Stats and Curiosities

by Andrew O'Connell

Fascinating stats… useful tips… entertaining topics. Did you know that to make a task seem easier, all you have to do is lean back a little? Or that retail salespeople who mimic the way their customers speak and behave end up selling more? If you like stats like this, are intrigued by ideas, and find connecting the dots to be a critical part of your skill set―this book is for you. Culled from Harvard Business Review ’s popular newsletter, The Daily Stat, this book offers a compelling look at insights that both amuse and inform. Covering such managerial topics as teams, marketing, workplace psychology, and leadership, you’ll find a wide range of business statistics and general curiosities and oddities about professional life that will add an element of trivia and humor to your learning (and will make you appear smarter than your colleagues). Highly quotable and surprisingly useful, Stats and From Harvard Business Review will keep you on the front lines of business research―and ahead of the pack at work.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

213 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Ezgi T]

DNF @ 17.24%

Fikir güzel de, böyle oturup okumalık bir kitaptan çok ara sıra raftan alıp göz gezdirmelik bir kitap olmuş. Bir sürü araştırmayı bir başlık ve kısa bir paragrafla özetliyor. Okuduğum yere kadar ilginç araştırmalar da var, "Bunu niye uğraşıp araştırmışlar ki?" dediklerim de. Oturup bitirmeme değeceğini sanmıyorum.

[Reem Alkhalaf · Rating 2 out of 5]

مجموعة من الإحصائيات تم تجميعها من مجلة هارفارد بيزنس ريفيو وعرضها في كتاب. خاصة بأمور العمل، الصحة، الحياة، الإقتصاد والسلوك.

هل كلها مفيدة او ستفيدك بحياتك ؟ بالتأكيد لا خصوصاً أنها تشمل ومطبقة على العالم الغربي وأفراده فقط، لكن نستطيع ان نستفيد منها فيما يخص السلوك الإنساني والحياة بشكل عام.

استمتعت بجزء منها وانتابني ضجر في الجزء الآخر خصوصاً أنني شعرت أن هنالك أمور بديهية لا تحتاج لإحصائيات وتجارب لإثباتها، لذلك لم تكن جميعها مفيدة أو ممتعة بالنسبة لي.

[Rob Fulton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This gave me 5-6 insights that I could use immediately in my business, with respect on how I could lead with authority, and also how to frame how to run an office. It was a simple read and worth reading if you have some extra time!

[Shayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all I love the way this book feels. It has a softness to the cover that really makes it wonderful to touch. This was enlightening and fun. Yes some of the statistics make no changes in my life but I did clean out my junk drawers looking for my missing $300 in gift cards and am now forcing my children to sniff peppermint while doing their school work.
I did receive this as a giveaway. Thank you so much for it. I recommend this book as a fun stocking stuffer for Christmas.

[Roland Martinez · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a little book that summarizes several behavioral economics studies done over the past few years and calls it "stats". It's almost pure garbage especially when you consider all of the fraud Amy Cuddy and her ilk have been spreading over the fields of social science. I found it interesting but didn't find one fact that would help me day to day or be memorable enough to even mention.

[Karthik · Rating 1 out of 5]

Judged the book by its cover. Full of american stats no use for an indian. Avoid if ur looking for world stats and teivia

[Nura Yusof · Rating 3 out of 5]

Information that is not immediately useful is, to me, trivia. And ironically the book lists one stat which shows that knowing too much non-useful information can hamper one’s ability to think clearly.

Having said that, what may not be immediately useful to me could be otherwise for other readers. Should you chance upon this book in a shop, just read a few random pages and maybe it’ll be useful to get it after all.

It’s a fast read and reference pages at the end will give you leads to explore in detail whichever stat that is of interest.

