Algorithms to Live By

Editorial review

A rare book that uses computer science to actually clarify daily life. Christian and Griffiths translate problems like optimal stopping, exploration vs. exploitation, and scheduling into language anyone can use to make better small decisions.

AI-distilled summary

Author Brian Christian and cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths introduce the central algorithms of computer science — optimal stopping, sorting, caching, scheduling, exploration vs. exploitation, Bayesian inference — and show how each one can be applied, with adjustments, to the messy decisions of a human life.

Key takeaways

• 1

  'Look then leap' (37% rule) is the right strategy for many sequential decisions, from apartments to dating.

• 2

  Explore early, exploit later: the optimal strategy for new domains is mostly experimentation.

• 3

  Sorting and scheduling problems explain why your inbox feels worse than it should.

• 4

  Bayesian thinking — start with a reasonable prior, update on evidence — is a learnable habit.