My dear daughter,
I’ve been reading Leonard Mlodinow’s book, The Drunkard’s Walk. That’s truly a remarkable book. It shows how physical systems, society and the universe are ruled by randomness. It also tells us how difficult it is for the human brain to handle randomness. It gives many examples of bias when it comes to random processes.
It leaves us with a valuable lesson, to learn to accept chaos and randomness as good, positive forces in our lives. We don’t have to waste time and efforts trying to tame aspects which are completely out of our hands. But understanding them gives us perspective. It presents knowledge which is pretty valuable against charlatans and conmen, too. It teaches us not to throw away money in bets and sports. Or to not waste too much time on public exams which have a lot of random elements.
I can recommend this book to everybody. In a way, it’s a guide to understanding many of my viewpoints, postures and philosophies. When I use words like “possibly”, or “probable” and even when I say “I don’t know”, it’s in the precise technical meaning exposed in this book.
It will do you well to read it. I promise there are no Mathematical formulas whatsoever; there are very few graphics and a Pascal’s triangle figure. If you never get to like Maths or study anything Math-related, you should at least read this book.
Love,
Dad
Aspergers Dad 