David Spiegelhalter - The Art of Uncertainty

After a lovely and interesting discussions around Gerd Brantenberg's book we picked a book on the topic of uncertainty and how to think about it. It was difficult to choose because many of the books had an appeal. But, just because we didn't pick one of the other books this time doesn't mean that we won't be able to read any of them together at a later stage. Spiegelhalter's book was actually suggested by Andreas before it was even available, and we've had it on our list of suggestions more than once in the past. This fact ended up being the final selection criteria, and we thought that the other titles that were newer to us might as well mature a bit by re-appearing as returning suggestions.

David Spiegelhalter presents a new take on uncertainty and how to think about it. He's is one of the UK's most distinguished statisticians, and also one of academia’s best communicators (he’s professor of the public understanding of risk at Cambridge). His aim in this book is to impose some intellectual order on a subject area that is rife with incomprehension, imprecision, contradiction and creative obfuscation. Should definitely be an interesting read.

Goodreads sells the book as:
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From the UK’s ‘statistical national treasure’, a clever and data-driven guide to how we can live with risk and uncertainty
Life is uncertain. We are all the result of an unforeseen and unforeseeable sequence of small occurrences. But what underlies this fragile chain of events? Is it random or just complex? And what role does luck play in our lives?
David Spiegelhalter has spent his career crunching data in order to help understand uncertainty and assess the chances of what might happen. In The Art of Uncertainty, he gives readers a window onto how we can all do this better.
Uncertainty, he argues, is a relationship between the observer and an object in the outside world. He shows us how we can express it numerically, and then update our beliefs about the future in the face of constantly changing experience. In crystal-clear prose, he takes us through the principles of probability, a field that informs everything from annuities to pandemics and climate change, while also examining the limitations of statistical modelling and arguing we need to have the humility to admit our ignorance.
Drawing on a wide range of real-world examples, this is an essential guide to navigating uncertainty in a world that makes it inevitable.
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This book has been published via multiple publishers. While we have seen this before, the metadata at Goodreads is a bit more confusing than usual. The hardcover published via Pelican is 512 pages while the more recent published hardcover via W. W. Norton & Company is just 336. Perhaps there is a difference in page size? The audiobook seems also have been published via both Penguin Audio and Recorded Books. These seem to be of same length, however - eight minutes short of eleven hours.
Note that this time we meet on a Tuesday - at half past six (in Malmö)!