Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions

by Brian Christian

“Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.

Given that waiting has a cost measured in dollars, a good offer today beats a slightly better one several months from now.

Computer science can’t offer you a life with no regret. But it can, potentially, offer you just what Bezos was looking for: a life with minimal regret.

Sorting something that you will never search is a complete waste; searching something you never sorted is merely inefficient.

The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.

There are consequences to everything, and you get to decide whether you want to face those consequences.”

the object of study in mathematics is truth; the object of study in computer science is complexity.

“The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.”