"Hot Hand Effect" Author: Ben Cohen Publisher: Zhejiang Education Press

Introduction

【Content Introduction】

The plague actually gave rise to Shakespeare, a great drama writer?

Buffett's investment secret is "passive"?

What force prompted Stephen Curry to become the three-point king in NBA history?

When a basketball player is in great form and scores goals one after another, we say “His hands are hot! They’re burning hot!” and believe his next shot is more likely to go in, too. This is the “hot hand effect” — defined as a cognitive error in the paper that first studied it in 1985.

However, this is not the case.

In the following decades, this confusing topic attracted countless psychologists, economists and statisticians to join in. They tried to prove from various angles that "hot hands" do exist and explore the secrets of winning streaks.

Is "luck" a cognitive error of human beings, or is it a kind of existence like talent, opportunity, and luck? In the new book "The Hot Hand Effect" by Ben Cohen, a reporter of the Wall Street Journal, you will read how Stephen Curry became the three-point king in NBA history, how the plague helped Shakespeare become a great drama writer, Mark Temer who rejected Bill Gates became a game genius, how music companies took great pains to clarify the "randomness" of song playback to users, how Buffett's investment secret was "passive", how Van Gogh's paintings were regarded as fakes and how to verify their authenticity... This book not only involves sports and economics, but also involves various fields such as art, film, stock market, psychology, etc. Ben Cohen uses real stories to explain how every human event is deeply affected by "luck".

The mystery of the hot hand effect also quietly unfolds in these stories.

About the Author

Ben Cohen

A reporter for The Wall Street Journal, he has participated in reporting on NBA events, the Olympic Games and other major sporting events. The Hot Hand Effect is his first book.