The Drunkard's Walk : How Randomness Rules Our Lives (2008)

If you already know the meaning of terms like "standard deviation" and "regression to the mean," then read this book for Mlodinow's colorful and fluent writing. ( )

If we were all unfeeling iRobots (floor cleaners) who respond to the random encounters in our lives by simply changing direction then the premise of this book is justified, for we would all follow our individual drunkard's walks to whatever probabilistic future awaits us. However taking this a step further, [a:Leonard Mlodinow|1399|Leonard Mlodinow|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1305995091p2/1399.jpg] suggests that much of how our lives transpire is happenstance, defined by a supreme law of probability that governs what we experience and perceive as humans. This comes from the cold and lonely belief structure that we became humans as a billion-in-one probabilistic accident, ignoring the more fundamental questions of life: how did this all begin and why are we here. Mlodinow reflects this existential crisis as he relates the story of his mother and aunt's experience during the holocaust, which is consigned to just another "failure" event. Based on this alone I would have discounted this book as typical egghead myopia. But Mlodinow does conclude admirably in suggesting that to improve the probability of "success" in life, one must keep on trying even in the face of repeated failure. That alone deserves an extra rating star. (Now a concession in the direction of there being charismatic persons who will transcend the mundane is worth the full 5 stars!) The book does present some contemporary and novel concepts, such as the quantum probability segment which one may link to a previous collaboration with [a:Stephen Hawking|1401|Stephen Hawking|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1197404653p2/1401.jpg] in [b:The Grand Design|8520362|The Grand Design|Stephen Hawking|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320558363s/8520362.jpg|13383926]. But for most of its length, the book compiles both historical and apocryphal material that has previously been covered by authors such as [a:Martin Gardner|7105|Martin Gardner|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1269645617p2/7105.jpg], [a:Douglas Hofstadter|6576175|Douglas Hofstadter|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66-251a730d696018971ef4a443cdeaae05.jpg], et al. I would love for young readers to find this book and discover a delight for science and math. But not before they've found their essential humanity first, a steady balance from which such preoccupations may spur greater works and ideas. ( )

clear, concise, informative discussion of randomness and probability in ordinary life; was missing discussion of under what circumstances attributes are normally distributed; did have have discussion of outliers, bias, and confirmation; tried to end prescriptively

Good good good! Made me wish I'd taken more math. And the last couple chapters are great. ( )

Good good good! Made me wish I'd taken more math. And the last couple chapters are great. ( )