—The unusual and often unseen powers of predictive statistics, and how they mold our lives and actions—
The Non-fiction Feature
The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail – But Some Don’t
Author: Nate Silver
Publisher: Penguin Books
Pages: 576 | 2015
“[Thomas] Schelling writes…’There is a tendency in our planning to confuse the unfamiliar with the improbable. The contingency we have not considered seriously looks strange; what looks strange is thought improbable; what is improbable need not be considered seriously.'”
The Children’s Spot
It’s Probably Penny
by Loreen Leedy
“I have to think of something that will happen. I’m sure Penny will want to go on a walk. I need to predict an event that might happen. When we go on a walk, Penny usually sees a squirrel and starts barking. Then I have to predict something that can’t happen. That’s easy! We can’t see a shark because the ocean is fifty miles away.”
The Product Spot
Risk – a strategy board game
World domination has never been so easy. It’s just a little bit of probability, a little bit of luck, and some armies.