[Jessada Karnjana · Rating 3 out of 5]

หนังสือเล่าข้อสรุปเชิงสถิติจากงานวิจัย 165 ชิ้น สรุปสั้น ๆ เพียงไม่กี่ประโยค อาจจะสั้นกว่า abstract ด้วยซ้ำ ข้อดีคืออ่านเพลิน อ่านสนุก เป็นข้อมูลเบา ๆ ที่บางเรื่องก็มีประเด็นชวนคิด เหมือนนิทานอีสปที่คัดเอาแต่ส่วนนิทานเรื่องนี้สอนให้รู้ว่ามาร้อยเรียงต่อกัน ข้อเสียคือข้อมูลเชิงสถิติไม่ใช่อาหารสำเร็จรูป แต่เป็นคำตอบของคำถามเฉพาะที่มีวิธีการเพื่อให้ได้มาซึ่งคำตอบอย่างมีขอบเขตจำกัด ทำให้การใช้ข้อสรุปเชิงสถิติเพื่ออ้างเหตุผลเป็นเรื่องที่ต้องระมัดระวังเป็นพิเศษ อย่างที่ Mark Twain อ้างว่า Disraeli นายกรัฐมนตรีสหราชอาณาจักรจำแนกคำโกหกออกเป็น 3 ระดับคือ lies, damned lies, and statistics อันโด่งดังนั่นแหละ ...

ดูรีวิว https://www.jessada-k.com/single-post...

[Sundaresan Sekar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Start anywhere based on your topic of interest.
Quick reads – each fact is about a 100 words long and we move on to the next.
Interesting connections between uncommon scenarios backed by research.
Handy and fits the pocket.
Cool stats that you can use to engage in discussions.
Each fact has the source of research if you are interested in learning more about the test scenarios and the sample sets. Found at the end of the book.

[Serap Becit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sıradan bir kitap çünkü yüzeyde popüler kültür, seyahat ve gözlem yazılarının tanıdık dinamiklerini taşıyor.

Sosyolojik analizler, politik eleştiriler ve anlatı teknikleri yüzeysel ve dağınık geldi bana. Anlatımın derinleşmemesi ve kimi zaman turist bakış açısını aşamaması, metni daha az etkileyici kılıyor.

[Mili Mishra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book quickly at 2 visits to the airport!

Amazing collection of statistics which make you think, a lot of them to do with workplace, economy and gender.

Must read for people to understand some of the implicit bias we bring into workplace.

[Arun Narayanaswamy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the facts and figures. Hard to make sense of many, more from a point of view of where to use this information, but, some of it is sharp and interesting.
A good read, and even better read in parts and over a period of time,rather than at one go.

[Avinash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the book is correlated stats not much causation or logic , with not much actionable insights , very dry book with some random numbers , only good thing is it’s very brief so not much time to waste

[Ryan Barretto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting studies collated from universities across the world.

Some of them are succinct, and a few would have benefitted by being a page or 2 longer.

If strange info about human behaviour is your thing, go for it.

[SaketKr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how abtract and nearly useless it was. But it was interesting anyway. I really have no idea what I'm going to do with these all stats. But I feel smart and intellectual. 😂

[Naeema Alaradi · Rating 1 out of 5]

الترجمة سيئة جدا و الدراسات المتضمنة غير مثيرة للاهتمام ما عدا القليل جدا.. كنت اتوقع ان أقرأ شيئا خفيفا و مسليا لكن الكتاب كان على العكس تماما

[Nash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enlightening. A light read suitable for slight positive distraction during a busy day.

[Ton Nguyen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad book by any means, but not that interesting either. It's mostly an entertaining quick read with a few decently useful statistics.

[Honey Suwannatrai · Rating 2 out of 5]

มันอิงไม่ได้กะทุกสิ่งแวดล้อม เ���ร็ดสถิติเป็นอะไรที่ไม่จีรัง บางที Harvard ก็ไกลเกินเอื้อม

[Anan Thipprasert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting facts and stats but no explanation or reason.

[Phoebe Phuong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bite-size info, interesting read.
“Unattainable role models are more threatening than inspiring “

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this out of curiosity it was “just” a book of stats with very little surrounding it. AKA context. But interesting to see the things folks study and how they correlate.

