On the Edge by Nate Silver

Written by Nate Silver, the founder of FiveThirtyEight and bestselling author of The Signal and the Noise, a new book titled ON THE EDGE is all about "The Art of Risking Everything.” Silver looks at risk through the lens of gambling (he is a former professional poker player), trading, and model-building. He opines that “there is something hardwired in people who seek out risk and wrangle it successfully” and he interviews risk-takers from disparate fields like hedge funds, vaccine development, and philosophy. These individuals, to him, inhabit what he calls The River, “a sprawling ecosystem of like-minded people. … It is a way of thinking and a mode of life.” Silver summarizes a cognitive cluster (analytical, abstract, high decoupling) and a personality cluster (competitive, critical, contrarian, risk-tolerant). The midsection of the book outlines and describes 13 Habits of Highly Effective Risk-Takers (e.g., courage, preparation, adaptability). Later, he contrasts “Riverians” with “Villagers,” those who are more political, more conformist, more risk-adverse, “increasingly focusing on equality of outcomes rather than equality of opportunity.” Throughout, Silver speaks directly to the reader and makes a concerted effort to explain concepts; in fact, roughly thirty percent of this lengthy book is devoted to a glossary of terms (e.g., expected value), a description of methods and sources, and extensive notes. ON THE EDGE received a starred review from Kirkus (“an enlightening study of the people who play the game of risk and win”). Although a bit dense for our students, finance professionals and many others will find much to contemplate and act upon here. Professional reviews have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and numerous other publications.