Uncertainty in an Uncertain World A Review of Ian Stewart’s Do Dice Play God?: The Mathematics of Uncertainty

In addition to the title’s cheeky play on famous words God does not dice with universe (famously attributed Einstein), Ian Stewart’s Do Dice Play is a fascinating tour de force that embeds discipline of statistics and probability within an informative insightful socio-historical account its development. Stewart characterizes science as mathematical quantification uncertainty—a very useful productive way think about reputation for being notoriously difficult often counter-intuitive people understand. But his goes beyond merely providing such apt characterization discipline; he follows through by penetrating clearly presented examples analyses mathematics at throughout book’s 18 chapters. One cannot help but Stewart—a renowned mathematician retired professor—is gifted teacher! All this in informal conversational style, infused occasional humor, usually sufficient detail invites supports reader participate development ideas under consideration.