Living beyond the edge

Skill, luck, and Nate Silver's new book, On The Edge

Almost a quarter century ago, in March 2000, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel were driving down Sand Hill Road—a 5.6 mile stretch, dubbed the Main Street of Venture Capital, that passes through Menlo Park and Palo Alto. Sitting in Musk’s million-dollar, 627-horsepower McLaren F1, they were on their way to pitch the company that would become PayPal to prospecti…