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

Want to be a data ninja? A top expert reveals the most powerful statistical and mental tools available.

From the stock market to covid-19, census figures to marketing email blasts, we are awash with data. But as anyone who has ever opened up a spreadsheet packed with seemingly infinite lines of data knows, numbers aren't enough: we need to know how to make those numbers talk. In The Model Thinker, social scientist Scott E. Page shows us the mathematical, statistical, and computational models-from linear regression to random walks and far beyond-that can turn anyone into a genius. At the core of the book is Page's "many-model paradigm," which shows the reader how to apply multiple models to organize the data, leading to wiser choices, more accurate predictions, and more robust designs. Now culminating in an examination of how to use the multi-model approach to think about pandemics like covid-19, The Model Thinker provides a toolkit for business people, students, scientists, pollsters, and bloggers to make them better, clearer thinkers, able to leverage data and information to their advantage.