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The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies - New Edition Paperback – August 31, 2008

by Scott Page (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 90 ratings
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In this landmark book, Scott Page redefines the way we understand ourselves in relation to one another. The Difference is about how we think in groups--and how our collective wisdom exceeds the sum of its parts. Why can teams of people find better solutions than brilliant individuals working alone? And why are the best group decisions and predictions those that draw upon the very qualities that make each of us unique? The answers lie in diversity--not what we look like outside, but what we look like within, our distinct tools and abilities.



The Difference reveals that progress and innovation may depend less on lone thinkers with enormous IQs than on diverse people working together and capitalizing on their individuality. Page shows how groups that display a range of perspectives outperform groups of like-minded experts. Diversity yields superior outcomes, and Page proves it using his own cutting-edge research. Moving beyond the politics that cloud standard debates about diversity, he explains why difference beats out homogeneity, whether you're talking about citizens in a democracy or scientists in the laboratory. He examines practical ways to apply diversity's logic to a host of problems, and along the way offers fascinating and surprising examples, from the redesign of the Chicago "El" to the truth about where we store our ketchup.


Page changes the way we understand diversity--how to harness its untapped potential, how to understand and avoid its traps, and how we can leverage our differences for the benefit of all.

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  1. Print length
    456 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Princeton University Press
  4. Publication date
    August 31, 2008
  5. Dimensions
    6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0691138540
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0691138541
  8. See all details
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4.2 out of 5 stars
90 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book an important work on diversity. They describe the writing style as engaging and easy to read, with interesting examples. The content is described as excellent, comprehensive, and powerful. Readers appreciate the hard science and rigorous empirical research used in the book.

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DiversityWriting styleContentEmpirical evidence
11 customers mention "Diversity"11 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful and important on diversity. They appreciate the proof that diversity aids group prediction, with a broad spectrum of diverse viewpoints and ideals. The book provides academic, empirical, and statistical support for diversity, not necessarily racial or ethnic. It offers interesting examples and mathematical insights.

"...Page provides a useful model for thinking about diversity involving Perspectives (ways of looking at things); Heuristics..." Read more

"...purported focus, it provides academic, empirical, and statistical support for diversity, not necessarily racial or ethnic, with the premise being..." Read more

"...and short is that Paige gives a lot of support to the idea that diversity is good, especially in helping us solve collective problems...." Read more

"Diversity matters, in law, in politics, in employment, in criminology, in sports, in media or entertainment, and in residential neighborhoods!..." Read more

6 customers mention "Writing style"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging and easy to read. They say it provides an overview of ideas and detailed proofs. The writing style is lucid and spirited. Readers find it useful for understanding perception, heuristics, and decision making.

"...of Michigan and a member of the Santa Fe Institute, this is well written and can be read for an overview of ideas or more deatiled proofs...." Read more

"Generally, I found the book most engaging for understanding perception, heuristics and decision making, although this did not seem to be the primary..." Read more

"...was your high school academic Waterloo, Page is such a lucid, spirited writer that concepts of what he is proving will leap off the page and the..." Read more

"Amazingly well written and easy to follow... the book takes the foundation of complexity and diversity at a high level and brings it into the grasp..." Read more

5 customers mention "Content"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's content excellent and comprehensive. They describe it as a wonderful, powerful read.

"...Scott E Page, a faculty member at Michigan has done a wonderful book which in a careful way demonstrates significant benefits from encouraging a..." Read more

"A great and comprehensive read...." Read more

"Great, easy book to read. Very useful information on diversity and the importance of diversity in problem solving...." Read more

"Excellent in content and form." Read more

5 customers mention "Empirical evidence"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's empirical evidence. They find it provides hard science to intuition about diversity, using mathematical logic and rigorous research. The author instantiates complicated ideas into plausible theorems that constructively guide the reader. They appreciate the mathematical equations complete with root numbers. Overall, readers appreciate the academic, empirical, and statistical focus of the book.

