Book Review: Analytics Stories – Using Data to Make Good Things Happen

Part I – What Happened?

• Was Liverpool over Barcelona the Greatest Upset in Sports History?

• Measuring Income Inequality with the Gino, Palm, and Atkinson Indices

• Intergenerational Mobility

• What’s wrong with the NFL QB Ranking?

• Some Sports Have All the Luck

Part II – What will Happen?

• Does a Mutual Fund’s Past Performance Predict Future Performance?

• Can We Predict Heart Attacks in Real Time?

• Predicting Game of Thrones TV Ratings

Part III – Why Did It Happened?

• Do NFL Teams Pass Too Much and Go for It Often Enough on Fourth Down?

• Why Does the Pareto Principle Explain So Many Things?

• Does Where You Grow Up Matter?

• Are Roundabouts a Good Idea?

Part IV – How Do I Make Good Things Happen?

• How Can We Improve K-12 Education?

• Can Analytics Save Our Republic?

• Why Do I Pay Too Much on eBay?

Overall, the book is a discussion of over 60 analytics applications (most successful, some unsuccessful), that enhance the reader’s understanding of analytics. The book also presents a link to a set of Excel files, which allow the reader to understand further the data and examples presented.