The Hidden Half Audiobook By Michael Blastland cover art

The Hidden Half

The Unseen Forces That Influence Everything

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The Hidden Half

By: Michael Blastland
Narrated by: Kris Dyer
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Why does one smoker die of lung cancer but another live to 100? The answer is "The Hidden Half" - those random, unknowable variables that mess up our attempts to comprehend the world.

We humans are very clever creatures - but we're idiots about how clever we really are. In this entertaining and ingenious book, Blastland reveals how in our quest to make the world more understandable, we lose sight of how unexplainable it often is. The result - from GDP figures to medicine - is that experts know a lot less than they think.

Filled with compelling stories from economics, genetics, business, and science, The Hidden Half is a warning that an explanation which works in one arena may not work in another. Entertaining and provocative, it will change how you view the world.

©2019 Michael Blastland (P)2021 Tantor History & Philosophy Philosophy Science Capitalism Medicine
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If you've ever wondered if science has an answer to whether we are primarily a product of nature (our genes) of nurture (our environment), then this book is for you. If you are not prepared for the answer you will get, then this book MIGHT be for you. If you think you already know the answer, this book may well be eye opening.

This book is about complexity. It attempts to explain why it is that so many scientific findings are irreproducible. It attempts to acquainted the reader with the various confounding factors that make it difficult to truly know something.

The Role of Humility

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this was very reminiscent of Malcolm gladwell's book, but about half as interesting. I did finish it to the end and some parts of it were interesting but these parts in between were spaced too far apart for me.

Dry subject

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Blastland somehow finds the idea that we do not know everything amazing. His fascination with the not obvious is the age old question of epistemology- how do we know anything? He is stumped.
He mocks that we did not or now do not know how something works, but rather celebrate the challenge and encourage the curiosity he tells us too often it is near pointless.
The potential downside here is the use of his examples by some to dismiss the idea of facts or authority.

I learned nothing.

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