much of his intellectual horsepower.
He provides multiple historical and empirical examples of how humans are very bad at making decisions. Human are even worse in determining the quality of their decisions (most people tends to exaggerate the correctness of their answers). Statistics, on the other hand, are mathetically sound way of predicting future results. Better yet, it provides a highly reliable way of determining the quality of the prediction. Generally speaking, the better the data, the more predictive statistics can become.
Recently, however, there has been a great convergence of statistics and technology. More specifically, informational technology which allows number crunching of multiple terabytes of data in a relatively short period of time has become available at a practical price.
The author believes whoever can take advantage of this relatively new phenomenon has a great competitive and informational edge. Having reliable data analysis tools that use statistical regression analysis enables an entitity to make better decisions (and also know the probability of making a bad decision).
This has become a game changing convergence. Indeed, it is changing the world and will become even more important in the future.
What should you do to be better prepared?
Learn statistics and get the best data mining/analysis tools and employees your company can buy. As the author states, we are seeing only the beginning of this mostly positive trend.
Summary: Not much new here.
Comment: Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart
If you have ever taken a probability and/or statistics class, you won't find much new here.
If you are naïve or paranoid don't read this book. (As if you didn't know the government and business are busy collecting every bit of data about you.)
The main theme is the power of modern computers to crunch vast quantities of information and sometimes produce counter intuitive results. There are too many repetitive examples of data collection and number crunching. All in all, an easy read, but fairly shallow book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Comment: Supercrunchers is a very fun introduction to data mining and serious numerical analysis. It is light reading, and is filled with examples of current uses and results obtained throughout the world by churning large amounts of data. The book has examples from all industries, government and NGOs. It includes information on uses of data analysis for HR which is usually skimmed over. It fills you with ideas of further uses of data analysis and has info that is interesting for everyone. I couldn't stop talking about it for a week after I read it
Customer Rating:
Summary: Numbers Advice: Save Your Money
Comment: If you're looking for another "Freakanomics," you won't find it here.
SuperCrunchers doesn't deal with details or with the unexpected ways numbers can be used but rather sticks to broad abstract statements about a trend (hint: the use of statistics is on the rise).
Most of the book can be summed up in one sentence: The government and business are increasingly using statistics to predict behavior and increase sales.
Most people, I'm assuming, are already aware of this and won't be too surprised.
Most of the information you've probably already read about in the newspapers.
This book is riding on the popularity of "Freakanomics" and it seems to have been written in a hurry in order to publish while economics is "hot." It's more of chronicling than a well-thought out idea.
Here's some numbers advice: save your money.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Nothing to see here
Comment: By Ayres' definition, I guess I am a professional Super Cruncher. I really didn't enjoy this book. While some of the anecdotes were interesting, he doesn't go into enough depth with each story and after a while the book just feels like a grab bag of anecdotes. Sure, I would have appreciated a more accurate and less sensational use of technical terms, but I would have walked away from this book with a much better feeling if he fleshed out more context with each anecdote. As a counterpoint, take "Money Ball" by Michael Lewis - this book is a single Super Crunching story and is a fantastic read.
It is a shame that such a recent book fails to discuss any of the serious debate of the issues that arise from data mining techniques in hypothesis formation and testing. For a fairly lay description of these issue in the medical field, track down the paper "Why Most Published Research Findings Are False" by John Ioannidis.
All in all, this text succeeds as a quick run through of various applications of data mining. But as a book, it isn't satisfying.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Super book for those who are curious
Comment: The author has a two Bachelors (Russian Studies and Economics) from Yale, PhD (Economics) from MIT, JD from Yale. He is a bonifide genius and he sprinkles this book with much of his intellectual horsepower.
He provides multiple historical and empirical examples of how humans are very bad at making decisions. Human are even worse in determining the quality of their decisions (most people tends to exaggerate the correctness of their answers). Statistics, on the other hand, are mathetically sound way of predicting future results. Better yet, it provides a highly reliable way of determining the quality of the prediction. Generally speaking, the better the data, the more predictive statistics can become.
Recently, however, there has been a great convergence of statistics and technology. More specifically, informational technology which allows number crunching of multiple terabytes of data in a relatively short period of time has become available at a practical price.
The author believes whoever can take advantage of this relatively new phenomenon has a great competitive and informational edge. Having reliable data analysis tools that use statistical regression analysis enables an entitity to make better decisions (and also know the probability of making a bad decision).
This has become a game changing convergence. Indeed, it is changing the world and will become even more important in the future.
What should you do to be better prepared?
Learn statistics and get the best data mining/analysis tools and employees your company can buy. As the author states, we are seeing only the beginning of this mostly positive trend.
Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart Reviews: Page 3 of 14
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