Reviews and Comments

First of all, I liked reading this book. But I have some aspects which made me think.

From the outside, as a user, you could clearly see Facebooks decline over the years, from an interesting platform connecting people to one of the most hateful places of the clearweb. It was interesting to read what led to this development from an inside view. This book mentions some places, where Facebook chose money over moral. All that from someone who worked at the core of this development. Additionally it shows what kind of workplace Facebook was: you were expected to not have a personal life or mention your personal life at work. How you, as an employee were treated, while publicly rallying for totally different positions.

But what bothers me is that Wynn-Williams does not really take blame for it, while having been Director of Public Policy. Sure, corporate America can obstruct changes, but the only thing she really takes blame for is introducing Zuckerberg to the world of politics. She says she tried to work the system from within rather than from the outside, but this is what they all say, right? I mean, I also get that she's not being too hard with herself, given that could destroy her personal standing.

So all in all, it's been a good read, but I have some mixed feelings about it. I also had the lingering fear of falling for confirmation bias allover the book: did my negative feelings about Facebook make me believe some things more blindly?

Alex Edmans successfully guides his readers up the „Ladder of Misinference“. This symbol is working really well in telling various ways in how studies and stories can get it wrong. While such topics can be quite dry, Edmans gives a vivid example for every point he makes, so reading does not become boring over time. He also gives short conclusions and checklists at the end of every chapter, which refreshes the most important aspects of that chapter effectively. For those working in academia, none of this is new, but for those not too familiar with working scientifically, its definitely a recommended read!

Anfangs war ich skeptisch - der Podcast Geschichten aus der Geschichte als Buch? Funktioniert das? Und wie! Das Buch umfasst viele kurze, aber interessante Geschichten verteilt über hunderte von Jahren. Dabei stehen alle unter dem thematischen Schirm der Expedition. Ein gelungenes Buch!

A good read, which definitely stands out to other football-related books out there. Also, many theories still hold up to this day. Another neat aspect is, that nearly all of the author‘s claims are backed by numbers and statistical models. But sometimes their methodology and weighting scheme seemed to be arbitrarily chosen (why was the World Cup 10x more important than some other competition?). Also, like mentioned by others, it felt a bit long-ish in some chapters, in a sense that those could have been more condensed.

Sehr viele richtige und wichtige Punkte und eine Thematik, die in Zeiten von postfaktischen Denkarten aktueller denn je ist. Allerdings fehlen meines Erachtens nach konkrete Handlungsempfehlungen und viele Beispiele und Veranschaulichungen sind sehr auf das Coronavirus zugeschnitten und demnach wenig abwechslungsreich. Dennoch ein nettes Buch und ich habe es nicht bereut, es gelesen zu haben.