Reviews
There is an infectious clarity of statistical reasoning in Gary Smith's work. His friendly, logical, systematic writing entertains and gives a confidence of membership in an inner circle as brilliant as Smith himself., Another delightful addition to the stuff-you-think-you-know-that's-wrong genre, á la Freakonomics, Outliers, and The Black Swan...A welcome, widely applicable follow-up to the author's equally useful first book., In clear, entertaining prose and the use oftelling, useful, and even charming examples, Smith dissects one of the mostfundamental principles of how the world works--and how our intuitions often failto catch on. Anyone who wants to think more clearly and act morerationally will profit from reading this book., What The Luck? is a tremendously entertaining and revealing read. A quick and engrossing piece of work, it is a must read for those who approach the world with educated insight! Two thumbs up!, As a lifelong sportsfan I've always been puzzled by a phenomenon in which a team wins achampionship and, after failing to repeat the next season, everyone from fansto management looks for what went wrong and begins trading players and changingstrategies, thereby dooming the team to do even worse the season after. GarySmith has solved this puzzle, and many more in all walks of life, through theconcept of regression to the mean, one of the most powerful and leastunderstood factors in how things turn out in life. You will not look at theworld the same after reading this illuminating book., The beauty of this book is it sheds light on the need for humility when one experiences good fortune, and the importance of hope after misfortune. This nuanced understanding will help readers make better decisions in all realms of their lives., In clear, entertaining prose and the use oftelling, useful, and even charming examples, Smith dissects one of the mostfundamental principles of how the world works--and how our intuitions often failto catch on. Anyone who wants to think more clearly and act morerationally will profit from reading this book., Luck and chance are parts of our lives, like it or not. Serious stuff in an easy and entertaining presentation., People often underestimate the impact of luck in their lives. What The Luck? is eminently readable and entertaining, filled with colorful examples., Smith provides afascinating and accessible overview of regression toward the mean in sports andother domains. If you play fantasy sports, you should go get a copy of thisbook at once (while hoping your competitors have not done likewise)., Smithuses a wide variety of real-life examples to illustrate why conventional wisdomoften fails to acknowledge that one of the most important ingredients isluck., Vagaries of chanceare part of our lives, whether we like it or not. WHAT THE LUCK? presentsserious stuff in an eminently readable and entertaining manner. Using colorfulexamples, it teaches humility for good fortune and hope after misfortune. Awonderful read!, Read this book. Thengive it to your family and friends. There is no other single idea that willbetter improve your understanding of the world, and judgment of the future,than regression-to-the-mean. Drawing on education, health, politics, business,and sports, Smith shows us how others have gotten it wrong and how you can getit right., Gary Smith hasanother winner! His ability to combine entertaining writing with meaningfulanalysis should put him at the top of every thinking person's reading list., Regression toward themean is the key to the universe. Of course, learning about this is both ablessing and a curse. Once people have digested this book, they willabsolutely see regression everywhere and understand its effect, but they willalso be driven crazy, as you undoubtedly are, when they hear all of theunsupported and sometimes absurd explanations people cling to in order to makesense of it., Humans are prone tosearch and 'find' causal drivers of the events that shape our lives. Inreality, we are impacted by chance more often than we think. ProfessorSmith uses simple reasoning and vivid examples to help us decipher truth fromfiction, thereby helping us to make better decisions., There is aninfectious clarity of statistical reasoning in Gary Smith's work. His friendly,logical, systematic writing entertains and gives a confidence of membership inan inner circle as brilliant as Smith himself., Regression toward themean is the key to the universe. Of course, learning about this is both ablessing and a curse. Once people have digested this book, they willabsolutely see regression everywhere and understand its effect, but they willalso be driven crazy, as you undoubtedly are, when they hear all of theunsupported and sometimes absurd explanations people cling to in order to makesense of it., Humans are prone tosearch and 'find' causal drivers of the events that shape our lives. Inreality, we are impacted by chance more often than we think. ProfessorSmith uses simple reasoning and vivid examples to help us decipher truth fromfiction, thereby helping us to make better decisions., Smith usesentertaining and intuitive examples to show how regression to the mean explainspatterns in education, business, and medicine.