[Sat · Rating 4 out of 5]

HBR articles have always been interesting and informative, but collecting good stats from the articles is a perfect idea! This book contains over 160 fun stats and research findings that HBR contributors featured on their articles. Though past studies were done in certain places that their findings could not be generalized to other populations, this book is still an enlightening reading. Here are some of my favorites from the book:

"Thefts of Apple products such as iPhones significantly skewed crime statistics in New York City. Thefts of the company's products rose by 3,890 in 2012 over 2011; without that increase, overall crime in the city would have been down for the year." The New York Times

"72% of people who found lost smartphones in five cities tried to access photos, 57% tried to open a file named 'Save Passwords', and 43% tried to open app named 'Online Banking'." Experiment by Symantec

"An increase of government spending on social benefits by 1 percentage point of GDP decreases an individual's likelihood of volunteering for religious, sports, arts, or any other kind of organization by about 2 percentage point." Franz Hackl, Martin Halla, and Gerald J. of the University of Linz, Austria

"People who viewed images of food labeled organic made harsher moral judgments about others" Kendall J. Eskine of Loyola University, New Orleans

"People estimated that it took them an average of about 22 minutes to go from home to the classroom, but just 17 minutes to get back. People mentally define the destination 'home' as a relatively large area and unfamiliar destinations as relatively small." An experiment with 127 undergraduates

"For people who go to business school with no work experience, the average return on an MBA program is about 20%. But that drops for people who have held jobs before getting their MBA's, sinking to as low as 2.2% for people who have 19 years' prior experience." Andrew Hussey of the University of Memphis

"The proportion of American teenagers with drivers' licenses dropped from 64.4% in 1998 to 46.3% in 2008. When 3,000 millennials were asked to name their preferred brands, the top 10 included no automobiles. " The New York Times

"Taking introductory microeconomics reduces a noneconomic major's likelihood of donating to specific nonprofits by 2 percentage points and intermediate course reduces the likelihood by 3.7 to 7.9% percentage points." Yora Bauman and Elaina Rose of the University of Washington

"Companies led by wide-faced male CEOs had industry-adjusted RoA up to $16 million greater than firms led by narrow-faced male." Elaine M. Wong of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

"During the week when the 2001 US tax rebate checks arrived, mortality among 25 to 64 year olds increased by 2.5%, and during the week when dividends are paid to Alaskan from the state's Permanent Fund, mortality increases by 13%. Higher level of activities such as driving and recreation after money rolls in are the likely causes of the effect." William N. Evans of the University of Notre Dame and Timothy J. Moore of the University of Maryland

[Killian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall I was pretty disappointed in this book. I was expecting a more in-depth explanation of the interesting and off-the-wall research, but instead it it just condensed into a few sentences, with one research study per page. The sources are in the back of the book, making this little more than a conversation starter/novelty/coffee table book. I expected more from the Harvard Business Review.

If you want to see what this book essentially is, check out The Daily Stat blog. Each post is a blurb about an interesting research study. These blurbs are what make up the book. The blog also includes a link to the source study making it, in my opinion, much more dynamic than this one-dimensional book.

So the one plus? I will now be following this blog. And that might have been the whole point to this publication.

ARC courtesy of Harvard Business Review Press, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Peacejanz · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delightful book! It is full of gems from research that is informative. This is the type of book to go in a purse, the glove compartment of your car, your briefcase and you can pull it out to read bits and pieces at a time. There is nothing earth shaking in this book but some commonsense maxims are validated - people who think they are important act differently from those who do not. Or a task looks like it weighs more (is smaller) if promised help. Those who were not promised help but told they were to pick up a box tended to guess the actual weight as heavier than those who were told they would have help to pick up the box! Lots of little tidbits for those of us who are trivia lovers. And all came from research that someone at Harvard University thought was worth reading -- at least once.
I love this book.
I received a free copy of this book from Goodreads.

[Mallory Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. There were many interesting studies compiled. Some are common sense but some give you a whole new perspective pertaining to the work force, the human brain, behavior and your health. It's a good quick read that ultimately expands your knowledge.

I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great read if you're on the run and love reading about statistics,plus curiosities! This book gave me an insight on so many subjects,it was amazing! I laughed,learned and gasped until the very end. What a wonderful read and book!! I recommend this eye opener to everyone!!

[Nawasandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hadiah ulang tahun dari Periplus ini cukup mengejutkan. Tidak biasanya aku dikasih buku pocket. Terkejut! isi bukunya bak index hasil riset. Ada dua researcher Cornell dan Ivy League lain. Yang jelas, buku ini membantu banget membuka percakapan santai sewaktu Predep FETA

[Jim Serger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent little quick read book--good for that lunch break or a regional jet ride--
Good stats to think about, reflect on and see the beneficial side of stats.

[Mai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filled with fun facts for cocktail parties.