How to Predict Everything: The Formula Transforming What We Know About Life and the Universe - Softcover

Poundstone, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1786075717 ISBN 13: 9781786075710

Publisher: Oneworld Publications, 2019

Synopsis

How do you predict something that has never happened before?

There's a useful calculation being employed by Wall Street, Silicon Valley and maths professors all over the world, and it predicts that the human species will become extinct in 760 years. Unfortunately, there is disagreement over how to apply the formula, and some argue that we might only have twenty years left.

Originally devised by British clergyman Thomas Bayes, the theorem languished in obscurity for two hundred years before being resurrected as the lynchpin of the digital economy. With brief detours into archaeology, philology, and overdue library books, William Poundstone explains how we can use it to predict pretty much anything. What is the chance that there are multiple universes? How long will Hamilton run? Will the US stock market continue to perform as well this century as it has for the last hundred years? And are we really all doomed?

About this title

About the Author

William Poundstone is the author of seventeen books including How to Predict Everything, How to Predict the Unpredictable and Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google? He has written for the Economist, New York Times, Harper’s and Harvard Business Review, among others. You can find out more about him on his website: william-poundstone.com

Edition details

• Publisher: Oneworld Publications
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1786075717
• ISBN 13: 9781786075710
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320