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wranglerofwords's review
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
lizshayne's review
challenging
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
4.0
A+ title. Book itself was also super interesting. I remember complaining about my previous non-fiction book that it was too pop and not enough science.
This book did not have that problem.
Did I get confused and lost sometime around quantum mechanics, as usual? Of course. Was it fun anyway? Absolutely.
Is this at all useful for understanding the halakhic concept of safek? I’m not sure, although it seems clear that safek is from the Bayesian rather than the frequentist school.
Also the deeply British mix of enthusiasm and dry observations definitely added to the appeal. I have no idea how enjoyable this would be to someone familiar with statistics and the science of uncertainty, but I certainly enjoyed it.
This book did not have that problem.
Did I get confused and lost sometime around quantum mechanics, as usual? Of course. Was it fun anyway? Absolutely.
Is this at all useful for understanding the halakhic concept of safek? I’m not sure, although it seems clear that safek is from the Bayesian rather than the frequentist school.
Also the deeply British mix of enthusiasm and dry observations definitely added to the appeal. I have no idea how enjoyable this would be to someone familiar with statistics and the science of uncertainty, but I certainly enjoyed it.
squirrelfish's review
4.0
A good overview of the principles of probability and uncertainty with examples drawn from coin tosses, dice and climate versus weather. Statistics, cryptography, quantum physics and gambling are all discussed at length. There's some very good explanations of why weather forecasts are so uncertain while climate change is very certain. There's actually quite a few good examples and analogies to walk you through the basic ideas of mathematical uncertainty.
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