Ten Great Ideas about Chance

Paperback, 272 pages

Published Oct. 8, 2019 by Princeton University Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-691-19639-8

(2 reviews)

"In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, gamblers and mathematicians transformed the idea of chance from a mystery into the discipline of probability, setting the stage for a series of breakthroughs that enabled or transformed innumerable fields, from gambling, mathematics, statistics, economics, and finance to physics and computer science. This book tells the story of ten great ideas about chance and the thinkers who developed them, tracing the philosophical implications of these ideas as well as their mathematical impact." --

3 editions

Omid reviewed Ten great ideas about chance by Persi Diaconis

Review of 'Ten great ideas about chance' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Most probability books are either about mathematics of the subject, or about the philosophy. This book, however, covers a wide range of subjects, from history and philosophy, way up to the dilemmas and mathematics of the subject.
The author isn't afraid of expressing personal opinions, but covers all mentioned schools of thought fairly. Ideas are developed mostly from scratch, requiring almost no prior knowledge of the subject, but if you have studied the mathematics (or philosophy) of probability alone, the book has a lot to offer.
All in all, the book is fun to read: it includes challenging material in optional appendixes, but the main body of the text is easy to follow.

Greg P

rated it

Jul 23

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