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The Book of Why
Book

The Book of Why

The New Science of Cause and Effect

Basic Books, 2018
First Edition: 2018 plus...


Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Scientific
  • Bold

Recommendation

With the help of popular-science writer Dana Mackenzie, the brilliant Judea Pearl attempts to convey complex mathematical concepts to ordinary people. For nearly everyone, much of the explanation will raise as many questions as answers. Yet, most of Pearl’s ideas come through quite clearly. In these cases, the average reader will enjoy an entertaining romp through correlation and causation and come away with a better sense of how to get to the “why” of things. Readers well-versed in postgraduate mathematics and statistics will undoubtedly gain much more.

Take-Aways

  • The term “causation” has long been banished from the lexicons of mainstream statisticians. The same taboo has made it difficult for scientists to address causal questions of great importance to society.
  • On the “Ladder of Causation,” adult humans stand at the top while present-day AI remains at the bottom rung.
  • The study of causality builds on tools of Bayesian statistics, which allows reasoning from effects to causes – as in detective work.

About the Authors

Judea Pearl, PhD, is a UCLA computer science professor, the winner of the 2011 ACM Turing Award and one of the most respected AI scientists in the world. Dana Mackenzie, PhD, is a mathematician turned science writer who has written for Science, New Scientist, Scientific American, Smithsonian, Nautilus and Discover.


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