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What Are the Chances?
A collection of little-known odds covers such likelihoods as getting struck by lightning (1 in 600,000), having a supernatural experience (1 in 17), and having an airline lose one's luggage (12 pieces per thousand). Reprint.
- GenresTriviaNonfiction
160 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 2, 2015
The probabilities that a randomly selected person will have a particular experience
The modern person is bombarded with statistics, some of which are false, some true in a very narrow and hence unusable sense, others which are true but misleadingly so and the remainder which are provably true. This book is a collection of probabilities of events occurring to a randomly selected person.
Examples include:
*) If I am a college student, what is the probability that I will cheat on a test?
*) What are the chances that I will grow up incompetent in reading/writing or in math?
*) What are the chances that my hysterectomy wasn’t necessary?
*) What are the chances that I will marry a woman of another race?
*) Which dogs are most likely to bite?
*) Is it riskier to drive in Spain or Japan?
*) If I drive a lot, on which day of the week is it most important that I wear clean underwear?
As the last question indicates, some of the questions are humorous in nature. The authors have gone to great lengths to try to cover some of the “old wives tales” areas.
I got a great deal of enjoyment out of reading this book. Some of the facts were surprising, some hard to believe, but all of them were interesting to read and ponder. Clearly, the authors did a great deal of research in developing this book and I commend them for their explorations into the world of unusual facts.
This review also appears on Amazon
The modern person is bombarded with statistics, some of which are false, some true in a very narrow and hence unusable sense, others which are true but misleadingly so and the remainder which are provably true. This book is a collection of probabilities of events occurring to a randomly selected person.
Examples include:
*) If I am a college student, what is the probability that I will cheat on a test?
*) What are the chances that I will grow up incompetent in reading/writing or in math?
*) What are the chances that my hysterectomy wasn’t necessary?
*) What are the chances that I will marry a woman of another race?
*) Which dogs are most likely to bite?
*) Is it riskier to drive in Spain or Japan?
*) If I drive a lot, on which day of the week is it most important that I wear clean underwear?
As the last question indicates, some of the questions are humorous in nature. The authors have gone to great lengths to try to cover some of the “old wives tales” areas.
I got a great deal of enjoyment out of reading this book. Some of the facts were surprising, some hard to believe, but all of them were interesting to read and ponder. Clearly, the authors did a great deal of research in developing this book and I commend them for their explorations into the world of unusual facts.
This review also appears on Amazon
September 16, 2013
The internet has killed these kinds of books.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews