Tim Harford

В последние годы держится мода на «микроистории» вещей, изменивших мир. Интересные и полные неожиданных нюансов, они тем не менее часто оставляют после себя ощущение, что автор хватил лишку. Носки, конечно, вещь нужная, но так, чтобы они кардинально изменили ход истории? show more Вряд ли. Тиму Харфорду, автору колонки Undercover Economist в Financial Times и нескольких хороших книг об экономике окружающей нас повседневности, похоже, удалось избежать близорукости и мозаичности. Все пятьдесят отобранных изобретений, от плуга до криптовалюты, не висят в вакууме, а связаны в единую ткань новых возможностей как с последующими, так и с предыдущими. А чтобы было интереснее, Харфорд оставил за бортом несколько уже поднадоевших хитов рейтингов вроде компьютера и колеса. Помимо конкретных вещей (колючая проволока, таблетки от зачатия, «телеужин», iPhone) это и концепции (консалтинг, право собственности, государство всеобщего благосостояния, банки), и технологии (радар, процесс Габера, на который и сейчас уходит 1% всей вырабатываемой энергии). Злоключения изобретателей и инициаторов — отдельный большой бонус. show less

This book's cover features blurbs by Brian Eno and Tyler Cowen. Otherwise, I never would have thought this was a book I'd enjoy. I fall on the 'tidy' end of the spectrum. I didn't want to read a book about how the most awesome, brilliant, and creative people in the world all have/had sloppy desks. Not only is it not my world - it tends to be a boring kind of book.

But - despite the requisite chapters about sloppy desks and messy workplaces, this book isn't about how you really should show more dis-organize your space so much as it's about the sometimes (!) beneficial effects of disorder in general. The first chapter on Brian Eno's "Oblique Strategies" sets the tone; to get people to be more creative and motivated in the studio, Eno created a deck of cards with suggestions of off-the-wall things to think about or do. He'd periodically pick a card, and suddenly everyone was instructed to try to "Think like a gardener," or all trade instruments.

There's a chapter about a crazy military commander or two, who'd keep the enemy - and sometimes their own men - just bewildered enough to allow the most improbable victories to be snatched from the jaws of defeat. There's a chapter about the famous "Building 20" at MIT, an ugly pile of cinderblocks with an unorganized disarray of offices, which nevertheless was a hotbed of scientific discovery and invention in the 20th century.

So it isn't about dividing people into messy vs. neat, so much as it's about how helpful it can often be when things DON'T follow the expected path. Harford encourages us to appreciate rather than rue the Oscar Madison that lives in all of us. Some (!) disorder is good for you; it shakes you up; you function better; it's real life. The book flowed well (dare I say it was well organized?); I always looked forward to returning to it each day. I'm a fan! show less

This book is an interesting and thought-provoking read—especially in this age of misinformation, fake news, & intense political division. It lists out 10 rules to make sense of statistical claims. It all boils down to being curious. Curious about your own emotional response, curious about the data itself, curious about the context, curious about the process, curious about the intentions of the author, etc. Having an open-mind, a curious mind is one of the most powerful tools one can have. show more

I loved all the historical anecdotes & psychology experiments cited. Florence Nightingale was an absolute badass and now my new role model—a fearless data queen!!!!

This book did take me a while to finish. I got into a routine of reading one chapter after finishing a lesson in my data courses at work—so I read it over the course of a few months while finishing the Google Data Analytics Certificate. I annotated it (of course) and it’s interesting to see the annotations in the margins. Almost a timeline of sorts depending on what events were playing out at that time. And since I read it in conjunction with learning about the data analysis process, I was able to put the insights from this book into practice with my Capstone. I love a full-circle moment!!!

Lastly, I realized with this book how much I do not know about the world. I am vastly uneducated on most government policies, political history, and general pop culture knowledge. I find myself more motivated to read about history (especially recent history like 1980s & on). I really enjoy reading nonfiction because I can learn the WHY behind a lot of the structures in place today. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your perspective), that means I’ll be picking up some political history books and probably be insufferable to talk to lmao.

A “boring” book that I (a self proclaimed data nerd) thoroughly enjoyed reading and learning from. My only complaint (and reason it didn’t get 5 stars) is that it did feel a bit redundant at times. Like the author needed to meet a certain page amount. It was nice since I read it over such a long period of time (for me) that there was such repetition, but reading multiple chapters in one sitting it got very tedious. show less

Like Gladwell if Gladwell was humble, witty, and probably true. Hardford is refreshingly skeptical about his own "turns out…" tendencies. The book is larded with great little quotes and turns of phrase, and when I got to the end I somehow felt this was not just a tour of statistical thinking but a philosophy of life: be curious, question assumptions, don't be a cynic, look for what's left out. Encouragement in these depressing times.