I haven't read the print version; I'm a listener exclusively.

Good to Great, Jim Collins: The idea, that research and analysis is key, before a conclusion can be drawn is a theme in these books.

He has a very good reading voice. I'm not sure if I've listened to him before, and as a reader he doesn't stand out among the good readers, but he's definitely in that group.

This isn't that kind of book; there is no story for to film.

This was exciting to listen to; I really appreciate good analysis before conclusions are drawn, and I feel like Nate did a great job in applying his claimed principles throughout the book.

Great narration. Nice to find someone who takes a dispassionate view of events.

Why We Make Mistakes

None

Sometimes.

A guide to logical thinking and alalysis of data that should be required reading for everyone. Covers somewhat different territory from that first plowed by Freakonomics and Super Freakonomics, but just as insightful.

.....Nate Silver is the wunderkind who burst onto the scene with his blog that supplied intellectual elbow grease to issues of probability analysis . In his new book he wanders like a modern day Socrates searching for those with true wisdom . And he finds it--among modest , hardworking , humble folks across an array of industries and government institutions . A wonderful read.

Nate Silver guided me through the 2012 election with detailed analysis of the polling data he posted on his NYTimes blog 538. I was drawn to this book because I prefer his dry scientific reasoning, and how he explains his steps along the way.

In this book he talks about polling for elections, for which he has proven an expert and baseball statistics for which he designed a system a few years ago that gained him much fame and respect in the moneyball arena. He also describes in detail the successes and failures of several predictive techniques and reasons why humans are so bad at predicting the future. He describes why people continue to err factually even though we live in an information age. Namely, that there is too much data to gather without allowing our human subjectivity to taint the results.

This book does a good job giving insight into the difference between noise and signal and the value of being able to tell the difference

I became aware of Nate Silver during the last election and was amazed at his sensible, no nonsense approach to polling. I had expected this book to be technical and statistics oriented, but it turned out to be a particularly fascinating insight into his life, how he got to where he is now, and of course a lot of explanations about statistics, how they work, and how things can so easily go wrong.

It was a great listen. His style of writing is excellent and he tells a good story. Well worth the time.

No.

Unimpressed.

Yes.

Eliminate all of the poker references. They were distracting, lacked illustrative power, and had far too much emphasis placed on them.

The Signal and the Noise is striving to be something that already exists. Namely, it is at times an almost word for word retelling of the much better, 'The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives.' Anectdotes and examples are all strangely overlapping and one gets the suspicion that Mr. Silver has a well worn dog-eared copy of Mlodinow's book near him at all times.

If you want to reinforce the content in Mlodinow's much better example, then by all means 'The Signal and the Noise' serves its purpose. Just don't be too quick in giving Mr. Silver all the credit here.

I don't think so. There are a lot of graphs in the print version that are hard to understand in the audio version. It was nice to switch between the two.

The stories told were very cohesive and the author built his ideas upon each other.

I loved the part about everyone thinking Derek Jeter was an amazing shortstop because he had to dive for catches when in reality he was a slow mover and had to dive because he wasn't a great defensive shortstop!

Things can be predicted if we can open our minds to the possibility they can happen--the most dangerous thing we can do is deny that something could EVER happen.

very compelling book and thought-provoking.

Nate Silver introduces you to the art and science of forecasting, above and beyond his 538 blog (although he goes into that in detail). His goal is for us to understand how forecasters and statisticians see the world, and he explains things clearly yet thoroughly. Starting with an overview of model design and evaluation, he then gives examples from his own experience and some outside research: baseball, weather, earthquakes, gambling, politics, and more. Every chapter is entertaining and personal. He highlights common pitfalls in forecasting, and offers practical advice for making predictions in everyday life. In sum, a very worthwhile listen.