About the Book
While everyone is talking about "big data," the truth is that understanding the "little data"--the stats that underlie newspaper headlines, stock reports, weather forecasts, and so on--is what helps you make smarter decisions at work, at home, and in every aspect of your life. The average person consumes approximately 30 gigabytes of data every single day, but has no idea how to interpret it correctly. EVERYDATA explains, through the eyes of an expert economist and statistician, how to decipher the small bytes of data we consume in a day. EVERYDATA is filled with countless examples of people misconstruing data--with results that range from merely frustrating to catastrophic: The space shuttle Challenger exploded in part because the engineers were reviewing a limited sample set. Millions of women avoid caffeine during pregnancy because they interpret correlation as causation. Attorneys faced a $1 billion jury verdict because of outlier data. Each chapter highlights one commonly misunderstood data concept, using both realworld and hypothetical examples from a wide range of topics, including business, politics, advertising, law, engineering, retail, parenting, and more. You'll find the answer to the question--"Now what?"--along with concrete ways you can use this information to immediately start making smarter decisions, today and every day.
Table of Contents:
Foreword, Preface, 1 Data, Data, Everywhere: An Introduction to Everydata, 2 The Challenger Challenge: How Sampling Can Affect Results, 3 Red State Blues: Averages and Aggregates— A Closer Look at Summary Statistics, 4 Are You Smarter Than an iPhone- Using, Radiohead- Loving Republican?: Understanding Correlation Versus Causation, 5 In Statistics We Trust: Is What You’re Seeing True?, 6 Shrinking Africa: Misrepresentation and Misinterpretation, 7 Spoonfed Data: When Cherry Picking Goes Bananas, 8 Predicting Disaster: Forecasting the Future, 9 It’s a Jungle Out There: Putting It All Together, Glossary, Notes, Index, Acknowledgments, About the Author
About the Author :
Dr. John H. Johnson, IV is an expert witness who has testified and consulted in cases involving how one uses and interprets data in a wide range of settings. As CEO and co-founder of Edgeworth Economics--a leading consulting firm with offices in Washington, DC, San Francisco, and Pasadena--John heads a data-driven company that has been featured on NPR, the Washington Post, USA Today, and HuffPost Live. As an economist and statistician, John specializes in teaching people how to be informed data consumers. He has spoken to audiences at the American Bar Association and the Federal Trade Commission, has taught at Georgetown University, and has been published in numerous books, journals, and magazines. His PhD in econometrics is from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Co-author Mike Gluck is an award-winning journalist/marketer who has written for leading organizations and newspapers nationwide. He has led the creation of multi-million dollar advertising campaigns, and has worked with Time Warner Cable, Fisher-Price, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Riverside Health System, among others. As President of Gluckworks--a copywriting and marketing firm in Buffalo, NY--Mike's expertise is making complex topics easy to understand. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University.
Review :
"This book educates readers on how to navigate the increasingly dense information environment... [Johnson and Gluck] hit key points on the importance of information literacy today." -- Publishers Weekly "Enlightening and educational, Everydata is a 'must-read' for the twenty-first century." -- Midwest Book Review "Everydata should be required reading in high school and for every journalist and journalism student in the universe."? -- Gwen Moritz, Arkansas Business "This book will make you smarter, faster. Please read it before making decisions or forming opinions of any kind." -- Seth Godin, author of Linchpin "In today's data-saturated world, knowing how to use and interpret data is a true strategic advantage. In EVERYDATA John and Mike walk us through how we should and shouldn't use data to make decisions in our lives. They do it simply, clearly, and with unexpected humor! I can't imagine a more relevant read." -- Paul Walsh, VP of Weather Analytics and Meteorologist, The Weather Company "With fun and verve, John and Mike take us through the essential steps to becoming a sophisticated consumer of the data that surrounds us. Don't be fooled by the cheerful tone and the lack of grandiose claims: if they succeed in educating us (and I am sure they will), the result will be more discerning consumers, better stewards of their own health, and, most importantly, a better democracy." -- Esther Duflo, professor of Economics, MIT, and co-founder and co-director, J-PAL "Access to data is a critical driver of knowledge, curiosity, and innovation. But we need to understand how to interpret the data to tap into the wealth of possibility it creates. John and Mike are helping to spread that wealth by teaching us how, in everyday language, to confront the deluge of data we receive every day. An invaluable read!" -- Bradley Horowitz, VP, Photos and Streams at Google "The authors of EVERYDATA have masterfully distilled an applied statistics textbook into a 'best of,' highlighting the most relevant and valuable parts we all need to navigate today's world of big data. I cannot recommend this book enough." -- Joshua D. Wright, professor of Law and Economics, George Mason University and former commissioner, Federal Trade Commission
