Sep
30
| I AM SO RANDOM… | Tweet |
but apparently so is the world. for my review this wednesday, i took a look at The Drunkard’s Walk by Leonard Mlodinow, a book that chronicles the myriad ways in which randomness — from the motion of particles to the spinning of a roulette wheel to the performance of mutual funds — permeates our lives. The Drunkard’s Walk requires some serious neuronal firing, so if you plan to read this book during the commercial breaks of Grey’s Anatomy, think again. that being said, Mlodinow does a fantastic job of taking complicated probability/statistics concepts and breaking them down for folks who haven’t spent their careers analyzing coin tosses.
Mlodinow’s main argument is this: the majority of humans currently inhabiting the planet lack a basic – but fundamental – understanding of probability. as a consequence, we make decisions that are decidedly unwise and that often run counter to our best interests. game show contestants choose the wrong door, profitable CEO’s are axed by board members, well-meaning juries convict innocent people of crimes. moreover, we consistently underestimate the role of randomness in our lives and conjure explanations for phenomena (like sports scores and high school GPA’s) that may give us a greater sense of control, but are ultimately misguided.
about three-quarters of the way into the book, i have to admit that i found myself pretty dejected. taking Mlodinow’s reasoning to its extreme (almost everything is random, we are deluding ourselves by believing that anything is actually under our control), a sense of futility enveloped my soul, kind of like the pink goo from The Matrix. BUT, just when i thought all hope was lost, Mlodinow turned my frown upside down. if you want to know how, read the book playerz.
i legitimately feel smarter after finishing The Drunkard’s Walk (a statement not to be taken lightly, as my IQ is ALREADY off the charts) and i would recommend it for anyone with a predilection for reading AND ‘rithmetic. some people might view Mlodinow’s thesis as a repudiation of the notion of fate, which could understandably turn off some more deterministic-minded folks, but i encourage even those doubters to check out The Drunkard’s Walk for a brush-up on statistics (i’ll give you a high five if you remember what chi-squared means) and some good fodder for philosophical debates.
Score: 8.5/10
Mlodinow has an easy-to-follow, conversational writing style and manages to squeeze a healthy dose of humor and storytelling into a book about math. if you want to know more about randomness, take a chance on The Drunkard’s Walk.
Yeah. I love your brain. It’s hot as fuck. Just thought I’d let you know.
Be good!
I’mma read this just ‘cuz. You know?
I mean, I hate math, because I’m an underachiever and have this instant gratification problem.
But I love the idea of randomness and how it relates to my total and consuming desire to control everything.
Resulting in a never ending succession of disappointments and frustrations.
I really gotta sit down a meditate my ass off before I can see why I got frustrated in the first place. Because I have NO control. Ya knowz?
But stats are awesome, and when I also get to that point in my mind, like you said, where you realize everything we do is incidental to eating, sleeping, mating, and shelter-ing, and even three of those are just in order to do the mating, my mind cries worse than the sky.
I mean, I don’t wanna mate. Nope. You can’t make me.
I don’t want that whole “deal” with kids.
So really, what’s the point. Everything else we do is just a distraction from those four things, or a way to get those four things done.
Anyway, listening to “Running Trains” while posting this, so thanks for the flow.
You and Lars and a welcome find. And, yeah, I’mma read the book. Thanks and good looking out.
I’mma read this just ‘cuz. You know?
I mean, I hate math, because I’m an underachiever and have this instant gratification problem.
But I love the idea of randomness and how it relates to my total and consuming desire to control everything.
Resulting in a never ending succession of disappointments and frustrations.
I really gotta sit down a meditate my ass off before I can see why I got frustrated in the first place. Because I have NO control. Ya knowz?
But stats are awesome, and when I also get to that point in my mind, like you said, where you realize everything we do is incidental to eating, sleeping, mating, and shelter-ing, and even three of those are just in order to do the mating, my mind cries worse than the sky.
I mean, I don’t wanna mate. Nope. You can’t make me.
I don’t want that whole “deal” with kids.
So really, what’s the point? Everything else we do is just a distraction from those four things, or a way to get those four things done.
Anyway, listening to “Running Trains” while posting this, so thanks for the flow.
You and Lars and a welcome find. And, yeah, I’mma read the book. Thanks and good looking out.
Just curious, did you take any Stats classes at Stanford?
yezzir. regression analysis all day baby.
I love this. you kick out some serious lyrical flow, your funny, hyper intelligent, AND cute.
what can’t K Flay do?
I must say,even though I liked looking through what you wanted to say, I couldnt help but lose attention after a while. It really is as if you had a fantastic grasp about the subject, but you neglected to incorporate the viewers.