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Allen B. Downey

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https://allendowney.com

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Nonfiction

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September 2012

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Allen Downey is a Professor Emeritus at Olin College and the author of a series of freetextbooks related to software and data science, including Think Python, Think Bayes, and Think Complexity, which are also published by O’Reilly Media. His blog, Probably Overthinking It, features articles on Bayesian probability and statistics. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from U.C. Berkeley, and M.S. and B.S. degrees from MIT.

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Allen B. Downey's Blog: Probably Overthinking It

Think Java, but interactive

The online version of Think Java now features interactive widgets that run the code examples in the browser. For readers, it means you can try out the examples, modify them, and test your code. And for us it means we can publish an interactive version of the book without providing servers.

The widgets use java-runner, an in-browser Java editor and interpreter developed by Think Java co-author Chris

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Allen B. Downey’s books

Average rating: 4.0 · 3,300 ratings · 399 reviews · 38 distinct works • Similar authors

	Think Python 4.13 avg rating — 1,689 ratings — 57 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Think Stats 3.65 avg rating — 467 ratings — published 2011 — 27 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Think Bayes: Bayesian Statistics in Python 3.95 avg rating — 290 ratings — published 2012 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Think Complexity: Complexity Science and Computational Modeling 3.92 avg rating — 247 ratings — published 2009 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Think Java: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist 3.91 avg rating — 169 ratings — published 2016 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Probably Overthinking It: How to Use Data to Answer Questions, Avoid Statistical Traps, and Make Better Decisions 4.13 avg rating — 110 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Little Book of Semaphores: The Ins and Outs of Concurrency Control and Common Mistakes 4.40 avg rating — 82 ratings — published 2009	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Think DSP: Digital Signal Processing in Python really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 45 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Think Data Structures: Algorithms and Information Retrieval in Java 3.46 avg rating — 37 ratings — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Think OS: A Brief Introduction to Operating Systems really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 29 ratings — published 2014 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Allen Downey is currently reading

Every Tool's a Hammer: Life Is What You Make It

by Adam Savage

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May 22, 2026 07:06PM

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Allen’s Recent Updates

Allen B. Downey wrote a new blog post Think Java, but interactive The online version of Think Java now features interactive widgets that run the code examples in the browser. For readers, it means you can try out the Read more of this blog post »
Aug 23, 2026 02:39AM · like
Allen Downey wants to read Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 11, 2026 10:35AM · like
Allen Downey wants to read Spook Street (Slough House, #4) by Mick Herron	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 11, 2026 04:59AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Spook Street by Mick Herron. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Spook Street by Mick Herron <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Allen Downey finished reading Empire Falls by Richard Russo (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 11, 2026 04:56AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Empire Falls by Richard Russo. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Empire Falls by Richard Russo <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Allen Downey wants to read Under the Falls by Richard Russo (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Allen Downey finished reading Casino by Nicholas Pileggi	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 11, 2026 04:54AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Casino by Nicholas Pileggi. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Casino by Nicholas Pileggi <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Allen Downey liked Jerzy’s status update Jerzy started reading Seminal Ideas and Controversies in Statistics (Chapman & Hall/CRC Monographs on Statistics and Applied Probability)
Aug 11, 2026 04:54AM
Allen Downey wants to read The Thrice-Bound Fool (Blacktongue #2) by Christopher Buehlman (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 29, 2026 07:03AM · like
Allen Downey finished reading The Blacktongue Thief (Blacktongue, #1) by Christopher Buehlman (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 29, 2026 07:02AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Allen Downey wants to read Touch by Claire North	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 18, 2026 05:11AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Touch by Claire North. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Touch by Claire North <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

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Quotes by Allen B. Downey (?)

“For all live births, the mean pregnancy length is 38.6 weeks, the standard deviation is 2.7 weeks, which means we should expect deviations of 2-3 weeks to be common.”
― Allen B. Downey, Think Stats

tags: explanations-math

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