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The Signal and the Noise
The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail-but Some Don't | Nate Silver
"Nate Silver's The Signal and the Noise is The Soul of a New Machine for the 21st century." —Rachel Maddow, author of DriftNate Silver built an innovative system for predicting baseball performance, predicted the 2008 election within a hair’s breadth, and became a national sensation as a blogger—all by the time he was thirty. He solidified his standing as the nation's foremost political forecaster with his near perfect prediction of the 2012 election. Silver is the founder and editor in chief of FiveThirtyEight.com.Drawing on his own groundbreaking work, Silver examines the world of prediction, investigating how we can distinguish a true signal from a universe of noisy data. Most predictions fail, often at great cost to society, because most of us have a poor understanding of probability and uncertainty. Both experts and laypeople mistake more confident predictions for more accurate ones. But overconfidence is often the reason for failure. If our appreciation of uncertainty improves, our predictions can get better too. This is the “prediction paradox”: The more humility we have about our ability to make predictions, the more successful we can be in planning for the future.In keeping with his own aim to seek truth from data, Silver visits the most successful forecasters in a range of areas, from hurricanes to baseball, from the poker table to the stock market, from Capitol Hill to the NBA. He explains and evaluates how these forecasters think and what bonds they share. What lies behind their success? Are they good—or just lucky? What patterns have they unraveled? And are their forecasts really right? He explores unanticipated commonalities and exposes unexpected juxtapositions. And sometimes, it is not so much how good a prediction is in an absolute sense that matters but how good it is relative to the competition. In other cases, prediction is still a very rudimentary—and dangerous—science.Silver observes that the most accurate forecasters tend to have a superior command of probability, and they tend to be both humble and hardworking. They distinguish the predictable from the unpredictable, and they notice a thousand little details that lead them closer to the truth. Because of their appreciation of probability, they can distinguish the signal from the noise.With everything from the health of the global economy to our ability to fight terrorism dependent on the quality of our predictions, Nate Silver’s insights are an essential read.
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IftyZaidi
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New Book haul! What should I read first?

swynn I loved The Signal and the Noise. Also Dark Matter. 4y
IftyZaidi @swynn Will definitely be checking them out! 4y
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GoneFishing

Distinguishing the signal from the noise requires both scientific knowledge and self-knowledge: the serenity to accept the things we cannot predict, the courage to predict the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

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cool_username
Pickpick

Extremely clever book, one of my favourites. Makes you feel smart after reading it.

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Debiw781
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Pickpick

I read this one back in 2013 but it's still one of my favorite #nonfiction books and works for the #noise prompt. I love data, which is strange for #socialwork but it's made me unique in my abilities at work lol.

#voicesonthewind
@Maatje

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mynamerhymes
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Pickpick

"At NASA, I finally realized that the definition of rocket science is using realtivley simple physics to solve complex problems." The Signal and the Noise covers poker to rocket science to climate change and is so informative. A book everyone should consider.

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Ambrosia
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#bookandbrew on a plane, reading Nate Silver for the first step in dissecting why the numbers were so wrong leading up to Tuesday and Ta-Nehisi Coates for some social justice to balance out my need for math and science. #readingintheclouds

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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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On Kindle, on sale for $1.99 today. The book does not concentrate on politics at all, but on statistics and predictions, why some are good and some not, what factors are predicative and which are just noise. The examples come from sports, weather predictions, and many more areas.

Definitely on my mind this morning too as I see Nate Silver and his FiveThirtyEight interviewed.

Mcoun I really liked this book, even the chapter on sports, which is definitely not my thing! 8y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Mcoun same here! I thought even the chapter using sports and the one using poker as the examples were still very interesting, and neither are my thing. But both made sense in the context of what he was trying to explain. 8y
Hooked_on_books Great book! His website this election cycle has kept me positive through the noise. 8y
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Smrloomis
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I assume this is the universe telling me to finally read this...

8little_paws I mostly liked it, but it could have been 100 pages shorter. 8y
Mcoun It is worth reading. 8y
Smrloomis @8little_paws hmm, good to know. @Mcoun it's been on my TBR forever but I haven't gotten around to it. So maybe now... 8y
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jpmcwisemorgan
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The @bookriot book deal of the day is this lovely book. I've had it on my wish list and now it's on my Kindle. I'll have to read it once my list of library books has shrunk. However, I wanted to tempt others away from their TBRs. Oops! Now you know about my nefarious plot!

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PlannerGirlBookClub
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Anyone else listening to lots of podcasts in the run up to Election Day? I think I'm at addiction level status.

readinginthedark I am, but not political ones. Lol 8y
Michelle_mck I love the NPR Politics too. Have a massive crush on Ezra and the Whiz Kid Harry Enten 😘😂 8y
Foxyfictionista I can't. I'm at saturation point and can't wait until the whole sh*t show is over. 😀 8y
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Laura317 Only Welcome to Night Vale and the book podcasts. I'm with @Foxyfictionista. 8y
ReadingSusan I love NPR Politics, Trumpcast and Says Who. 8y
Scurvygirl I'm with @Foxyfictionista and @readinginthedark So done with this circus of an election. I try to stay away from anything political. My mind is already set #imwithneither 8y
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Jen2
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Pickpick

Wow, so much information!! This book felt like a master class.

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Jen2
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Toads cause earthquakes!! You will have to read and find out!!

BeththeBookDragon Nate Silver is the only thing keeping me sane in the run up to the election. 8y
BostonBookAddict Love Nate Silver!! 8y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa Great book! 8y
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Jen2
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This will be interesting and depressing.

Riveted_Reader_Melissa I listened to this one on audiobook and found it very interesting....much more interesting than depressing if that helps. 8y
Ericmanciniwriter Not depressing - it makes you feel smart! 8y
Mcoun I really enjoyed this one! 8y
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npisciottano
Pickpick

An excellent look into the evolving world of data and prediction.

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Lea
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Pickpick

Really enjoyed this book. A little nerdy statistics into real life - baseball, weather, politics, terrorism. A lot of great ideas and info.

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Magmar
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Pickpick

Nate Silver is a rarity: an approachable mathematician. If you work in any numbers oriented business you know how valuable this is. No spoilers, it's worth reading to get a feel for why credible hypotheses still don't work out, and some do.

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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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So great to see Nate Silver interviewed this past week about the current election cycle. I listened to his audiobook for The Signal and The Noise earlier this year, a timely reminder of how much predictions and statistics can benefit us all and how easily we can fool ourselves with them also.

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LauraJ
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Pickpick

Silver explains why Bayesian reasoning is the way to roll when making predictions. He has a gift for bringing a potentially flat topic to life.
If you buy into polls and predictions without a second thought, please read this ASAP.

LauraJ So...what to read next? 9y
susanw The Spiotta was a 5 star read for me, so that would be my suggestion! 9y
LauraJ @Susanw 125 pages into it and loving it. 9y
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LauraJ
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Currently reading for the Skeptics Book Club

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