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From: "Powells.com Daily Dose" <dail...@email.powells.com>
Date: November 7, 2013 at 3:16:18 EST
To: <gea...@gmail.com>
Subject: Daily Dose: The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives
Reply-To: "Powell's Books" <reply-fe56127372650d757412-7...@email.powells.com>

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Today's Dose by Katie from Beaverton, Oregon Today's prize is $20 credit. Katie, follow this link by 11:59 p.m. (Pacific Time) on Thursday, November 07, to claim your gift certificate. List Price $15.95 Your Price $7.95 (Used, Trade Paper) add to wishlist Other Recommended Titles Other copies of this book*   New, Trade Paper, $15.95    Used, Trade Paper, $10.50   New, Miscellaneous, $15.95   Sale, Trade Paper, $7.98   Used, Trade Paper, $9.95 Other editions of this book*   New, Miscellaneous, $24.95    New, Hardcover, $24.95   Used, Hardcover, $14.50    Used, Hardcover, $13.00   Used, Hardcover, $10.50    New, Compact Disc, $39.98   Used, Trade Paper, $6.95 * Please note that copies are limited to on-hand quantity; used copies, in particular, may be available in extremely limited supply. Comment and Win! Comment on a product and you could win. The reader whose pick we use has until day's end to claim the gift certificate. Otherwise, we add an extra $20 credit to the next day's prize! The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow Katie's Comments: "'The Drunkard's Walk' takes you through some startling revelations about how you view your very own life. How does probability and randomness rule? And can you really understand randomness? Although some of the stories as well as the studies are written in nomenclature that most readers, who have maybe never been in the research world or aren't familiar with anatomical terms, another read through and you can understand what's being said....This book is a great read. Not one of the easiest to read, but it's educational. Most of all, this book really makes you think." Publisher Comments In this irreverent and illuminating book, acclaimed writer and scientist Leonard Mlodinow shows us how randomness, change, and probability reveal a tremendous amount about our daily lives, and how we misunderstand the significance of everything from a casual conversation to a major financial setback. As a result, successes and failures in life are often attributed to clear and obvious cases, when in actuality they are more profoundly influenced by chance. The rise and fall of your favorite movie star of the most reviled CEO — in fact, of all our destinies — reflects as much as planning and innate abilities. Even the legendary Roger Maris, who beat Babe Ruth's single-season home run record, was in all likelihood not great but just lucky. And it might be shocking to realize that you are twice as likely to be killed in a car accident on your way to buying a lottery ticket than you are to win the lottery. How could it have happened that a wine was given five out of five stars, the highest rating, in one journal and in another it was called the worst wine of the decade? Mlodinow vividly demonstrates how wine ratings, school grades, political polls, and many other things in daily life are less reliable than we believe. By showing us the true nature of change and revealing the psychological illusions that cause us to misjudge the world around us, Mlodinow gives fresh insight into what is really meaningful and how we can make decisions based on a deeper truth. From the classroom to the courtroom, from financial markets to supermarkets, from the doctor's office to the Oval Office, Mlodinow's insights will intrigue, awe, and inspire. Offering readers not only a tour of randomness, chance, and probability but also a new way of looking at the world, this original, unexpected journey reminds us that much in our lives is about as predictable as the steps of a stumbling man fresh from a night at the bar. Review “Delightfully entertaining.” Scientific American Review "A wonderfully readable guide to how the mathematical laws of randomness affect our lives." Stephen Hawking, author of A Brief History of Time Review "Challenges our intuitions about probability and explores how, by understanding randomness, we can better grasp our world." Seed Magazine Review "The Drunkard's Walk is a magnificent exploration of the role that chance plays in our lives. Often historical, occasionally hysterical, and consistently smart and funny, this book challenges everything we think we know." Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness Review "A science geek's delight, and useful reading for the inveterate gambler of the house." Kirkus Reviews Review “Mlodinow is the perfect guy to reveal the ways unrelated elements can relate and connect.” The Miami Herald Review “Mlodinow writes in a breezy style, interspersing probabilistic mind-benders with portraits of theorists....The result is a readable crash course in randomness.” The New York Times Book Review Review "Fast, chatty, very readable, and a fine introduction to ideas that everyone should know." David Berlinski, author of A Tour of the Calculus Review "A jaunty read worthy of any beach or airplane....Mlodinow has an intimate perspective on randomness....He draws direct links from the works of history's greatest minds to the deeds of today's not-so-great ones, explaining phenomena like the prosecutor's fallacy (which helped acquit O.J. Simpson) and the iPod shuffle function (eventually programmed not to be truly random, lest songs hit upon eerie playing streaks)." The Austin Chronicle About the Author Leonard Mlodinow received his doctorate in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, was an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the Max Planck Institute, and now teaches about randomness to future scientists at Caltech. Along the way he also wrote for the television series MacGyver and Star Trek: The Next Generation. His previous books include Euclid's Window: The Story of Geometry from Parallel Lines to Hyperspace, Feynman's Rainbow: A Search for Beauty in Physics and in Life, and, with Stephen Hawking, A Briefer History of Time. He lives in South Pasadena, California. Synopsis With the born storyteller's command of narrative and imaginative approach, Leonard Mlodinow vividly demonstrates how our lives are profoundly informed by chance and randomness and how everything from wine ratings and corporate success to school grades and political polls are less reliable than we believe. By showing us the true nature of chance and revealing the psychological illusions that cause us to misjudge the world around us, Mlodinow gives us the tools we need to make more informed decisions. From the classroom to the courtroom and from financial markets to supermarkets, Mlodinow's intriguing and illuminating look at how randomness, chance, and probability affect our daily lives will intrigue, awe, and inspire.    read more about this book

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