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Analytics Stories: Using Data to Make Good Things Happen
Inform your own analyses by seeing how one of the best data analysts in the world approaches analytics problems
Analytics How to Make Good Things Happen is a thoughtful, incisive, and entertaining exploration of the application of analytics to real-world problems and situations. Covering fields as diverse as sports, finance, politics, healthcare, and business, Analytics Stories bridges the gap between the oft inscrutable world of data analytics and the concrete problems it solves.
Distinguished professor and author Wayne L. Winston answers questions
Was Liverpool over Barcelona the greatest upset in sports history? Was Derek Jeter a great infielder What's wrong with the NFL QB rating? How did Madoff keep his fund going? Does a mutual fund’s past performance predict future performance? What caused the Crash of 2008? Can we predict where crimes are likely to occur? Is the lot of the American worker improving? How can analytics save the US Republic? The birth of evidence-based How did James Lind know citrus fruits cured scurvy? How can I objectively compare hospitals? How can we predict heart attacks in real time? How does a retail store know if you're pregnant? How can I use A/B testing to improve sales from my website? How can analytics help me write a hit song? Perfect for anyone with the word “analyst” in their job title, Analytics Stories illuminates the process of applying analytic principles to practical problems and highlights the potential pitfalls that await careless analysts.
Analytics How to Make Good Things Happen is a thoughtful, incisive, and entertaining exploration of the application of analytics to real-world problems and situations. Covering fields as diverse as sports, finance, politics, healthcare, and business, Analytics Stories bridges the gap between the oft inscrutable world of data analytics and the concrete problems it solves.
Distinguished professor and author Wayne L. Winston answers questions
Was Liverpool over Barcelona the greatest upset in sports history? Was Derek Jeter a great infielder What's wrong with the NFL QB rating? How did Madoff keep his fund going? Does a mutual fund’s past performance predict future performance? What caused the Crash of 2008? Can we predict where crimes are likely to occur? Is the lot of the American worker improving? How can analytics save the US Republic? The birth of evidence-based How did James Lind know citrus fruits cured scurvy? How can I objectively compare hospitals? How can we predict heart attacks in real time? How does a retail store know if you're pregnant? How can I use A/B testing to improve sales from my website? How can analytics help me write a hit song? Perfect for anyone with the word “analyst” in their job title, Analytics Stories illuminates the process of applying analytic principles to practical problems and highlights the potential pitfalls that await careless analysts.
528 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 2, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 12, 2022
Oh, what good fun this book was! It reminds me the most of Korner's "The Pleasures of Counting" in that each chapter presents a different case/problem/story and outlines the insights and the math used to untangle it. There's a ton of educational value too, aside from the analyses themselves. The topics range from politics, sports, education, policing, divorce, finance, traffic, drafts, etc... Metrics and jargon are clearly explained.
It is extremely well documented as well: all sources for articles, texts, data, studies, etc. are cited in-paragraph for the reader's benefit. This alone increased my reading list considerably.
The best part of the book is that for most of the chapters, Professor Winston presents a quantitative/statistical analysis of the story using Excel worksheets, which should make it accessible to the non-programming crowd. I myself enjoyed re-doing some of these in Python for some practice and to add reference code to my repos/library.
Bonus: I reached out to the author once when I had difficulty understanding part of the analysis regarding how some numbers were estimated, and he was kind enough to reply the same day. This is uncommon. And I'm not even talking about the promptness of the response...
Data scientists, statisticians, analysts, and curious readers will enjoy this book the most.
Highest possible recommendation!
It is extremely well documented as well: all sources for articles, texts, data, studies, etc. are cited in-paragraph for the reader's benefit. This alone increased my reading list considerably.
The best part of the book is that for most of the chapters, Professor Winston presents a quantitative/statistical analysis of the story using Excel worksheets, which should make it accessible to the non-programming crowd. I myself enjoyed re-doing some of these in Python for some practice and to add reference code to my repos/library.
Bonus: I reached out to the author once when I had difficulty understanding part of the analysis regarding how some numbers were estimated, and he was kind enough to reply the same day. This is uncommon. And I'm not even talking about the promptness of the response...
Data scientists, statisticians, analysts, and curious readers will enjoy this book the most.
Highest possible recommendation!
July 27, 2025
An inspiring book, but shallow for nerds?
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews