I could not have written this book without the love, guidance, and encouragement of my family: Lisa Schamberg (mother), Andrew Siegel (father), Maria de Fatima Callou (wife), Rachel Siegel (sister), Ene Piirak (stepmother), Patrick Robins (stepfather), and Anita King (grandmother).

A few cherished advisers provided extensive guidance and feedback on my writing. More than a mother to me—if such a thing is possible—Lisa Schamberg is also a natural scholar and brilliant former high school teacher who took the time to provide insightful input for every single page. John Elder, a top industry leader (and the subject of Chapter 1), has patiently enhanced my knowledge and writing in astounding ways, and placed his company's resources at my disposal to support the development of this book. Jim Sterne's patience and dedication assisting with my writing are matched only by his profound talent; he is also the godfather of Predictive Analytics World, which would not exist without him.

Shannon Vargo, my editor at John Wiley & Sons, Inc., provided resources, flexibility, and encouragement to nurture this project to life. The dynamic publishing duo Lee Thompson (throughout) and Myles Thompson (early in the process) gave me the extensive feedback and worldly context needed to bring this topic into the realm of the relevant.

Several people went above and beyond with extensive feedback and guidance: my father, Andrew Siegel; David Waltzer; Adam Cohen; Gary Miner; Dean Abbott; Paul Hofmann; and David Dimas.

I would like to thank the subjects of my writing—all pioneers of prediction—most of whom endured extensive interviews filled with many probing questions: John Elder, Rayid Ghani, Daniel Porter, Gitali Halder, Anindya Dey, Andrew Pole, Dan Steinberg, Martin Chabbert, Martin Piotte, David Gondek, and Eva Helle. See this book's Cast of “Characters” for more information about these practitioners and where they fit into the book.

Thanks to Eleazar Eskin and Ben Bullard for generous technical guidance on some hairy topics.

These proficient reviewers provided critical feedback on my writing, keeping it up to snuff: Mark Abdollahian, Vivek Ajmani, Laura Bahr, Femi Banjo, Anasse Bari, Carsten Boers, Richard Boire, Renee-Marie Brewster, Alexander Chaffee, Erin Cowan, Roger Craig, Kenny Darrell, Udi Dotan, Andrew Ferguson, Anthony Goldbloom, Mikhail Golovnya, Michael Grundhoefer, Paul Hofmann, Jason Howard, Hevel Jean-Baptiste, Tracy Jiang, Elise Johnson, Kathleen Kane, Karrie Karahalios, Joseph Kaszynski, Max Kuhn, Kim Larsen, Victor Lo, Vijay Mehrotra, Anne Milley, Linda Miner, Hamid Nemati, Al Nigl, Jesse Parelius, James Plotkin, Nicholas Radcliffe, Karl Rexer, Jacques Robin, Anne Schamberg, Jay Schamberg, Bill Simmon, Neil Skilling, Daniel Sokolov, Adam Sullivan, Patrick Surry, Astro Teller, Dana vanderHeyden, Marc vanderHeyden, Geert Verstraeten, Matthew Wagner, Phil Wagner, Maria Wang, Ezra Werb, Wlodek Zadrozny, and Margit Zwemer.

I gained access to this book's extensive case study examples primarily through the productive and vibrant industry community that is Predictive Analytics World. I'd like to thank all the speakers and attendees of this conference series, as well as my business partners in its production, Matthew Finlay and Adam Kahn and their crackerjack team at Rising Media, who know how to make events excite and unite. This conference has helped catalyze and solidify the field, following predictive analytics from a nascent industry to a commercial movement.

Thanks to my assistant, Barbara Cook, for her endless efforts setting up this book's extensive Notes, and to the supremely gifted designer Matt Kornhaas for the figures throughout these chapters.

Here's a shout-out to the extra-special educators, of whom I had more than my fair share: Thomas McKean (kindergarten), Chip Porter (grades 4–6), Margaret O'Brien (Burlington High School, Vermont), Harry Mairson (Brandeis University), Richard Alterman (Brandeis University), James Pustejovsky (Brandeis University), and Kathleen McKeown (Columbia University).

The aforementioned have molded me and bolstered this book. Nevertheless, I alone take responsibility for errors or failings of any kind in its contents.