"Chance, Luck and Statistics" by Horace C. Levinson

A fun yet easy title talking about the discipline and the tasks when doing Probability and Statistics.

My wonderful, late grandma retired in Las Vegas, Nevada throughout her senior life. Since I was a kid, I loved visiting grandma a lot and we usually spent ample time at casinos given how much I loved the energy and the music in casinos. It is with that when I realized the gambling scene, the purpose and why many people enjoyed taking risks at the turn of a single card. Growing up, it's no wonder I easily became fascinated with the mathematical discipline of Probability and Statistics, and that's where this book by author Levinson provides us with.

Split into two parts, the first part of the book is his emphasis on Probability: why we take risks every single day, its sole philosophy is and making simple calculations, via fractions and percentages, using playing cards, dice and "Head or Tails" coin flipping. All throughout, you'll also read about the science behind trying to win and what the player/gambler looks to achieve in putting down an ample amount knowing that s/he may be lucky in piling up a huge win. Oh, and Luck is also talked about as to why being 100% dependent on it won't cut the chase, nor is it the source as to why someone should even take risks. (If you're one of those people relying on the fact that luck will always save you when things don't go right, you're likely going to run into some serious trouble.)

Near the end of the first part of the book, Levinson discretely talks about the odds and chances from one of the most popular games. While he spoke about popular games such as Poker, Roulette, Lottery and Craps, the longest writing was on the card game Bridge (that's a card game I haven't played in so long, to which I now forgot how to play).

The second part of the book talks about Statistics. Levinson discusses the goal and the purpose of Statistics but doesn't give too much examples, compared to his information about Probability. Perhaps because there's a ton of things the author may be unable to squeeze into a small volume, but does mention the infamous "bell curve" when plotting the information on a graph. Later near the end of the book, Levinson writes about why Statistics is crucial in the business world when tallying profits, stocks and items available for the everyday consumer. It felt like I was reading a book on Economics more than the mathematical science of Statistics (could be a good thing, depending on the reader). What I wish to have known more was how Statistics applies to Physics, namely Quantum Physics ever since physicists integrated the discipline into the behavioral patterns of atoms. Would have been nice but it's not too much a big deal.

Although some chapters were short, it was engaging enough to keep me occupied. I learned something at least. I believe the chapters talking about the odds of the card games were kind of unnecessary since there's a ton of books out there dedicated to all gambling games, big and small. Saying that, Levinson could've added more on his writing about Statistics since it's a very powerful mathematical discipline, even in science. Nevertheless, it's a book and rather decent enough to where you'll come away with learning something, regardless of how miniminal you know about the subject.

Overall, a modest, simple volume enough to entertain those wanting to study the science of taking chances. Check it out!

Kris Caballero

Founder of KCU Network and KCU Plus, Kris has been writing since he managed a personal blog made back in late 2005. Officially back to doing computer programming (software development) and video production, Kris enjoys reading books on Mathematics, Quantum Computing, Philosophy, playing old video/DOS games, digital video archiving, and listening to sports, public radio and classical music.

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