Best Business Statistics
Once considered tedious, the field of statistics is rapidly evolving into a discipline Hal Varian, chief economist at Google, has actually called “sexy.” From batting averages and political polls to game shows and medical research, the real-world application of statistics continues to grow by leaps and bounds. As best-selling author Charles Wheelan shows us in Naked Statistics , the right data and a few well-chosen statistical tools can help us answer these questions and more. He clarifies key concepts such as inference, correlation, and regression analysis, reveals how biased or careless parties can manipulate or misrepresent data, and shows us how brilliant and creative researchers are exploiting the valuable data from natural experiments to tackle thorny questions. “While a great measure of the book’s appeal comes from Mr. Wheelan’s fluent style―a natural comedian, he is truly the Dave Barry of the coin toss set―the rest comes from his multiple real world examples illustrating exactly why even the most reluctant mathophobe is well advised to achieve a personal understanding of the statistical underpinnings of life.”. - New York Times. “I cannot stress enough the importance of Americans’ need to understand statistics―the basis for a great deal of what we hear and read these days―and I cannot stress enough the value of Wheelan’s book in giving readers an approachable avenue to understanding statistics.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"In my opinion, the author did a fantastic job explaining concepts and how the associated formulas worked in a slightly technical way, but mostly leading into explanations in layman' terms."
"This book is that motivation."
"Naked Statistics is a journey in the world of statistics applied to everyday challenges. Naked Statistics is a delicious surprise that will delight anybody interested in statistics and analytics."
"An admittedly nerdy book, but the author presents the info in an often funny and easy to digest manner without getting caught up in too much technical detail."
"This is an easy to read book that explains quite complicated subjects."
"It drones on, and is difficult to stick with for extended stretches, but this may be the nature of the beast (topic)."
"This book allows the average reader to understand and access the power behind statistics."
"Naked Economics is an awesome 5 star book."
Over Half a Million Copies Sold--an Honest-to-Goodness Bestseller. “Illustrator and author pool their considerable talents to provide light lively reading and cartoon far which will entertain, really inform, and take the wind out of many an overblown statistical sail.”. - Library Journal.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Everybody who deals with anything in the real world should read this to apply a healthy dose of skepticism at what is peddled daily."
"Good but dated exposure of deliberate and idiotic use of averages and extrapolation by advertisers, politicians, and advocates."
"Important for anyone that reviews data (think about newspaper stats, report cards, work metrics) or reviews it to make decisions."
"This is a skeptics book on Statistics, giving varied examples of how data is (willingly) misrepresented to mislead and confuse the public to the advantage of the author or the sponsor of the information."
"One of the basic traps in statistics, according to Huff is the built-in sample bias (a sample is biased when a sample doesn't adequately represent the population from which it is drawn).There is no doubt that the outcome of a sampling study is as good as the sample it is based on and that determining a true random sample us an impossible scenario yet almost everyone claims to have found one."
"This book is a classic."
"This short and well written book by Darrell Huff is a journey in the world of misleading statistics. The misleading word “average” is compared to terms such as mean, median and mode. The often discussed topic of correlation vs causation was also well known at that time, as can be read in chapter 8."
"This book was written a few decades before I was born."
Written by renowned data science experts Foster Provost and Tom Fawcett, Data Science for Business introduces the fundamental principles of data science, and walks you through the "data-analytic thinking" necessary for extracting useful knowledge and business value from the data you collect.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"- It is *not* your standard "management" title on the cool tech du jour available at airport stands and meant to be read in one sitting (buzzwords, hype and overly enthusiastic statements making up for the dearth of actual content)."
"Example : A leading Trucking company used Data mining skill to predict which part of the truck is going to break next instead of replacing it at specific intervals, a Leading insurer predicted those who will complete their antibiotic course based on their home ownership history. If this type of stories and scope interests you, read the book "Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think". It is a text book and authors have taken lot of care so general audience can also benefit from it, and also not to dilute it's textbook value. When you are finished with the book, you should have a fairly good understanding of data science, For example, what type of analysis that needs to be done to identify. A. ( When the target is clear, if the person will default on his loan). E. What is the significance of entropy in Data Science ? G. Don't get defensive, be comfortable when your colleague sprinkles words like like Classification ,regression, Similarity Matching, Clustering, Modelling, Entropy etc. You can get real life examples to work on in coursesolve dot org ( ex: Analyze the sleep cycle). 4. I signed up for Amazon elastic map reduce which has a higher level abstraction (for developers it is the difference between using sqlplus vs TOAD). Try to be the "umbilical cord that looks for a stomach to plug ", look for a mentor, look for opportunity in your firm or elsewhere to grow your Data scientist skills."
