What the Luck? by Gary Smith
We underestimate the importance of luck in our lives. We think too highly of the golfer who wins the British Open and, if he loses the next tournament, we speculate that he slacked off. Although the winner is surely an excellent golfer, good luck in how the ball bounced and how it rolled afterwards outside of the golfer's control also played an important role. An insufficient appreciation of chance can wreak all kinds of mischief not only in sports, but also education, medicine, business, politics and elsewhere. Perfectly natural, random variation can lead us to attach meaning to the meaningless. Freakonomics showed how economic calculations can explain seemingly counter-intuitive decision-making. Thinking, Fast and Slow, helped readers identify a host of small cognitive errors that can lead to miscalculations and irrational thought. In What the Luck? statistician and author, Gary Smith, sets himself a similar goal, and explains - in clear, understandable, and witty prose - how a statistical understanding of luck can change the way we see just about every aspect of our lives.'Another delightful addition to the stuff-you-think-you-know-that's-wrong genre, á la Freakonomics, Outliers, and The Black Swan' Kirkus (starred review)
Gary Smith received his Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University, after which he taught at Yale for seven years. He is currently the Fletcher Jones Professor of Economics at Pomona College in Claremont, California and author of Standard Deviations.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780715651612 |
| ISBN 10 | 0715651617 |
| Title | What the Luck? |
| Author | Gary Smith |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Publisher | Duckworth Books |
| Year published | 2017-01-26 |
| Number of pages | 304 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |