The drunkard's walk: how randomness rules our lives

Leonard Mlodinow'sThe Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Livesis an exhilarating, eye-opening guide to understanding our random world.

Randomness and uncertainty surround everything we do.
So why are we so bad at understanding them?

The same tools that help us understand the random paths of molecules can be applied to the randomness that governs so many aspects of our everyday lives, from winning the lottery to road safety, and reveals the truth about the success of sporting heroes and film stars, and even how to make sense of a blood test.

The Drunkard's Walkreveals the psychological illusions that prevent us understanding everything from stock-picking to wine-tasting - read it, or risk becoming another victim of chance.

'A wonderfully readable guide to how the mathematical laws of randomness affect our lives'
   Stephen Hawking, author ofA Brief History of Time

'Delightful ... Our lives may be shaped by chance, but they are enriched by awareness - just the sort of awareness that this fascinating book will give you'
  Guardian

'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

'Please readThe Drunkard's Walkby Leonard Mlodinow, a history, explanation, and exaltation of probability theory ... The results are mind-bending'
  Fortune

Leonard Mlodinowhas a Ph.D., has been a member of the faculty of the California Institute of Technology and a television writer in Hollywood, as well as developing many award winning CD-ROMs. He is currently Vice President of Emerging Technologies and R&D at Scholastic Inc. and lives in New York City. His previous books includeA Brief History of Time, which he co-authored, as well asEuclid's WindowandSome Time with Feynman, both published by Penguin.