"...is well written and can be read for an overview of ideas or more deatiled proofs...." Read more

"...As to its purported focus, it provides academic, empirical, and statistical support for diversity, not necessarily racial or ethnic, with the..." Read more

"...That's good because it puts some hard science to the intuition about diversity's benefit...." Read more

"...Amazingly, he instantiates these complicated ideas into plausible theorems that constructively guide the reader's assessments...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Bruce Pulbrook
    5.0 out of 5 stars Useful model for benefiting from diversity
    Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    Written by a professor of complex systems, political science and economics at University of Michigan and a member of the Santa Fe Institute, this is well written and can be read for an overview of ideas or more deatiled proofs. It covers in depth some of the ideas mentioned in Surowiecki's Wisdom of Crowds. The key idea is that appropriately structured diverse groups can be better at solving complex problems and making predictions than experts, or groups composed of highly capable but undiverse groups.

    Page provides a useful model for thinking about diversity involving Perspectives (ways of looking at things); Heuristics (simple rules of thumb through to complicated algorithms); Interpretations (ways of categorizing or making generalizations); Predictive Models (ways of inferring causation to make predictions). The author notes that to be diverse and effective groups mostly need to share Fundamental Preferences (common goals).
    6 people found this helpful
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  • James Igoe / Deborah Goldstein
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Thoughts About Modeling, Perceptions, and Heuristics
    Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Generally, I found the book most engaging for understanding perception, heuristics and decision making, although this did not seem to be the primary premise of the book. As for the writing, it was a bit long-winded, using analogies to make points, even though the concepts themselves are readily accessible without elucidation.

    As to its purported focus, it provides academic, empirical, and statistical support for diversity, not necessarily racial or ethnic, with the premise being that diversity of viewpoint within groups is powerful, so much so that it trumps individual excellence.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Kevin Currie-Knight
    4.0 out of 5 stars Beyond the Feel-Good Slogan!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Early in his career, political scientist and economist Scott Paige was messing around with a mathematical model of different groups trying to solve problems, when he noticed something: groups modeled to have smart members did only just as well - sometimes worse - as groups who had moderately smart but diverse members. What does that mean? Diversity might be equally important to group problem solving ability as the ability level of individual group members. So, Paige decided to go beyond the nice "Yay, diversity!" slogan, do some more math, and put this theory to the test.

    This book is the result. Section 1 explains the elements that make up diversity - that each person brings different vantage points, interpretations, heuristics (ways to solve problems), and predictive models to the table. Section 2 explores the mathematical - yes, this book proves a real challenge to people like me - proofs that diversity aids the predictive ability of groups. Section 3 discusses what happens when we switch from problem solving via diverse problem solvers to voting with diverse values and preferences (it doesn't go so well). Section 4 discusses the empirical literature showing that (or to what degree) Paige's mathematical models bear out in real life. Section 5 discusses implications for schools and firms (things like admission and hiring) as well as public policy.

    As others have noted, this book is heavy on the math. That's good because it puts some hard science to the intuition about diversity's benefit. But it also means that the book, at times, is a real challenge. Now, in some ways, it is obvious that the idea that diverse groups solve problems better on average than homogeneous groups; when problems are complex and have many facets, it is likely that groups will do better when different folks notice different things and approach aspects of the problem differently. But Paige puts some math formulae to this, like his own Diversity in Prediction Theorem (the squared collective error equals the squared individual error minus the diversity of the group). To put the DPT differently, diverse groups will do no worse in their averaged-together prediction as any individual in the group does on theirs. This is not a slogan, reminds Paige; it is a mathematical certainty.

    But not all diverse groups are working to predict something (the size of a heifer, the order of NFL draft picks, next month's computer sales). Some groups deliberate about what public (or company) policy should be, and their diversity is less in how they solve problems but in what they value (less in what next month's computer sales should be and more in how the company should try to expand its market share). In these cases, I"m afraid, Paige not only suggests that diversity of values brings costs that can easily outweigh the benefits, but has not many kind things to say about democracy. (Kenneth Arrow long ago proved that democracy often fails to aggregate preferences in a way that satisfies a majority. Others have shown that when given more than two options, people will often decide their 'votes' strategically rather than based on true preferences). Anyhow...

