Review of The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives (2009)
Leonard Mlodinow (writer).
Randomness, as studied throughout history by mathematicians, and later by psychologists.
This book was occasioned in part by Daniel Kahneman being awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2002. Kahneman does not have a starring role, but in the final chapters, Mlodinow connects probability theory to to the use of statistics in the hard and soft sciences, then goes as far as cognitive biases and critical thinking. This synthesis is a beautiful way to reveal the significance of what the mathematicians were, in a sense, always talking about.
Compared to Kahneman’s own writing, Mlodinow uses even more sports, gambling, moneymaking schemes and character portraits to keep up the interest of a broader audience. The textured weirdness of the individual mathematicians gives even more weight to the concluding synthesis, and does not detract from the substance of their work.
References here: Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011), Measurement (2012).