TY  - BOOK
AU  - Mlodinow,Leonard
TI  - The Drunkard's walk: how randomness rules our lives 
SN  - 0307275175
PY  - 2009///
CY  - New York
PB  - Pantheon Books
KW  - Chance
KW  - Probabilities
KW  - Random variables
N1  - Originally published: New York : Pantheon Books, 2008; Includes bibliographical references (p. 223-238) and index; Prologue --; ch. 1; Peering through the eyepiece of randomness : the hidden role of chance : when human beings can be outperformed by a rat --; ch. 2. The; laws of truths and half-truths : the basic principles of probability and how they are abused : why a good story is often less likely to be true than a flimsy explanation --; ch. 3; Finding your way through a space of possibilities : a framework for thinking about random situations : from a gambler in plague-ridden Italy to Let's Make a Deal --; ch. 4; Tracking the pathways to success : how to count the number of ways in which events can happen, and why it matters : the mathematical meaning of expectation --; ch. 5. The; dueling laws of large and small numbers : the extent to which probabilities are reflected in the results we observe : Zeno's paradox, the concept of limits, and beating the casino at roulette --; ch. 6; False positives and positive fallacies : how to adjust expectations in light of past events or new knowledge : mistakes in conditional probability from medical screening to the O.J. Simpson trial and the prosecutor's fallacy --; ch. 7; Measurement and the law of errors : the meaning and lack of meaning in measurements : the bell curve and wine ratings, political polls, grades, and the position of planets --; ch. 8. The; order in chaos : how large numbers can wash out the disorder of randomness : or why 200,000,000 drivers form a creature of habit --; ch. 9; Illusions of patterns and patterns of illusion : why we are often fooled by the regularities in chance events : can a million consecutive zeroes or the success of Wall Street gurus be random? --; ch. 10. The; drunkard's walk : why chance is a more fundamental conception than causality : Bruce Willis, Bill Gates, and the normal accident theory of life --; Acknowledgments --; Notes --; Index
N2  - An irreverent look at how randomness influences our lives, and how our successes and failures are far more dependent on chance events than we recognize
ER  -