Programmer Musings

Review of Randomness

Randomness
Deborah J. Bennett
Harvard University Press, 1998

This book covers the subjects of randomness, probability, and statistics better than any other book for the layman I've ever seen. As a programmer, most of the books I've read on these topics are either heavily into the math and theory of the subject or focused on programming techniques. This book covers the subject matter in a way that is much more accessible.

The beginning of the book covers randomness and chance throughout our history. The author covers early randomizers like dice and lots. She also talks interestingly about how religions affected the perceptions of randomness and chance. Based on this background, she explains why people in general have extremely bad intuition regarding these subjects. Along the way we meet random sampling and the effects of random errors on the interpretation of tests. Late in the book, we finally come to the subject of random number sequences and comuter generation of such sequences.

This book is great for anyone who wants a better grasp on the concepts of randomness, probability, and statistics. It is also a relatively easy read.