Nate Silver's new book, "The River," explores the world of professional risk takers and how they shape modern life. He embeds within these worlds to offer insight into issues such as finance, AI, and the global economy. The River has high tolerance for risk, appreciation of uncertainty, affinity for numbers, skill at de-coupling, self-reliance, and a distrust of conventional wisdom. The book is a deeply-reported, all-access journey into a hidden world of powerbrokers and risk takers.

Format: Hardback
Length: 576 pages
Publication date: 13 August 2024
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Masterly... Utterly compelling... A highly readable and engaging tour

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Signal and the Noise, the definitive guide to our era of risk—and the players raising the stakes

In the bestselling The Signal and the Noise, Nate Silver showed how forecasting would define the age of Big Data. Now, in this timely and riveting new book, Silver investigates The River, or those whose mastery of risk allows them to shape—and dominate—so much of modern life.

These professional risk takers—poker players and hedge fund managers, crypto true-believers and blue-chip art collectors—can teach us much about navigating the uncertainty of the 21st century. By embedding within these worlds, Silver offers insight into a range of issues that affect us all, from the frontiers of finance to the future of AI.

The River has increasing amounts of wealth and power in our society, and understanding their mindset—including the flaws in their thinking—is key to understanding what drives technology and the global economy today. There are certain commonalities in this otherwise diverse group: high tolerance for risk; appreciation of uncertainty; affinity for numbers; skill at de-coupling; self-reliance and a distrust of the conventional wisdom. For the River, complexity is baked in, and the work is how to navigate it, without going beyond the pale.

Taking us behind-the-scenes from casinos to venture capital firms to meetings of the effective altruism movement, On the Edge is a deeply-reported, all-access journey into a hidden world of powerbrokers and risk takers.

Weight: 1004g
Dimension: 164 x 242 x 38 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780241557037