Book review: Simplexity

Simplexity is not a simple book to read. It is, however, about an interesting subject – the complexity and simplicity of the way things work. The author, Jeffrey Kluger, gets a little lost along the way, more concerned with showing off his vast knowledge in areas as diverse as economics, physics and biology. Yes, his knowledge is impressive, but what is the point of his many fascinating examples? How can we make sense of complex world?

Kluger’s examples are interesting – the difficulty of predicting the stock market, predicting people’s instincts in an emergency, predicting the results of sports events and why we usually fear the wrong things. Americans worry about terrorists after 9/11 when 3000 people died, but not about the fact that over 220000 people died on the roads in the six years after 9/11. Kluger asks us to sort out nonsense from reality and to look for patterns in behavior. What is really going on? Look beyond the complexity to figure out the simple reality. This is not all that simple to do, but Kluger reminds us of the importance.