For this 10th Episode, Jason goes off topic and welcomes William Poundstone, author of the new book, Head in the Cloud: Why Knowing Things Still Matters When Facts are So Easy to Look Up. Mr. Poundstone is also the author of the New York Times best-selling books, Fortune’s Formula: The Untold Story of Scientific Betting System that Beat the Casinos and Wall Street, Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value and How to Take Advantage of It and Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren’t Fair and What We Can Do About it.

Key Takeaways:

[1:12] William explains the premise of his latest book, Head in the Cloud.

[5:03] Having a general knowledge of baseline facts and the Dunning-Kruger effect have humbling assets.

[7:28] The larger a person’s vocabulary is akin to their ability to think.

[11:12] How does America stack up on the map of ignorance?

[13:43] Americans will vote for judges with less ethnic sounding names if they don’t know the candidates.

[19:51] The Kelly Formula informs a user of the optimal amount you should be putting on each bet or investment.

Website:

www.William-Poundstone.com