Reviews

An enjoyable read on predictions and forecastsing. It’s non-technical, filled with good real-world examples, and has a clear message: the future is probabilistic. Probably :)

I can recommend reading it to anyone working with, or interested in, data, forecasting, or predictions and its everyday applications.

Pick up the updated 2020 edition if possible. Its preface links the contents to recent developments as the 2016 US elections and the COVID-19 pandemic.

loujoseph's review

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4.0

Surprising longer than I thought when I picked it up (it has the thickness of a regular 300 page book but is 450), it reads quickly, with Silver making his case about forecasting in different fields (political elections, baseball, earthquake and hurricane prediction, the economy, etc), without getting bogged down in too many details or stories; he no Jared Diamond in that respect. Definitely good to read after following the 538 blog during the election..

astroesteban's review

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informative slow-paced

4.0

yash_verma's review against another edition

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5.0

Must read if you are living in the Bayesian land... A book showing all the practical aspects of probability in various fields...

bentrevett's review

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4.0

Everyone making any predictions is dumb, unless they’re using Bayesian statistics, then they’re a genius

tiarala's review

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3.0

Interesting insights bogged down by too much granularity. Left this book feeling like I learned a lot, but I know I zoned out in parts because it just went into too much detail about things that I had no personal context for. Would've appreciated a more general look at predictions rather than specific cases, especially when it came to professional sports chapters.

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