Ben Cohen > Quotes

“When we see holes in our theories, or contradictions, or anomalies, we should be bothered by these things rather than trying to explain them away,” he says. That capacity for discomfort is the mark of an honest scientist. Gelman believes that people in his profession have to seek out challenges to their own beliefs. They have to be willing to change their minds.”
― Ben Cohen, The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks

“Talent is important, but circumstance is imperative, and circumstance beats talent when talent doesn’t have circumstance.”
― Ben Cohen, The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks

“But he kept running into the problem that would vex other hot-hand researchers: there was no way to perform a rigorous analysis of the hot hand without coding thousands of hours of basketball. Not even Tversky cared that much about basketball. But Gilovich had read about a compulsive statistician with the Philadelphia 76ers who did, and he hoped this professional dork would be obsessive enough to have the numbers they needed for a proper study of the hot hand.”
― Ben Cohen, The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks