The Hot Hand, Benjamin Cohen
The Hot Hand, Benjamin Cohen
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The Hot Hand
The Mystery and Science of Streaks

Author: Benjamin Cohen

Narrator: Michael David Axtell

Unabridged: 8 hr 39 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 03/10/2020

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

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.

About Benjamin Cohen

Ben Cohen is a sports reporter for The Wall Street Journal. He writes about the NBA, the Olympics and other topics that don't involve extraordinarily athletic people. He lives in New York with his wife and their cat. The Hot Hand is his first book. 


Reviews

Goodreads review by Mac on April 05, 2020

Ben Cohen’s The Hot Hand taught me a lot, not all of it about the “The Mystery and Science of Streaks.” Here’s what I learned. A story written to entertain is not the same as a story written to persuade. The Hot Hand is full of interesting stories, most well told about a variety of fascinating people......more

Goodreads review by Samcwright on August 14, 2020

There’s been a lot of debate about whether the hot-hand exists (e.g. basketball players are statistically more likely to hit shots as they shoot and make shots in a row without missing). This book, like most in the pop-science genre, could have been 90% shorter. But it is an interesting story and fo......more

Goodreads review by Peter on February 01, 2024

At some point down the line I will have a list of my favorite books that I have had the pleasure of reading. This won’t be one of them. There are some interesting ideas in here, however, none that I feel the need to post on Goodreads.......more

Goodreads review by Alex on October 21, 2020

Felt like this book was written for me. Thinking Fast and Slow meets Moneyball. Plus mix in gulags, Shakespeare, Van Gogh, NBA Jam, and much more. Ben Cohen manages to weave a plethora of stories into one coherent narrative and supremely entertaining book. Recommend if you have any interest in data......more

Goodreads review by Warren on July 12, 2020

Good storytelling, but he meanders too much off topic with diverse off-topic segments like Raoul Wallenberg and Van Gogh that don't really relate to the Hot Hand.......more