My Second Review

Posted by jrosenhouse on May 15, 2009
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Jeffrey Shallit was kind enough to mention my book over at his blog. He writes:

A pleasant surprise arrived in the mail today: Jason Rosenhouse’s new book, The Monty Hall Problem. I read a first draft of the book and found it excellent.

The second draft is even better, thanks in large part to Jeffrey’s heroic proofreading efforts.

Alf van der Poorten says that the definition of a good book is that it mentions you. Under that criterion, this is a very good book indeed, as I appear on the back cover, giving the book an endorsement.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in probability.

Which provides a welcome opportunity to publicly thank Jeffrey for the endorsement.

Actually, his comment reminds me of something Michael Kinsley once said about political books. He said that any time a new book is published everyone in politics rushes out to give it a “Washington read.” That means looking your name up in the index as a measure of how important you are.

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Comments

  1. #1 John S. Wilkins
    May 16, 2009

    “Washington read”! I love it. Its what I do with any book that covers my field (although I use Google Books to avoid having to read the whole thing) :-) I’ve been cited by a few, too.

  2. #2 Blake Stacey
    May 16, 2009

    In Beyond the Hoax, Alan Sokal explains that one of his guiding principles in crafting the nonsensical article which made his name a verb was David Lodge’s law of academia: “It is impossible to be excessive in flattery of one’s peers.”

  3. #3 msn nickleri
    May 17, 2009

    Google Books to avoid having to read the whole thing) :-)

  4. #4 giyim
    June 2, 2009

    emegine saglık

  5. #5 takım elbise
    June 2, 2009

    emek

  6. #6 Steven
    June 5, 2009

    This problem is so counter intuitive (too some) that when I asked my friend about it who has a degree in statistics, he didn’t believe me.

    I myself have found a way to realise it though, intuitively. The original probability doesn’t change. I find if you amplify it and make say 50 doors, people understand it more intutively.

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    June 22, 2009

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    August 13, 2009

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  10. #10 SSI
    August 16, 2009

    Interesting! Please type this for another topic. Regards to the author

  11. #11 forum prawne
    August 21, 2009

    Really, very interesting topic. If possible, please more information. This is one of the better blogs that I read.

  12. #12 film izle
    September 26, 2009

    guiding principles in crafting the nonsensical article which made his name a verb was David Lodge’s