The Model Thinker: What You Need to Know to Make Data Work for You

The Model Thinker is a book by Scott Page that teaches how to turn data into understanding. It introduces the many-model paradigm, which involves testing understanding by modeling things from several perspectives. This results in a deep quantitative acquaintance with tools ranging from Markov chains to game theory to Taleb-style long-tail statistics to network analysis and complexity theory. The book is for businesspeople, students, and scientists alike and will help them change their understanding of and ability to act in the real world.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 448 pages
\n Publication date: 14 March 2019
\n Publisher: Basic Books
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Data, data, data: It seems that all we ever hear about these days is data. Science is all about big data, and our bosses are constantly calling out for analytics, whatever those might be. And everyone is eager to predict what will happen next. Can we accurately predict if a company's stock will rise, whether or not a disease will spread, or who will become the next President of the United States? As anyone who has ever opened up a spreadsheet groaning with weeks, months, or years of data knows, numbers aren't enough: we have to know how to make them talk.

Enter Scott Page and The Model Thinker. A leading professor of quantitative social science at the University of Michigan, he has taken his expertise as both a teacher and researcher and distilled it into the one book anyone will need to master data and turn it to professional use. This is no armchair exercise in imagined understanding, like The Signal and the Noise or The Black Swan or a legion of books on networks, the purposes of which are to make us look good in meetings (or in our own minds) than they are to enable us to do something useful.

The Model Thinker is the guide to turning data into understanding. At its core, Page calls the many-model paradigm, where the key isn't to just find one related set of statistical tools and work with them over and over, but to test our understanding of things by modeling them from several perspectives. The result is both a deep, quantitative acquaintance with tools ranging from Markov chains to game theory to Taleb-style long-tail statistics to network analysis and complexity theory, and a profound trip through the thought-process of a world-class data modeler. All the major tools of modeling, which readers will have heard of in everything from Wired to The Economist to The New York Times, are covered in depth, with examples drawn from real-world applications.

But The Model Thinker is more than just a textbook. It is a practical guide that shows readers how to apply these tools to their own data and problems. Page provides step-by-step instructions on how to build models, evaluate their performance, and make informed decisions based on the results. He also offers insights into the challenges and limitations of modeling, and how to overcome them.

One of the key strengths of The Model Thinker is its accessibility. Page writes in a clear and concise manner, making complex concepts accessible to readers of all backgrounds. He also includes numerous examples and case studies to illustrate his points, making the book engaging and relevant to a wide range of audiences.

In conclusion, The Model Thinker is a must-read for anyone who wants to master data and turn it into understanding. Whether you are a data scientist, business analyst, or simply someone who is curious about the world around us, this book will provide you with the tools and insights you need to succeed. By embracing the many-model paradigm and applying the tools covered in this book, you will be able to make informed decisions and drive positive change in your work and in the world.

\n Weight: 674g\n
Dimension: 243 x 167 x 35 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9780465094622\n \n