"The institution strategy and goals need to be reflected in the procedures used to analyse the data base of the institution and the determination as to what data is relevant."
"I appreciated the accessibility and plain English - albeit thorough - writing (from the perspective of a person who is self-taught in data science and sometimes less acquainted with the terminology)."
"Strengths – Organization, having technical details in a side by side section for those who want it, covering details from definition, through use and application, as well as doing a good job explaining similarities and differences on key topics."
Best Privacy & Surveillance in Society
Longlisted for the National Book Award | New York Times Bestseller A former Wall Street quant sounds an alarm on the mathematical models that pervade modern life and threaten to rip apart our social fabric. Most troubling, they reinforce discrimination: If a poor student can’t get a loan because a lending model deems him too risky (by virtue of his zip code), he’s then cut off from the kind of education that could pull him out of poverty, and a vicious spiral ensues. A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2016. A Boston Globe Best Book of 2016. One of Wired 's Required Reading Picks of 2016. One of Fortune 's Favorite Books of 2016. A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2016. A Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2016. A Nature.com Best Book of 2016. An On Point Best Book of 2016 New York Times Editor's Choice. A Maclean 's Bestseller. Winner of the 2016 SLA-NY PrivCo Spotlight Award. “O’Neil’s book offers a frightening look at how algorithms are increasingly regulating people… Her knowledge of the power and risks of mathematical models, coupled with a gift for analogy, makes her one of the most valuable observers of the continuing weaponization of big data… [She] does a masterly job explaining the pervasiveness and risks of the algorithms that regulate our lives.”. — New York Times Book Review. " Weapons of Math Destruction is the Big Data story Silicon Valley proponents won't tell.... [It] pithily exposes flaws in how information is used to assess everything from creditworthiness to policing tactics.... a thought-provoking read for anyone inclined to believe that data doesn't lie.”. — Reuters. “Readable and engaging… succinct and cogent… Weapons of Math Destruction is The Jungle of our age… [It] should be required reading for all data scientists and for any organizational decision-maker convinced that a mathematical model can replace human judgment." “Indispensable… Despite the technical complexity of its subject, Weapons of Math Destruction lucidly guides readers through these complex modeling systems… O’Neil’s book is an excellent primer on the ethical and moral risks of Big Data and an algorithmically dependent world… For those curious about how Big Data can help them and their businesses, or how it has been reshaping the world around them, Weapons of Math Destruction is an essential starting place.”. — National Post. “Cathy O’Neil, a number theorist turned data scientist, delivers a simple but important message: Statistical models are everywhere, and they exert increasing power over many aspects of our daily lives… Weapons of Math Destruction provides a handy map to a few of the many areas of our lives over which invisible algorithms have gained some control. Weapons of Math Destruction should be required reading for anybody whose life will be affected by Big Data, which is to say: required reading for everyone. That’s why the catalogue of case studies in O’Neil’s book are so important; she’s telling us where to look.” —The Guardian “O’Neil is passionate about exposing the harmful effects of Big Data–driven mathematical models (what she calls WMDs), and she’s uniquely qualified for the task… [She] makes a convincing case that many mathematical models today are engineered to benefit the powerful at the expense of the powerless… [and] has written an entertaining and timely book that gives readers the tools to cut through the ideological fog obscuring the dangers of the Big Data revolution.” —In These Times. An unusually lucid and readable look at the daunting algorithms that govern so many aspects of our lives.”. — Kirkus Reviews (starred) “Even as a professional mathematician, I had no idea how insidious Big Data could be until I read Weapons of Math Destruction . O’Neil speaks from a place of authority on the subject… Unlike some other recent books on data collection, hers is not hysterical; she offers more of a chilly wake-up call as she walks readers through the ways the ‘big data’ industry has facilitated social ills such as skyrocketing college tuitions, policing based on racial profiling, and high unemployment rates in vulnerable communities… eerily prescient.”. — Publishers Weekly. — Paris Review “Through harrowing real-world examples and lively story-telling, Weapons of Math Destruction shines invaluable light on the invisible algorithms and complex mathematical models used by government and big business to undermine equality and increase private power. If you don’t want these algorithms to become your masters, read Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil to deconstruct the latest growing tyranny of an arrogant establishment.”