The Book of Why

The New Science of Cause and Effect

By: Judea Pearl, Dana Mackenzie

Narrated by: Mel Foster

Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

How the study of causality revolutionized science and the world

"Correlation does not imply causation". This mantra has been invoked by scientists for decades and has led to a virtual prohibition on causal talk. But today, that taboo is dead. The causal revolution, sparked by Judea Pearl and his colleagues, has cut through a century of confusion and placed causality - the study of cause and effect - on a firm scientific basis. His work explains how we can know easy things, like whether it was rain or a sprinkler that made a sidewalk wet, and how to answer hard questions, like whether a drug cured an illness. Pearl's work enables us to know not just whether one thing causes another: It lets us explore the world that is and the worlds that could have been. It shows us the essence of human thought and key to artificial intelligence. Anyone who wants to understand either needs The Book of Why.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2018 Judea Pearl and Dana Mackenzie (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved

Excellent book but hard to listen to as an audiobook

This book is absolutely worth a read for anyone doing data science. But, since it makes a lot of references to figures in the supplementary PDF and reads out complicated equations, it’s difficult to listen to as an audiobook.

A True Miracle

This work represents a foundational knowledge obtained by a few, desperately needed by all. Key truths to morality and agency can be gleaned by a reader interacting with the text.

I, for one, am a better person.

Great book. Worth a listen and a challenge.

Great book. Had to put my statistics thinking cap on but super interesting. Definitely worth a listen if you want to challenge yourself. And it will challenge and download the pdf to follow along with the diagrams. It is needed.

Tough read

This one is very dense and requires more active listening than most popsci books. While interesting and deep, the topic is a bit dry and the innovative ideas presented require more familiarity than most folks have.

Exceptional content; dependence on visual elements

This is an fantastic book full of insight, innovation ideas, and compelling examples. The setup in terms of creating conceptual tension is perfect, with interesting historical references. Parts of it are charged with personal perspective but illuminating nonetheless.

The necessity of some visual elements - the causal diagrams in particular - undermines the audio experience. Audible does provide links to these as a PDF, but I would be remiss if I gave the impression that the audio version is the best way to experience this book; this is a book best read in print.

The narration is flawless and expressive appropriately.

wonderful book but terrible audiobook

The book has EXCELLENT content but it's very difficult to follow om audiobook format due to its abstract and materia mathematical nature. I bought a printed copy.

Wish I understood the mathematics and process better

For a serious practitioner in the fields OF statistics, causation, and modeling for AS I recommend getting the print version.

This is a technically dense presentation. My interest in the subject is tangentially related to my work. In my case the audio presentation was perfectly paced.

There is an appropriate mix of detailed methods and less technical discourse on conflicts in the field and applicability of different methods to hold my interest. I think I now have a novices understanding some if the differences of opinion among practitioners in the field.

If I had the time, this book would make me interested enough in the methods to go back to school to learn more.

a must read, yet long winded, annoying narration

The ideas and their syntheses are unparalleled. This book is a must read. But it could be condensed to around 1/3 of its length without losing any of its explanatory power. Someone should do that!

Secondly, the narrator is annoying. His intonation is that of a grade school teacher, up and down. And by the way this should be listened to at about 1.5x speed. In some parts I would like 2.5x. Yet in others I'd wish to slow it down to 0.8x.

In any case, you should read this book. Purchase it, as it is truly valuable.

My gripe is that it's not dry enough, and is therefore tedious. Yet it is more practical than reading the research papers.

Great book, but hard to get the details over audio

Great book. Clearly written with great examples. Some parts discussing math or graphs are difficult to grasp in audio form, however.

Correlation does not imply causation...

That is he premise of the book, a concept which the author then repeats with supporting evidence throughout the book. Loosely links said ideas with the development of a.i. Says we aren’t as close to developing A.I as the general public assumes. Gives reasons why in the first and last chapter. Overall the book reads like a lecture on statistics given by a cool professor who has forgotten that her students aren’t as well versed on said topic as she is. Information presented is sometimes contradictory to earlier chapters. Great narration; listened at 3x speed and could still follow the narrator.