Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters : Pinker, Steven: Amazon.se: Böcker
I’ve read this book because I wanted to get some inspiration from social sciences. What I ended up with is a book about Bayesian statistics and its consequences. To some extent, I’m happy to have read it, because I got a better view of how to use Bayesian statistics in practice. Yet, I am a bit disappointed. Not about the statistics, but about the book.
A while back I read the book by Judea Pearl about Bayesian networks and this role in statistics. That book was about something new and a bit fresh. It got my interest and I felt refreshed after I read it. This book was a bit too much of a repetition. Don’t get me wrong, I like repetition and I like the style of Steven Pinker (he is one of my role models when it comes to academic writing).
The book is about making inferences by calculating probabilities using Bayes theorem. It explain them very well and shows how they are used and misused in modern society – from politics to medical diagnoses. The book shows a few tricks to make better decisions and inferences.
I guess I need to read it once more in order to get a better taste of its distinct flavor.
