Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions Hardcover – April 19, 2016

I got the audio version of this book a year ago. Every time I thought to dive in, I felt a mild quaking in my soul. Gah, this is gonna be so hard, I worried. As a mere mortal without any background in computer science, advanced mathematics, logic, or statistics and risk, I feared my reach exceeded my ability to grasp.Well, I wasn’t 100% wrong. It was hard. However, I understood and I learned. Yes, I hit replay dozens of times, but I got it. (Of course, after I ran through the audio version twice, I ordered the book because I just had to have it in my library.)I did not expect the multidisciplinary palette from which the authors created this work. While teaching me about optimization problems in computer science, I came better to understand mean-variance portfolio optimization, game theory, equilibrium strategies, and caching, just to name a very few. This book has great depth. Remarkably, it has even greater range.When examining the algorithmic dances that computers do nanosecond by nanosecond, we are also examining how we make decisions every day. Should I stay on this jammed expressway? How long should I wait for a table at my favorite eatery? Is it better to do three small laundry loads per week or have one big laundry day? How should I best arrange all of these books on my shelves? If you are like me, you have experienced that frustrating little circle, spinning and spinning, as your computer tries to wrest a result from the digital universe or just from your hard drive. When you are waiting for a taxi or a train, you are experiencing a life-size version that little spinning circle. When do you chalk it and look for Plan B?This book describes how computers solve their problems and at the same time it shows us how the problems computers solve are just like the ones we deal with and solve, day in and day out. This isn’t too shocking, since humans set up the computer decision-making trees in the first place. Still, when I am synthesizing many possibilities, or struggling with family schedule optimization problems, I really can’t wait to apply terms like “simulated annealing” and “the price of anarchy”.At the end of the day, when my family members are all doing the equivalent of sticking a thumb drive in my ear and starting their respective downloads, instead of objecting with: “Wait a minute, one at a time, I have to think!”, it will bring me joy to say, “Don’t trigger a Bufferbloat, guys, no one wants a Tail Drop.”Most fun fact I learned:“In contrast to the widely held view that less processing reduces accuracy, the study of heuristics shows that less information, computation, and time can in fact improve accuracy.” My translation? Don’t forget to ask grandma what she thinks, it’s likely to be spot on.I really loved this book. It is one I will return to often.

When one thinks of algorithms, it is often in association with computers or machines. Not humans. It is also common to think algorithms are there to provide a simple, neat solution to complex problems only a machine could solve. Or that algorithms can, once fed enough information, predict one’s every action and solve every problem. The main premise of Algorithms to Live By is to disabuse one of such notions. Algorithms to Live By explores how regular people use algorithms without even realizing it in their day-to-day lives. By doing so, the authors hope to destigmatize the word and get people to see the concept differently. Though the book can be dry at times, the authors manage to write a book that is accessible to most people. And there are moments of insight that do make the book a fascinating read.As aforementioned, the book explores how people use algorithms in their day-to-day to accomplish tasks. They focus on several elements: explore/exploit, or when it is best to continue to look for something better or make a choice from what one already knows; sorting and tradeoffs; and scheduling being among the subjects of focus. What makes these sections interesting is that they often talk about tradeoffs that one would seem counterintuitive. An example of this is in the scheduling section. The authors mention how the placement of a task on a schedule may be influenced by how much one knows about the task: by its duration or difficulty. This may increase the difficulty of scheduling if one were to know every detail of every task that must be done for the day. They also mention that while some may be tempted to schedule tasks based on how easy they are, this may also come with downsides. Especially if one decides to prioritize harder tasks before easier ones, only to realize that its completion requires completing an easier task. They give an example of a NASA Mars rover being frozen due to this fact. The rover was programmed to prioritize high priority tasks first in its queue over low priority tasks. However, one of the low-priority tasks kept being pulled from the bottom of the queue to the top. This caused the rover to freeze. Thus, even well-thought-out systems can lead to problems.The above example with NASA shows another aspect of the book I like; the use of real world examples. The authors tell stories involving real world mathematicians and scientists struggling with these issues in their personal lives. This helps make the subjects feel personal and applicable to one's own life. In fact, I would argue that the only issue with the book is that these anecdotes seem to be an afterthought. This is due to the fact that the anecdotes become more prominent as the book progresses towards the end. Thus, the first few chapters can be somewhat dry in its presentation which may turn off a lay reader. Furthermore, the use of hypothetical scenarios in the earlier chapters feel like a pale imitation of the personal anecdotes of later chapters.All in all, this book was fairly enjoyable. While having some rough patches, the authors did try and succeed in making an accessible book.