The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our LivesNATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the classroom to the courtroom and from financial markets to supermarkets, an intriguing and illuminating look at how randomness, chance, and probability affect our daily lives that will intrigue, awe, and inspire. “Mlodinow writes in a breezy style, interspersing probabilistic mind-benders with portraits of theorists.... The result is a readable crash course in randomness.” —The New York Times Book Review With the born storyteller's command of narrative and imaginative approach, Leonard Mlodinow vividly demonstrates how our lives are profoundly informed by chance and randomness and how everything from wine ratings and corporate success to school grades and political polls are less reliable than we believe. By showing us the true nature of chance and revealing the psychological illusions that cause us to misjudge the world around us, Mlodinow gives us the tools we need to make more informed decisions. From the classroom to the courtroom and from financial markets to supermarkets, Mlodinow's intriguing and illuminating look at how randomness, chance, and probability affect our daily lives will intrigue, awe, and inspire. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
ability analysis asked assess average Bayes Bayes’s believed bell curve Bernoulli Bruce Willis calculate called Cardano century chance chapter coin dice drunkard’s walk Ellen Langer employed equal error law example expect experience fact Fermat film Galton Gerolamo Cardano girl girl-F golden theorem graph Graunt Guess scenario happened home run ideas Jagger Jakob Jakob Bernoulli Journal Laplace large numbers law of large Linda look lottery Maserati mathematical mathematician mean measurement meter million molecules Monty Hall problem named normal distribution observed occur odds outcomes Pascal Pascal’s triangle patterns people’s percent performance person physics player poll positive possible predict probability problem Psychology question Quételet random process reason researchers result sample space scientists sequence statistics Stephen King streak student subjects success Suppose Theodore Porter theory thing tickets tosses trial understanding wine winning wrote