Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • The Hot Hand

  • The Mystery and Science of Winning Streaks
  • By: Ben Cohen
  • Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
  • Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (8 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Hot Hand cover art

The Hot Hand

By: Ben Cohen
Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £13.00

Buy Now for £13.00

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Seven Games cover art
Paper Belt on Fire cover art
How to Watch Basketball Like a Genius cover art
Amp It Up cover art
Golf's Holy War cover art
Values, Voice and Virtue cover art
The Rare Find cover art
Ticket to Ride cover art
The Way of the Wall Street Warrior cover art
You Herd Me! cover art
The Dhoni Touch cover art
We the North cover art
The End of Work cover art
Young Guns cover art
Hitting Against the Spin cover art
Then One Day... cover art

Summary

For fans of Charles Duhigg and Nate Silver, a brilliant and buoyant investigation into the existence (or not) of streaks, from a rising star at the Wall Street Journal.

For decades, psychologists and economists have studied the science of streaks to determine whether the ‘hot hand’ exists. Is there such a thing as being in the zone? Or is it simply a case of seeing patterns in randomness? Genius scholars and Nobel Prize winners have dedicated years to answering this question. A substantial number of the decisions we make each day are rooted in two opposing beliefs: that if something happened before, it will happen again – or if it happened before, it probably won’t happen again.

The Hot Hand is an incredibly entertaining and provocative investigation into the seductive idea that streaks not only exist but can be created. Every day we look for patterns in coincidence and coincidence in patterns. Is there a hidden logic that defies our basic understanding of probability? If we recognise someone has a hot hand, can we adjust to take advantage? If we mistakenly assume they have the hot hand, what are the costs? What happens when we’re wrong – and what happens when maybe we were right all along?

To answer these questions, Ben Cohen embarks on a kaleidoscopic investigation that ranges from the magical night that forever changed NBA superstar Stephen Curry’s life to that of a billionaire investor who made a fortune betting against streaks, the mystery of a missing World War II hero to the authentication of a lost Van Gogh painting, how Shakespeare’s success was abetted by a flea to how Spotify had to make its shuffle feature less random to feel more random.

The Hot Hand takes us to the jungles of the Amazon, a sugar-beet farm in the northern United States and strip mall arcades, to show us how recognition of patterns can be both fruitful – and disastrous.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio on our Desktop Site.

©2020 Ben Cohen (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

What listeners say about The Hot Hand

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • MB
  • 16-04-20

Easy and entertaining listen

I was expecting the book to be more focused on the NBA but the author brought examples of the hot hand from a wide variety of fields. This was a positive though. However, given the methodology how the hot hand was proven to be existent in basketball can't really be applied in other fields, thus the parallels drawn are somewhat meaningless. Overall, a fairly light and enjoyable listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!