000			02172cam a22002057i 4500
008			180427t20182018nyua b 001 0 eng
020			_a0465094627
020			_a9781541618411
082	0	4	_a001.4226 _bP2M6
100	1		_aPage, Scott E _9341647
245	1	4	_aThe model thinker: what you need to know to make data work for you
260			_aNew York _bBasic Books _c2018
300			_axiii, 427 p.
520			_a"We confront no end of complex problems: why is inequality on the rise? Why are more and more Americans clinically obese? Does a racially diverse team make better decisions? How can we predict the outcomes of elections? At the same time, we find ourselves awash in data, be it on the opioid crisis, college admissions, genetic correlates of disease, financial transactions, or athletic performance. To confront such complexity and put that data to use, we need models: we can use linear regression to predict sales growth, or a power-law distribution to explain city sizes and book sales. Although each model offers insight, any single model will be wrong--just ask the physicist who, trying to understand barnyard animals, imagined a spherical cow. We must be able to do better. The question is simply how. In [this book], Scott E. Page gives us the answer: many-model thinking. By applying multiple diverse frameworks, we can achieve greater insights--indeed, using many models enables us to scale a hierarchy encompassing data, information, knowledge, and ultimately wisdom. Underpinning this, Page presents twenty-five broad classes of models--including models of growth, random walks, entropy, Markov chains, and many more--in a user-friendly and highly readable format, while teaching us how and when to apply them. Whether you work in science, business, government, or even literary studies, you confront complex problems, and you have more data than ever before. The Model Thinker will show how models can make that data work for you."--
650		0	_aInformation visualization
650		0	_aSocial systems
650		0	_aSocial sciences - Mathematical models
650		0	_aComplexity (Philosophy)
942			_cBK
999			_c210230 _d210230