Horizon Information Portal

e-branch

Home

My Account/Renew Loans

Find Magazine Articles & more

What the luck? : the surprising role of chance in our everyday lives / Gary Smith.

by Smith, Gary, 1945-

View full image

The Overlook Press, 2016.

9781468313758 (hc.)

289 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-282) and index.

Overreaction. The law of small numbers -- Inherited traits. The father of regression ; Choose your parents carefully -- Education. Testing 1,2,3 ; The beatings will continue until morale improves ; Money for nothing ; Learning and unlearning -- Games of chance. Hopes and excuses -- Sports. Champions choke ; Jinxes, slumps, and superstitions ; Being smart about it -- Health: Take two aspirin ; The tin standard -- Business. The triumph of mediocrity ; From bad to better and great to good ; Draft picks, CEOs, and soul mates -- Forecasting. A better crystal ball -- Investing. $100 bills on the sidewalk -- Conclusion. Living with regression.

Explores the role of luck, specifically the concept of "regression to the mean," in everyday life, exploring how failures to understand chance and random variations influence choices and perceptions of truth. Gary Smith is the author of Standard deviations : flawed assumptions, tortured data, and other ways to lie with statistics.

Horizon Information Portal 3.24_8902M

© 2001-2013 SirsiDynix All rights reserved.

Horizon Information Portal