walkitout: (Default)
Nella Acceber ([personal profile] walkitout) wrote2011-07-24 09:23 pm

Not a review, _The Theory That Would Not Die_

I'm not done with it quite yet, but after giving up on _The Innovator's Prescription_ and some interim false starts, I am absolutely adoring Sharon Bertsch McGrayne's _The Theory That Would Not Die_. It is the history of Bayes-Price-LaPlace and the battles surrounding it and while it might not make a whole lot of sense to someone who really has trouble with all mathematical ideas, it is primarily the _story_ (that is, about the humans who worked on it and fought over it, their goals, their values, their ideals, etc.) of an idea, rather than a detailed exposition of the idea. It's a rollicking tale, as well as a powerful tool for figuring out tricky puzzles, and it's even better than those tricky puzzles are such an important part of the last hundredish years.

I'm loving it, and I hope you get a chance to, also. I'll review it soon, more properly.

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