In the bestselling The Signal and the Noise, Nate Silver showed how forecasting would define the age of Big Data. Now, in this timely and riveting new book, Silver investigates "the River," or those whose mastery of risk allows them to shape—and dominate—so much of modern life.   The River is Silver’s term for professional risk takers—poker players and hedge fund managers, crypto true-believers and blue-chip art collectors—and in On the Edge, he reveals what we can learn about navigating uncertainty from those who do so for a living. The River has increasing amounts of wealth and power in our society, and understanding their mindset—including the flaws in their thinking—is key to understanding what drives technology and the global economy today. There are certain commonalities in this otherwise very diverse group: high tolerance for risk; appreciation of uncertainty; affinity for numbers; skill at de-coupling; self-reliance and a distrust of the conventional wisdom. Silver breaks down not only character traits and capacities, but he also looks at the physiology of risk. How can we literally compel our bodies to more successfully court risk and reward? For the River, complexity is baked in, and the work is how to navigate it. By embedding within these worlds, Silver offers insight into a range of issues that affect us all, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the future of AI to the nature of capitalism. Taking us behind-the-scenes from casinos to hedge funds to effective altruist philanthropies, On the Edge is a deeply reported, all access journey into a hidden world of powerbrokers and risk takers.