A Brief Book Review of The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver
Reading this book I came to understand more profoundly than I likely had before the value of probabilistic thinking and Bayesian reasoning in all walks of life. From areas as diverse and different as hurricane and earthquake forecasting to poker and marital relations, Silver uses vivid examples to support his thesis: Life and learning are not about striving for perfection but about accepting imperfection and striving to be ‘less wrong’ over time through attempting better approximations of reality and how it can change. This approach I think allows curiosity, self-acceptance, flexibility, and open-mindedness to flourish. Nate Silver seems a deep thinker and this was a strong book. Long on my reading list, I’m happy I finally got around to reading it.