• The Drunkard's Walk

  • How Randomness Rules Our Lives
  • By: Leonard Mlodinow
  • Narrated by: Sean Pratt
  • Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (4,424 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
The Drunkard's Walk  By  cover art

The Drunkard's Walk

By: Leonard Mlodinow
Narrated by: Sean Pratt
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.48

Buy for $21.48

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

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)

What listeners say about The Drunkard's Walk

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,809
  • 4 Stars
    1,512
  • 3 Stars
    707
  • 2 Stars
    242
  • 1 Stars
    154
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,390
  • 4 Stars
    1,046
  • 3 Stars
    438
  • 2 Stars
    121
  • 1 Stars
    77
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,330
  • 4 Stars
    1,002
  • 3 Stars
    453
  • 2 Stars
    159
  • 1 Stars
    96

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Moderately Intoxicating

Any additional comments?

Tour of history and essential problems of statistics, doesn't provide much in the way of real world guidance other that to remind one of how fallible we are as a species. That made it sound boring, which it is not. The telling of history is entertaining, and the problems discussed should astonish someone who does not has extensive training in statistics or psychology (like me!).

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Rocked my world

I don't think you need a background in probability or statistics to enjoy this book. There are no equations or theories to ponder. I do have a little background in the field and was already skeptical about human perception of the subject matter. This book, however, put real examples to my skepticism. I thoroughly enjoyed the examples and the explanations.

This is one of the few audiobooks I plan to re-read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

exciting!

If I had this book in my college time, I could have easily opted for math and probability theory, instead of Economics and languages! Beautifully written and nicely narrated story, by a man, who can easily explain his subject after three pints of beer to his dog and she'd understand him... which means: he knows the matter from the bottom of his heart and loves it. And, yes, this is the only book I've seen, fully devoted to math without a single formula in it, which I find just great!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • RT
  • 12-28-12

A different perspective on the world

I enjoyed listening to this book because it pointed out the misconceptions that we encounter in every day life in terms of understanding success, luck, and chance. Be aware: some parts of this book tend to "read" a bit like a statistics text book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Al
  • 12-02-12

The best book on Randomness

For folks who take oneself too seriously this will open a light on to the true causes of success and failure. A brilliant book , one of the best ever.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Randomness explained!

What did you love best about The Drunkard's Walk?

Thorough and fun examples, prowoking and eye-opening.

What other book might you compare The Drunkard's Walk to and why?

"The black swan", only well written, and without the arrogance of Taleb.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Though provoking, well written and well read.

This is one of the most interesting books I've "read" in the last year. Interesting enough that I recently listened to it again. The arguments are well presented and the examples are fascinating. Definitely worth it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Highly proababe you will love this book

What did you love best about The Drunkard's Walk?

You will love this book if you love stats and probability. A very very interesting tale of how these subjects govern our lives to a great extent. Highly recommended

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Mathematics, fun!

Absolutely brilliant narration of a great story. Real examples and completely un-put-downable. Never knew you could like Maths!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A refreshing antidote to delusion.

Many books, we are told, are a 'must read' - or, in the world of Audible, I suppose, a 'must listen'; here's one that I would argue truly meets that mark.

As an introduction to the frequently counter-intuitive - and almost-always deflating - world of probability and the impact of statistical reality on our lives this could scarcely be bettered. It is fresh, amusing, and thought-provoking. There is an excellent balance between the anecdotal and the informational.

This stuff counts. We cherish some very fond illusions about the nature of the world around us, and these can lead us into dangerous errors of judgement. I would especially recommend this book to those who are concerned with the issue of Global Warming, and particularly to those who imagine that scientists who have devoted tens of thousands of hours to the difficult task of extracting a small, but enduring, signal from a great deal of noise are somehow in error.

Not that any awareness of just how much we are the subjects of the kingdom of chance is all new, however - I was continually reminded during the discussion of celebrity and success of the words of Ecclesiastes -

"I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all."

Exactly.

While it is always clear, I do find Pratt's narration to be slightly robotic - in fact, he rather reminds me of Andy Warhol as represented in Noel Fielding's 'Luxury Comedy' series!

Which is rather charming... it certainly doesn't significantly detract form 'Drunkard's Walk' as a listening experience.

Highly recommended.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!