Super Crunchers (Abridged): Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart Audiobook

" The latest "next Freakonomics", and I felt pretty similarly about this book -- there were lots of interesting anecdotes, but I'm enough of a nerd that I actually wanted to see the details of the statistics and the data rather than just hear the cocktail-party version. "

" Good read although a few years old (2007), so some of the concepts (randomised trials etc) weren't new, especially with Big Data being the trend on everyone's lips. Great section introducing statistical regressions, and the practical application of standard deviations (2SD rule) was an excellent refresher. "

" A fascinating book on the ethics and real life applications of data mining. "

" I really enjoyed this analysis of numerical analysis in today's world. It was much more engaging, even exciting than I expected. There are here great real-world accounts of significant business intelligence gathered from proper application of nothing more complicated than high school regression models. "

" Popularized stats. Great read. Accessible to and useful for anyone these days- consumers, marketers, researchers, patients, policy makers. Excellent anecdotes to show how powerful data mining can be. "

" Ian Ayers is a very bright guy who works with huge datasets and Gaussian distributions. I was given this by Jeffry along with The Black Swan. It felt like being in the middle of an intellectual shouting match. Fun book, and Ayers writes with an easy, readable style. "

" Statistical analysis of data-bases. Hey - I did this stuff in the 1980's on DEC 11/70's. So it's become common because of how cheap it is to data-mine, and this book demonstrates how the tool works when applied at key moments in our busy lives. "

" An impressive review of what modern economists and mathematicians are currently doing to provide insight formerly the realm of "the gut." "

" A should-read book for knowledge workers and entrepreneurs on concepts and trends. "

" It is a good book to know more about how the industry uses our data. But it is not a technical book, no statistics nor maths, so if you like theory, you might get bored at one point. But as scientific divulgation it is a very good book. The brazilian edition has some errors, though. "

" Not bad, but much of it I've seen elsewhere in the few years since its publication. "

" good, but not quite at freakonomics/gladwell's level "

" A fascinating, counterintuitive and somewhat scary look at the future where computer generated analysis of data provides a powerful tool for predicting all sorts of things while simultaneously stripping more and more of our privacy away. For everyone who thinks math is boring, read this book. "

" Much more insightful than 'Competing on Analytics...'. "

" A good compliment to Freak Economics and all those other book written about how stats can be used in practical ways. Some very interesting anectdotes. "

" Statistics is the future. Not that I didn't already know this, but data mining will make all of our future decisions =D. "

" Pretty interesting how companies can do trials and make decisions using statistics "

" If Ayers says "Super Crunchers" one more time I'm going to go crazy. It makes the book read like a 60 minutes story... you keep expecting the bad pun from Andy Rooney at the end of each chapter. That said, it's got some interesting tidbits. "

" Very mind opening. This book effectively convinces you that you must learn to look at the data. Like it or not, you are going to make a lot of bad decisions if you don't. "

" This was recommended to me by my boss. He lent me his copy and I took this out to San Francisco on a trip. It was well worth the read. While it got a little too much into the hard math at the end, it was a real eye opener regarding how statistics influence our lives. "

" This book is well written, interesting, relevant and scary. It's about how digitized information has become so easily available (thanks to the internet), that it is now easy to predict the usefulness of everything from advertising techniques to medical procedures. "

" This is better than a borrowed Christmas book. It is, in fact, Jon's Christmas book which he read and gave back to me to donate to the library. I had to read it first, of course. I can't believe I actually enjoyed reading a book about numbers...what is the world coming to? "

" Really titillated my inner nerd. I refer to it too often, definitely captured my imagination. "

" Good introduction, but very, very basic if you work with computers. Data analysis has been done for a while now. "

" Very mind opening. This book effectively convinces you that you must learn to look at the data. Like it or not, you are going to make a lot of bad decisions if you don't. "

" Similar to "freakonomics". Perhaps the most significant case study was the reality that medical record digitization and consequent data mining is not only efficient but has saved hundreds of thousand of lives. "

" Note to Ian Ayres: If you're gonna plagiarize, at least plagiarize stuff that makes your book tolerable. "

" It is a good book to know more about how the industry uses our data. But it is not a technical book, no statistics nor maths, so if you like theory, you might get bored at one point. But as scientific divulgation it is a very good book. The brazilian edition has some errors, though. "

" I read it a couple of years ago. Never thought economics could be this much fun. Its not going to be my favourite of all time. "

" this is an excellent book showing how accumulation of data to find relationship for good decision making for long-term horizons. "