{ "item_title" : "The Hot Hand", "item_author" : [" Ben Cohen "], "item_description" : "How can youmaximize success--and limit failure? Wall Street Journal reporterBen Cohen brilliantly investigates the mystery and science of streaks, from basketball to business.A feastfor anyone interested in the secrets of excellence. --Andre AgassiFor decades, statisticians, social scientists, psychologists, and economists (among them Nobel Prizewinners) have spent massive amounts of precious time thinking about whetherstreaks actually exist. After all, a substantial number of decisions that wemake in our everyday lives are quietly rooted in this one question: Ifsomething happened before, will it happen again? Is there such a thing as beingin the zone? Can someone have a hot hand? Or is it simply a case of seeingpatterns in randomness? Or, if streaks are possible, where can they be found?In The Hot Hand, Wall StreetJournal reporter Ben Cohen offers an unfailingly entertaining andprovocative investigation into these questions. He begins with how a $35,000fine and a wild night in New York revived a debate about the existence ofstreaks that was several generations in the making. We learn how the ability torecognize and then bet against streaks turned a business school dropout namedDavid Booth into a billionaire, and how the subconscious nature ofstreak-related bias can make the difference between life and death for asylumseekers. We see how previously unrecognized streaks hidden amidst archival datahelped solve one of the most haunting mysteries of the twentieth century, thedisappearance of Raoul Wallenberg. Cohen also exposes how streak-relatedincentives can be manipulated, from the five-syllable word that helped breakarcade profit records to an arc of black paint that allowed Stephen Curry totransform from future junior high coach into the greatest three-point shooterin NBA history. Crucially, Cohen also explores why false recognition ofnonexistent streaks can have cataclysmic results, particularly if you are asugar beet farmer or the sort of gambler who likes to switch to black on theninth spin of the roulette wheel.", "item_img_path" : "https://covers3.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/0/06/282/073/0062820737_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "17.99", "online_price" : "17.99", "our_price" : "17.99", "club_price" : "17.99", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

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