. — Ralph Nader , author of Unsafe at Any Speed “In this fascinating account, Cathy O'Neil leverages her expertise in mathematics and her passion for social justice to poke holes in the triumphant narrative of Big Data.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"So here you are on Amazon's web page, reading about Cathy O'Neil's new book, Weapons of Math Destruction. If clicks on or sales of related items go down, Amazon will know, and can investigate and adjust the model accordingly. Take a look at Amazon's model above: while there are calculations (simple ones) embedded, it's people who decide what data to use, how to use it, and how to measure success. Math is not a final arbiter, but a tool to express, in a scalable (i.e., computable) way, the values that people explicitly decide to emphasize. She highlights that when we evaluate teachers based on students' test scores, or assess someone's insurability as a driver based on their credit record, we are expressing opinions: that a successful teacher should boost test scores, or that responsible bill-payers are more likely to be responsible drivers. Unable to measure quality directly, the magazine built a model based on proxies, primarily outward markers of success, like selectivity and alumni giving. Predictably, college administrators, eager to boost their ratings, focused on these markers rather than on education quality itself. To take a very simple example, imagine that Cathy is about to publish a sequel to Weapons of Math Destruction. The model is pretty easy to understand and audit, which builds confidence and also decreases the likelihood that it gets used to obfuscate. This makes it easier for wealthier candidates to find jobs than poorer ones, and perpetuates a cycle of inequality. It is short -- you can read it in an afternoon -- and it doesn't have time or space for either detailed data analysis (there are no formulas or graphs) or complete histories of the models she considers. As more and more aspects of our lives fall under the purview of automated data analysis, that's a hugely important undertaking."
"I don't know if O'Neil has personally ever had to take a psychology test to get a job, worked under the Kronos scheduling system, lived in a neighborhood with increased police presence due to crime rates, been victimized by insurance rates adjusted to zip codes, and endured corporate wellness programs. Despised by the rank and file of companies that I've worked for, Kronos software contains many aspects and automates things that previously were done by people, mostly managers. Well, say you have a workplace policy that mandates chronically-late employees be written up for tardiness and eventually fired if they don't shape up. What tended to happen at multiple companies I worked for was that managers would look the other way when their buddies were tardy, and write up people they didn't like. Kronos changed that, because the system automatically generated write-ups for any employee that clocked in late too many times. Well I have been poor, or at least this country's version of it, and I have lived in very high crime areas where if you didn't shut your window at night chances were good you would hear a murder. O'Neil argues that many crimes, like drug use by affluent college students, go unpunished because the police are busy in the poorer neighborhoods. I agree, but police resources are limited and for mercy's sake they should be sent where people are being killed, not where a college student is passed out in his living room. My current neighbors many be committing as many crimes as O'Neil implies, but I'm not terrified to walk down the street, so I don't mind the lack of police presence. I just would have liked acknowledgement that wellness programs really do have benefits for some people, instead of a chapter painting them as some sort of 1984-style nightmare where we are all forced to be thin. Despite winning multiple Employee and Student of the Year awards in my life, I can't pass those tests. Here O'Neil misses an opportunity to convince owners of companies that the tests can cost them highly desirable employees. Offering real, concrete ideas of how the tests could be improved to benefit both workers and company owners would have been a harder book to write, but a much more useful one. I hovered on the edge of a four star rating for this book, until a chance conversation with a Japanese woman a couple days ago. My friend was not complaining, she thought the reforms overall a good thing, though her family had lost a lot from it."
"The book takes a look at the rise of computer-generated approaches to the flood of personal data being gathered on us daily and takes a hard look at the unintended consequences of relying on them uncritically."
"PLEASE READ THIS BOOK!"
"Bought it for one of my daughters who is majoring in accounting and she loves it!"
"Thought the concept was great but unfortunately poorly executed by the author."
