An exploration of how computer algorithms can be applied to our everyday lives to solve common
decision-making problems and illuminate the workings of the human mind. What should we do or
leave undone in a day or a lifetime? How much messiness should we accept? What balance of the
new and familiar is the most fulfilling? These may seem like uniquely human quandaries but
they are not. Computers like us confront limited space and time so computer scientists have
been grappling with similar problems for decades. And the solutions they've found have much to
teach us. In a dazzlingly interdisciplinary work Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths show how
algorithms developed for computers also untangle very human questions. They explain how to have
better hunches and when to leave things to chance how to deal with overwhelming choices and
how best to connect with others. From finding a spouse to finding a parking spot from
organizing one's inbox to peering into the future Algorithms to Live By transforms the wisdom
of computer science into strategies for human living.
