On the Edge

The Art of Risking Everything

By: Nate Silver

Narrated by: Nate Silver

Length: 15 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

NAMED A MOST-ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2024 BY FT, The Guardian, and The Sunday Times

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,” the community of like-minded people 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 twenty-first century. By immersing himself in the worlds of Doyle Brunson, Peter Thiel, Sam Bankman-Fried, Sam Altman, and many others, Silver offers insight into a range of issues that affect us all, from the frontiers of finance to the future of AI.

Most of us don’t have traits commonly found in the River: high tolerance for risk, appreciation of uncertainty, affinity for numbers—paired with an instinctive distrust of conventional wisdom and a competitive drive so intense it can border on irrational. For those in the River, complexity is baked in, and the work is how to navigate it. People in the River have increasing amounts of wealth and power in our society, and understanding their mindset—and the flaws in their thinking—is key to understanding what drives technology and the global economy today.

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

* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF of charts and a glossary of terms from the book.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2024 Nate Silver (P)2024 Penguin Audio

A primer on risk, reward, and thriving in the face of uncertainty

Silver has a shrewd take on how to predict — and make the most of — what humanity is most likely to do.

Great insight into the mindset of risk takers

Interesting and analytical from an "insider's" perspective that feels authoritative. Interesting read that explains the mindset of some of the most important movers and shakers of technology, and the risks posed by AI.

Canoeing Down the River

I am an average person with a healthy dose of curiosity. So getting a tour of the world of River people was interesting because I don’t hang out with these types. I understood maybe 75% of the content of this book, but I still enjoyed the ride. I was most impressed with Nate’s narration—a pleasant surprise. He does act out a few other people (as well as ChatGPT), and his impression of Sam Bankman-Fried of the collapsed FTX was especially fun to listen to.

Some signal among lots of noise

Some genuinely great info/takes buried in a tome of meandering anecdotes and tenuously connected themes. I was so excited for this book but it really just needed a more ruthless editor that could take Silver's great takes and package them into a great book. Great content, okay book.

Also malpractice to talk about EA so much without mentioning all the truly incredible things that community does... Like in a book about risk why not mention the life threatening risks of kidney donation that they routinely take to help others for example.

Brilliant Synopsis of the true Bet Makers

Amazing breakdown of the entrepreneurial mindset at the top level of change makers. Mandatory reading for anyone entering this brave new world.

Worth a listen

I especially enjoyed the earlier chapters. The later ones on AI seemed to suffer from some recency bias and were not as deeply based in longer experience and belonging.

I think Silver did an ok job narrating but a professional narrator probably could have done better.

A fascinating look at risk and the different risk tribes that have developed

Very good book read by author himself . The two different tribes , the risk-neutral river driving innovation and the risk averse village (arguably holding us back with insane levels of caution) get a thorough and more balanced than this treatment

fascinating examination of risk takers

it helped me understand people who like to take risks. Great narative, very engaging. I learned a lot about the movers and shakers in our modern world

Good content, Unbearable narrator

Nate reads his book in the same way that a car would accelerate full throttle for 300 yards and stop violently without at a stop sign without notice.

Poker, Sam Bankman Fried, and AI speculation

There are some interesting discussions of poker, and I learned a little bit about the pathology of Sam Bankman Fried, but I don’t really buy the the premise of the book regarding the river and the village. Life is much more complex and interesting than that.