The Improbability Principle
Why Coincidences, Miracles, and Rare Events Happen Every Day
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3.6 • 11 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In The Improbability Principle, the renowned statistician David J. Hand argues that extraordinarily rare events are anything but. In fact, they're commonplace. Not only that, we should all expect to experience a miracle roughly once every month.
But Hand is no believer in superstitions, prophecies, or the paranormal. His definition of "miracle" is thoroughly rational. No mystical or supernatural explanation is necessary to understand why someone is lucky enough to win the lottery twice, or is destined to be hit by lightning three times and still survive. All we need, Hand argues, is a firm grounding in a powerful set of laws: the laws of inevitability, of truly large numbers, of selection, of the probability lever, and of near enough.
Together, these constitute Hand's groundbreaking Improbability Principle. And together, they explain why we should not be so surprised to bump into a friend in a foreign country, or to come across the same unfamiliar word four times in one day. Hand wrestles with seemingly less explicable questions as well: what the Bible and Shakespeare have in common, why financial crashes are par for the course, and why lightning does strike the same place (and the same person) twice. Along the way, he teaches us how to use the Improbability Principle in our own lives—including how to cash in at a casino and how to recognize when a medicine is truly effective.
An irresistible adventure into the laws behind "chance" moments and a trusty guide for understanding the world and universe we live in, The Improbability Principle will transform how you think about serendipity and luck, whether it's in the world of business and finance or you're merely sitting in your backyard, tossing a ball into the air and wondering where it will land.
Customer Reviews
Convincing but not quite right
Although Hand may be astute enough to generate statistical probability calculations of events which may seam almost miraculous, he does not have the open-minded mindset to be a true expert on a subject which has infinite probability/potentiality. As an individual who has experienced clairvoyance first hand, I know there is an element to our existence that has not been definitively confirmed. Skeptics are not equipped to process science on the highest level because their mind frame serves as a barrier to the rationality and intellectual level that needs to be present in order to discover the reality of these alternate realms of consciousness.
When I had a dream about an applicant at my husbands office that showed the individual as having compromised ethics, I told my husband. I sat next to him and meditated on that persons name: specifically, I asked my spirit guide. I heard the name through my spiritual sense and told my husband. He did not confirm with me that it was the correct name,but on the following day, I noticed that he did a background check on an individual and it was the name of the person I had mentioned. I confirmed with his staff and indeed, the name that was given to me was the name of the individual applying. It turned out that this individual had a history of embezzling money from her former place of employment.
This is only one example of the many that I have experienced; the argument that it would be within the realm of statistical probability to attain such awareness is quite definitely erroneous. I have walked up to a house and knew someone who formerly lived there committed suicide, that was confirmed. I had a strange dream about the Caribbean, when I awoke I was told to "Speak!" I started writing a letter to Oprah but procrastinated, a day later the Haiti disaster occurred.
Although there are plenty of questionable clairvoyants out in the world, this does not completely dissolve the potentiality of this higher form of communication/awareness nor does that immediately eliminate the potential of the existence of a higher governing power many feel comfortable calling God. I do believe this is a book worth reading if you want to be enamored with statistics but let it not dissuade you from rationalizing the reality of God, spirituality.... Hand may be a clever statistician but he has much to learn in the area of spirit. Calculating a statistical probability does not eliminate the underlining potential of miracles. This is where I say, "He just doesn't get it."
Ignore other review/great book
This is a great book and I recommend everyone read it. The review about "clairvoyance" is misguided and this book will tell you how easy it really is to form self-delusions such as that.