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

How anyone can become a data ninja

From the stock market to genomics laboratories, 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. 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.

• Data Visualization: A Practical Introduction
• Introduction to the Theory of Complex Systems
• The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect
• The Hundred-Page Machine Learning Book
• The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success
• The Elements of Thinking in Systems: Use Systems Archetypes to Understand, Manage, and Fix Complex Problems and Make Smarter Decisions
• Possible Minds: Twenty-Five Ways of Looking at AI
• The Human Network: How Your Social Position Determines Your Power, Beliefs, and Behaviors
• Architects of Intelligence: The truth about AI from the people building it
• Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions