The Drunkard's Walk

How Randomness Rules Our Lives

By: Leonard Mlodinow

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

In this irreverent and illuminating audiobook, acclaimed writer and scientist Leonard Mlodinow shows us how randomness, chance, and probability reveal a tremendous amount about our daily lives, and how we misunderstand the significance of everything from a casual conversation to a major financial setback. As a result, successes and failures in life are often attributed to clear and obvious causes, when in actuality they are more profoundly influenced by chance.

The rise and fall of your favorite movie star or the most reviled CEO - in fact, all our destinies - reflects chance as much as planning and innate abilities. Even Roger Maris, who beat Babe Ruth's single season home-run record, was in all likelihood not great but just lucky.

How could it have happened that a wine was given five out of five stars by one journal and called the worst wine of the decade by another? Wine ratings, school grades, political polls, and many other things in daily life are less reliable than we believe. By showing us the true nature of chance and revealing the psychological illusions that cause us to misjudge the world around us, Mlodinow gives fresh insight into what is really meaningful and how we can make decisions based on a deeper truth. From the classroom to the courtroom, from financial markets to supermarkets, from the doctor's office to the Oval Office, Mlodinow's insights will intrigue, awe, and inspire.

Offering listeners not only a tour of randomness, chance and probability but also a new way of looking at the world, this original, unexpected journey reminds us that much in our lives is about as predictable as the steps of a stumbling man afresh from a night at a bar.

©2008 Leonard Mlodinow (P)2008 Gildan Media Corp

Critic reviews

"A wonderful guide to how the mathematical laws of randomness affect our lives." (Stephen Hawking)
"If you're strong enough to have some of your favorite assumptions challenged, please listen to The Drunkard's Walk....a history, explanation, and exaltation of probability theory....The results are mind-bending." ( Fortune)

I love this book.

Definitely a reread. This book has it all and then some. I love the phrase fortuitous event

A great lesson in this book

Like many books I choose from audible.com, I know this is a book I would never have gotten though by reading it. But, it's a terrific listen. This is a thought-provoking book that will stay with you for a long time because it presents so many well-reasoned lessons on how we live our daily lives. The best thing about the book is its ultimate lesson - keep trying, the odds are with you. That's very encouraging. I highly recommend this audio book.

This book makes probability fun!

I took remedial math in community college and per-calculus for business three times before passing. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This book makes probability and statistics fun. I want to learn more now, but then I also fall outside the normal range (plus or minus .5 percent). Excellent narration.

Very interesting, highly recommend

If you're at all interested in probability, statistics, and how they relate to everyday life, this book is a must-read. There's a lot of information that will make you look at day-to-day decisions, outcomes, and happenstance in an entirely different way.

Leonard Mlodinow is a brilliant man, and here he's delivered an important and complex subject in a very interesting, easy to understand, and compelling way. I found the explanations of theory to be very well thought-out, and the real-world examples to be at once familiar and thought-provoking.

I also think Sean Pratt's delivery was really well done; it took me a little while to get comfortable with (no particular reason), but once I was I found myself drawn into the narration and story completely.

Chance and Probability for All

An excellent review of randomness. Leonard (Dr. Mlodinow) narrates an engaging dive into a topic that most of us consider either confusing or unrelated to our lives, loves and vocations. Nevertheless, his curated and thorough accounting of the history, theory, mechanics and real-world applications of randomness, chance, probability and statistics will capture any with even a passing interest in the role of 'luck' in our lives. Prepare yourself for concentrated and delightful learning. Don't listen while operating heavy equipment.

A Few Things Here Everyone Should Know

What made the experience of listening to The Drunkard's Walk the most enjoyable?

Statistics explained in terms anyone can understand.

What did you like best about this story?

The book is written in easy to understand language. Many concepts would be difficult to understand in textbook style or 50 minute lecture. The author uses historical references (and explains the historical beliefs) and modern examples to explain the concepts.
The voice is light and makes understanding some very abstract concepts easier.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This is not a laugh or cry type of book. I laughed a lot because of the examples, I learned a lot from the book. I think I might cry when I think about how many people do not understand the concepts of randomness and statistical reference.

Any additional comments?

Fun and informative.

clear, well read, fascinating

Any additional comments?

The content of this book is fascinating. It covers interesting history of the lives of mathematicians (in the context of probability and randomness). The narative builds gradually to give you a clear and thorough understanding of the author's idea of randomness. He describes how our human nature leads us to misconceptions of the effects of randomness in our daily lives and how those misconecptions in turn affect the decisions we make. Leonard Mlodinow explains these things through humor and history in entertaining vignettes accompanied by clear and simple explanations of the relevant concepts in probability and randomness.

I was wary of trying to understand mathematical concepts by listening alone. But I found the explanations clear and Sean Pratt's reading excellent, so that it was entirely easy to visualize in my head and follow along.

Better as a physical book

It was good. But imagine taking a math class with no textbook or blackboard. Get the physical book.

Technical and entertaining

I now understand the Monte Hall let's make a deal question about which door to choose!. Informational and enlightening. Lots of history thrown in too.

Good overview into probability and statistics

Author does a nice job describing the development of probability and statistics. This knowledge is then used to evaluate different elements of our lives to show that "randomness"is a major factor in our success, happiness, etc... However, I find much of the argument to be oversimplified. There is a difference between the inability to model events or draw causal relationships versus true randomness. I feel like book is a fun view of statistical analysis as applied to our everyday lives, but not much more than that.