" I wanted to like this book as I enjoy reading Silver's blog. The majority of chapters in this book are inferior rehashes of arguments and anecdotes from other authors. See Moneyball, the Information, Fortune's Formula, A Random Walk, The Theory of Poker etc. etc. The book is clearly intended to capitalize on the popularity of his 538 blog, which as John Cassidy of the New Yorker just articulated overemphasizes the use of Monte-Carlo simulations to come up with inanely precise projections of a tenth of a point of who will win the Presidential election. While heuristics and Monte-Carlo style simulations may provide details given the parameters included in the model; Silver's assumptions about the usefullness of one poll over another; and the averaging of prediction markets generally reach similar conclusions to what basic common sense would dictate. I happen to believe just as some people inevitably beat the market by looking at past historical data without actual acumen, Silver's model seems to have been successful.
The self-aggrandizing by Silver of his own skill at Poker, political forecasting, sports betting etc, seems to belie his own understanding of Bayesian theory and at times reach nauseating levels. I don't care to know his own personal income from limit poker or his player tracking system used by baseball prospectus. The books dabbles in many areas and is truly compelling in none of them. While not an awful book, a curious reader would be better served by reading separate books on area's of interest including book's that offer a stronger statistical background and less "pop culture" examples.
I do not recommend this book to anyone. "
— Dewey, 2/20/2014