    The long and short is that Paige gives a lot of support to the idea that diversity is good, especially in helping us solve collective problems. But this means diversity of how we think, not NECESSARILY identity diversity. So, those with diverse sexual preferences, or different sexes and genders, or different ethnic backgrounds, will only make a good group to the degree that those differences actually map to differences in cognition (does being gay help this person in some ways think differently than straight people? The answer, says Paige, is "Sometimes.... only when this differences has led to different experiences that might have led different people to develop different cognitive toolboxes.) Also, while diversity is good when it means that people trying to solve the same problem come at it from different angles, it is less good - has costs that outweigh benefits - when people differ in fundamental values, such that they are not trying to solve the same problem, but disagree on what the problem is.

    This book is really insightful. It is very short on practical application for Paige's theoretically dense writing (section 5 is short compared to sections 2 and 3). But if you take the time and energy to get through the book attentively, it is guaranteed that you will think about the world and diversity a bit differently. Scott Paige takes a well-worn idea and slogan - diversity - and added some substantive grounding to our intuitions about it.
    12 people found this helpful
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  • spock
    5.0 out of 5 stars New Horizons in Diversity
    Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2007
    Verified Purchase
    Diversity matters, in law, in politics, in employment, in criminology, in sports, in media or entertainment, and in residential neighborhoods! But how? Why? When? Where? Under what conditions? For whom? These are the salient questions or issues addressed cogently by Professor Scott E. Page, using mathematical logic and rigorous empirical research. Instead of relying on vain rhetoric, legal gymnastics, simplistic anecdotes, and stylized moral platitudes, Page engages our thinking about diversity matters (such as affirmative action) with game theory and a plethora of experimental findings. Firstly, he contends convincingly (given the preponderance of the evidence cited) that diversity often matters more in problem-solving or in stimulating tangible innovations than reliance on individual ability alone. Secondly, he asserts that "the benefits of diversity also apply within individuals." In short, Page demonstrates that diversity is one of the most potent social forces available to human beings, vastly superior to the typical provincialism of homogeneity.

    Page urges us to ponder the implications of diverse mindsets, toolkits, heuristics, and outcomes. Amazingly, he instantiates these complicated ideas into plausible theorems that constructively guide the reader's assessments. Obviously, the United States and many nations around the world have incorporated increasing, albeit exponential, levels of complexity and diversity due to immigration and ethnic heterogeneity. Given the demographic trends that are influencing the future of populations in societies worldwide, Page has taken us where angels and traditional intellectuals fear to venture! He points us to the positive potential of diversity as it is negotiated within schools, firms, and societies. This monograph ought not to be dismissed by any rigorous scholar, policymaker, community leader, and citizen grappling with the perplexities of diversity in the 21st century. It empowers!
    22 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Matt
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most useful and insightful books I have read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 30, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    A qualitative description of how and when diverse sets of people can be more effective than groups of people who are less diverse. This book easily presents conclusions based on solid logic and maths, but doesn't get bogged down in detail. It remains high-level and therefore very accessible. I really recommend it for the unique perspective it presents on diversity. If anyone's interested the author also published an awesome course on model-based thinking on Coursera ([...]) The course covers a toolkit of ideas and approaches that can be used to arrive at the startling conclusions in the book. Understanding model-based thinking will help to understand the ideas presented in the book, although the content of the course and the book aren't directly linked.
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  • 亮佑
    4.0 out of 5 stars 嫌いって肥料なんですよ
    Reviewed in Japan on July 7, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    レディガガは何で居るんでしょうか、変な奴は不要でしょうか、戦争って本当に罪でしょうか、少数意見は意味の無い戯言でしょうか、組織に沿わない人材は馘首されて当然でしょうか、混乱とは無意味でしょうか、気に入らない奴は自分にとって本当に不要でしょうか、流血とはムダでしょうか、政党や派閥はムダでしょうか？日本語でに翻訳されておりますんで、何か疑問を感じている方なら一読をオススメします。でも、翻訳された本は原書とは雰囲気が違って偉そうな装丁で嫌いです。以上。
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  • Lars Axelsen
    5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 1, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Scott E Page has made some real insightful discoveries about how important diversity really is for teams and how diversity is not caused by race, gender or culture but correlates with it.
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