nan | 楠木

Moneyball, written by Michael Lewis, tells the story of winning against conventional odds, through a scientific approach instead of plain conventional wisdom.
The book revolves around a Major League Baseball team, the Oakland Athletics, and their eccentric GM Billy Beane. Beane’s team is one of the most poorly funded in the league, yet it manages to have outstanding results year in year out. Why? Because Beane takes very unconventional ways to raise the efficiency of his team: he believes in statistical analyses, and these analyses tell him what are the most critical factors of winning games. By maximizing these factors to his favor, he is able to build a winning team.
The book is appealing because of its sound logic and wry humor. Lewis is also able to build a lot of tension in some parts of the book, especially the chapter on the rookie draft. Being a former i-banker, he knows best how to portray the intensity of deal-making.