Randomness. Deborah J. Bennett. 224 pp. Harvard University
Press, 1998. $22.95. Chances are high that reading this book
will clear up your misconceptions about randomness and
probabilities. In this very entertaining little book, simply
written but intended for careful readers, some of the most
common mistakes people make about chance are carefully analyzed.
While describing interesting aspects of the mathematics of
probability, the author takes frequent detours into the history
of humanity's understanding (and misunderstanding) of the laws
of chance, touching on subjects as diverse as chance in
decision-making and the fairness of those decisions, gambling
and our intuitive understanding of chance, the likelihood of the
extremely rare, the existence of true randomness and how
computers have helped shape modern thinking about probabilities.
Imagine you are in a dark room and need to get a pair of
matching socks out of a drawer. There are two blue socks and one
red sock. If you take two socks, one after the othe