I like the cover. It's pretty. I know that's not important, and will likely change with future editions of the book, but still... I said it.

This is the second of Bueno De Mesquita's books that I've read. I definitely appreciate that he attempted to make something more approachable to people with little-to-no background in political science (yup, that's me).

But one of his ideas of "approachable" seems to be "witty," which I am of the opinion BDM is not. As an introduction to the concepts of his method of prediction, I thought Preditioneer's Game worked overall, but his attempts at humor fell flat. Not even thick enough for a pancake flat. They didn't make me more comfortable with the book and the concepts he presented. They made me want to cover my eyes and shake my head, which is not, by the way, an effective reading strategy.

I would, honestly, have preferred something more dry and textbook. I'm not reading a PoliSci book because I think it'll be a hoot. I'm reading it to learn something. Don't get me wrong, I love when I can learn AND enjoy the occasional witticism (Tom Siegfried's A Beautiful Math is an example of a book that effectively balanced both), but yeah... if it ain't actually funny, leave it be.