"I found the information to be fascinating, and important for everyone to understand."
"Gift."
Best GMAT Test Guides
Fractions, Decimals, & Percents GMAT Strategy Guide (ISBN: 9781941234020). Purchase of this set includes one year of access to Manhattan Prep's online computer-adaptive GMAT practice exams and Question Banks. In 2000, Teach for America alumnus and Yale graduate Zeke Vanderhoek had a radical idea: students learn better from better teachers.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"These books don't emphasize tricks or easy ways to 700+ score, instead they methodically cover areas tested, and should be pretty much all you will need (besides the Official Guides - see below for links). If this is above your budget or you are in a rush, then would recommend you pick the best of the pack: - The GMAT Roadmap Great collection of wisdom (see my review of this book). - Number Properties Guide (condensed overview of Arithmetic and strategies for saving time/solving questions more effectively). - Word Propblems Guide (includes some of the hardest topics - probability, combinations, and statistics). - Sentence Correction (the best book out there on SC). - Critical Reasoning (only second to PowerScore CR but by a slim margin). - Reading Comprehension - a significantly revised book (there are no other dedicated RC books on market really). Between these 5 books you should have 80-90% of the GMAT covered and the rest could be picked up from the remaining books and practice with the Official Guides. *** Each book comes with access to 6 online gmat tests and additional question banks. Also, if you are new to the GMAT, download 2 official practice tests from GMAC and take one of them before you start prepping to get your level - very helpful to track your progress along the way but don't waste these tests - they use real retired gmat questions and though it is possible to recycle them (there are close to 900 questions in the banks), would recommend you use something less valuable for your practice such as MGMAT tests included with these books). ~~~. I have gone through all of the books and here is how it looks: Overall, all books have undergone some degree of updating; not just slapping a new cover as some providers do, so you will be better of buying the 6th if you are deciding. IR - substantial changes and improvements - the book needed them, and is now split by question type and organized a lot better. Quant - mostly minor updates (less than 10% new content). RC - Major update. SC - Restructure with the main difference is that the idiom section is cut down and rewrite of most chapters (more than 20% of content updated). CR - Improvements in text-heavy areas that put people to sleep before."
"The combination of these books, the GMAT Original Guide Bundle (buy those for practice problems), and hours of studying produced a 760 GMAT score!!!"
"I has a chance to review a preview set, and I see a number of meaningful changes in this edition: - GMAT Roadmap and IR books are now included with this set, making it a total of 10 books. - The Quant books have been improved in terms of layout and structure (though content is mostly the same). - The Verbal books have undergone a pretty significant improvement in terms of content (still analyzing the changes; check back in a few days for complete analysis). - Now the series start with Fractions/Decimals/Percents, then go into Algebra, Word Problems, Geometry, and Number Properties. (I feel this is a good improvement - first, it is getting rid of some of the strange names MGMAT used and second, Number Properties was a pretty tough book to use as the first step). If you are just starting out with GMAT prep - get this bundle; it's a good deal for the Manhattan GMAT Guides (separately they cost close to $150). If this is above your budget, then would recommend you pick the best of the pack: - The GMAT Roadmap Great collection of wisdom (see my review of this book). - Number Properties Guide (condensed overview of Arithmetic and strategies for saving time/solving questions more effectively). - Word Propblems Guide (includes some of the hardest topics - probability, combinations, and statistics). - Sentence Correction (the best book out there on SC). - Critical Reasoning (only second to PowerScore CR but by a slim margin). - Reading Comprehension (there are no other dedicated RC books on market really). Between these 5 books you should have 80-90% of the GMAT covered and the rest could be picked up from the remaining books and practice with the Official Guides. *** Each book comes with access to 6 online gmat tests and additional question banks. Also, if you are new to the GMAT, download 2 official practice tests from GMAC and take one of them before you start prepping to get your level - very helpful to track your progress along the way but don't waste these tests - they use real retired gmat questions and though it is possible to recycle them (there are close to 900 questions in the banks), would recommend you use something less valuable for your practice such as MGMAT tests included with these books)."
"I recently decided to go back to school for a masters and wanted to do well on the test, but not spend a ton. After I finish, I plan on ordering the GMAT Official Guides which have all the practice questions and after going through those books, then taking the test."