How can you maximize success—and limit failure? Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Cohen brilliantly investigates the mystery and science of streaks, from basketball to business. "A feast for anyone interested in the secrets of excellence." —Andre Agassi For decades, statisticians, social scientists, psychologists, and economists (among them Nobel Prize winners) have spent massive amounts of precious time thinking about whether streaks actually exist. After all, a substantial number of decisions that we make in our everyday lives are quietly rooted in this one question: If something happened before, will it happen again? Is there such a thing as being in the zone? Can someone have a “hot hand”? Or is it simply a case of seeing patterns in randomness? Or, if streaks are possible, where can they be found? In The Hot Hand, Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Cohen offers an unfailingly entertaining and provocative investigation into these questions. He begins with how a $35,000 fine and a wild night in New York revived a debate about the existence of streaks that was several generations in the making. We learn how the ability to recognize and then bet against streaks turned a business school dropout named David Booth into a billionaire, and how the subconscious nature of streak-related bias can make the difference between life and death for asylum seekers. We see how previously unrecognized streaks hidden amidst archival data helped solve one of the most haunting mysteries of the twentieth century, the disappearance of Raoul Wallenberg. Cohen also exposes how streak-related incentives can be manipulated, from the five-syllable word that helped break arcade profit records to an arc of black paint that allowed Stephen Curry to transform from future junior high coach into the greatest three-point shooter in NBA history. Crucially, Cohen also explores why false recognition of nonexistent streaks can have cataclysmic results, particularly if you are a sugar beet farmer or the sort of gambler who likes to switch to black on the ninth spin of the roulette wheel.

This is the first comprehensive overview of the exciting field of the 'science of science'. With anecdotes and detailed, easy-to-follow explanations of the research, this book is accessible to all scientists, policy makers, and administrators with an interest in the wider scientific enterprise.

Written by three esteemed baseball statisticians, "The Book" continues where the legendary Bill James?'s "Baseball Abstracts" and Palmer and Thorn?'s "The Hidden Game of Baseball" left off more than twenty years ago. Continuing in the grand tradition of sabermetrics, the authors provide a revolutionary way to think about baseball with principles that can be applied at every level, from high school to the major leagues.Tom Tango, Mitchel Lichtman, and Andrew Dolphin cover topics such as batting and pitching matchups, platooning, the benefits and risks of intentional walks and sacrifices, the legitimacy of alleged ?clutch? hitters, and many of baseball?'s other theories on hitting, fielding, pitching, and even baserunning. They analyze when a strategy is a good idea and when it?'s a bad idea, and how to more closely watch the ?inside? game of baseball.Whenever you hear an announcer talk about the ?unwritten rule? or say that so-and-so is going ?by the book? in bringing in a situational substitute, "The Book" reviews the facts and determines what the real case is. If you want to know what the folks in baseball should be doing, find out in "The Book,"

"Highlights various successes of both individuals and teams in soccer" -- www.childsworld.com

Baseball "by The Book."

Making Everything separates the myths behind what great putters look like, what they all have in common, and how you can improve you putting. Inspired by the book Moneyball, the author uses a statistical model to define "making everything". He takes over two years of PGA tour data to validate the DAPR putting model that distinguishes the good from the great. A wonderful read for every golfer.