The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks
Written by Ben Cohen
Narrated by Michael David Axtell
4/5
()
About this audiobook
How can you maximize success—and limit failure? Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Cohen brilliantly investigates the mystery and science of streaks.
""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.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
Ben Cohen
Bennett Cohen is a businessman, activist and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of the ice cream company Ben & Jerry's
Related to The Hot Hand
Related audiobooks
Fantasy Life: The Outrageous, Uplifting, and Heartbreaking World of Fantasy Sports from the Guy Who's Lived It Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Inside Game: Bad Calls, Strange Moves, and What Baseball Behavior Teaches Us About Ourselves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Improbability Principle: Why Coincidences, Miracles, and Rare Events Happen Every Day Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What the Luck?: The Surprising Role of Chance in Our Everyday Lives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Simple Rules: How to Thrive in a Complex World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cubed: The Puzzle of Us All Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best: How Elite Athletes Are Made Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The End of Illness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Do You Fight a Horse-Sized Duck?: Secrets to Succeeding at Interview Mind Games and Getting the Job You Want Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHead in the Cloud: Why Knowing Things Still Matters When Facts Are So Easy to Look Up Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perfectly Confident: How to Calibrate Your Decisions Wisely Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Big Business: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Game of Edges: The Analytics Revolution and the Future of Professional Sports Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radical Uncertainty: Decision-Making Beyond the Numbers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fluke: The Math and Myth of Coincidence Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed Our Minds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Body Builders: Inside the Science of the Engineered Human Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Big Data Baseball: Math, Miracles, and the End of a 20-Year Losing Streak Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chancing It: The Laws of Chance and What They Mean for You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Winner's Curse: Paradoxes and Anomalies of Economic Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Who Gets What—And Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Small Business & Entrepreneurs For You
Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Create: Tools from Seriously Talented People to Unleash Your Creative Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Company Rules: Or Everything I Know About Business I Learned from the CIA Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Every Tool's a Hammer: Life Is What You Make It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Radical Candor: Fully Revised & Updated Edition: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Your Goal Guide: A Roadmap for Setting, Planning and Achieving Your Goals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Think Like a Billionaire Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Capital Gaines: Smart Things I Learned Doing Stupid Stuff Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Grow Your Small Business: A 6-Step Plan to Help Your Business Take Off Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Whole Body Entrepreneur: A Physical and Emotional Self-Care Bootcamp Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nothing Is Missing: A Memoir of Living Boldly Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 7 Secret Keys to Startup Success: What You Need to Know to Win Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Without a Doubt: How to Go from Underrated to Unbeatable Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What’s Holding You Back?: Breaking Through Fear and Insufficiency to Achieve Your Goals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From the Basement: A History of Emo Music and How It Changed Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Real Artists Don't Starve: Timeless Strategies for Thriving in the New Creative Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Science Of Getting Rich Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Millionaire Fastlane, 10th Anniversary Edition: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Layperson’s MBA: Skipping the Degree without Skipping the Important Lessons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radical Abundance: Mastering the Psychology of Money Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Hot Hand
19 ratings0 reviews