Why were the experts making mistakes? Why was this essentially clinical misjudgment going on inside baseball? That was something I did not get to in Moneyball but I got to in my recent book. And there were systematic misjudgments that the Oakland A's exploited and found better ways to value the players, namely by using statistics as opposed to using the judgement of the experts. But part of the answer was, the experts in judging baseball talent-the baseball scouts-made a lot of mistakes. And the question was, how could that happen if the market for baseball players is efficient? Why didn't the rich teams just buy all of the best players and win all of the games? When I dug into it, the answer was complicated. In 20, when I was working on Moneyball, the Oakland Athletics organization was spending $30 million or so on its players, yet it ran circles around teams spending four times as much. I was struck by the market inefficiency in baseball. What got you started with that? It Started With Moneyball

One of the things that you have on for many years-in fact, dating back to Moneyball-is the idea of perception and cognitive biases. I think those in the medical community who have followed your work over the years will easily understand how The Undoing Project applies to the day-to-day world of caring for patients. Not long after Jonah Hill was cast in the role, the real-life Paul DePodesta successfully petitioned for the producers to change the name, with Vulture reporting that the former Athletics assistant general manager feeling the character was fictitious and only loosely based on him at that point.Dr Topol: It's really a delight. In hindsight, it’s not hard to see why Sony Pictures would want someone like Hill playing a character with so much time on screen. The decision came down in March 2010, with the report noting the change was made to give the movie a broader comedic appeal. Back when Steven Soderbergh was still attached to direct the sports drama, comedian-turned-actor Demetri Martin was cast as Paul DePodesta, the real-life figure on which the Brand character was later based.

Jonah Hill was nominated for multiple awards, including an Oscar and Golden Globe, for his portrayal of Peter Brand in Moneyball, but the Superbad star wasn’t the first choice to play Brad Pitt’s on-screen assistant. Demetri Martin Was Initially Cast In The Role That Eventually Went To Jonah Hill

Moneyball author