Book Review: Nate Silver makes a compelling case for taking more risks in ‘On the Edge’

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By the time you finish Nate Silver’s new book, you’ll probably want to do something risky.

Not for the sake of adrenaline or to the point of being reckless, but because you might be convinced that the occasional gamble — more than most people are comfortable with — is worth it.

In “On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything,” Silver compellingly theorizes that humans are in general too risk averse, and that those who can discerningly fight that impulse often benefit greatly in life.

In addition to his day job — which made him a recognizable name — as a forecaster, statistician and writer, Silver is an accomplished poker player. He fittingly, then, begins his analysis of those with high tolerances for risk through a detailed look at the game and those who play it.

It turns out, Silver argues, poker players, astronauts and hedge fund managers have more in common than people may assume, even on a physiological level. “The biggest risk is not taking any risk,” Mark Zuckerberg famously said — a widely-held sentiment in Silicon Valley which Silver explores at length in this book.

Given his knowledge of and affinity for poker, Silver tends to belabor that lens through which he looks — perhaps to a fault. Those uninterested in stats or strategies may have a hard time getting through this book. But if you don’t mind or are intrigued by the game, Silver eventually broadens his cohort, notably in what might be his most interesting chapter discussing the “habits of highly successful risk-takers.”

Although Silver admittedly spends a lot of time talking about poker, “On the Edge” is a thought-provoking interdisciplinary book which covers a host of timely topics from artificial intelligence, political theory and what happens when risk takers go too far.

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