nocto

As a mathematician I really enjoyed reading most of this book. I'm someone who jumps up and down and gets annoyed when I notice statistics being misused in the news and especially in legally binding situations: typically when something like "1 in x million" is used to mean "so unlikely that it couldn't happen" which it certainly doesn't mean[*]. I'm not a statistician though and I'm sure plenty of number-misuse gets past me too, and I was pleased to read this and add a few more tools to my news-busting mathematical arsenal.

The format of the book is to point out a mathematical error and then go into the detail of a legal case that rested on that mathematical error. My only complaint is that some of the legal case details went on a bit and went far beyond what was needed to see the maths problem. That possibly makes it a better book for a general readership though - it's not constant bashing you over the head with maths - but basically I thought some of it was better written than other bits; the opening chapters better polished than later ones. It was nice to see cases from all over the world included and for the most part you didn't need to have any prior knowledge of the cases to follow the book although some of them are pretty well known.

It has been proposed in the past that probabilistic evidence should not be admissible in court, basically most people (lawyers, judges, juries) don't understand it and it is easily twisted to give a damning result by someone who does (or thinks they do) understand it. Even as a mathematician who thinks we all ought to be more numerate I can see that there is sense in that argument. In the age of DNA profiling though we are only going to see more number based evidence turning up in courtrooms. I'm sure the authors will have no trouble in finding material for a follow up book!

[*] I'm pleased to see the authors used my standard comeback to explain this fallacy: With a "1 in 14 million chance" of winning the lottery we would all be hugely surprised if we ourselves won the lottery, but it doesn't surprise us at all that someone wins it almost every week.

This was a kindle eBook.

Another interesting case for Kate. I think the 1920s setting works well and I enjoy seeing how women's roles are changing in the aftermath of the first world war as well as the mysteries themselves.

This was a kindle eBook.

This is basically a look at how we decide what to believe in, and what not to believe in, by way of a wander around with a cast of characters who believe in all kinds of different things: it features homeopaths and the skeptics who oppose them, holocaust deniers and people who think they suffered satanic abuse as children among others. It's a very personal look at things by the author, who bravely pulls up his own 'story' of his life as an example in places - I'm not sure I'd be willing to do the same though I do agree that one of the traits that makes us human is that we try to make coherent stories of everything - and it's a better book for the personalisation aspect. In places I thought it got bogged down in the details but overall it was well worth the read.

This was a kindle eBook.

I've read the book, but not yet written anything down about it. Check back later (maybe!).

This was a paperback.

I picked this up on the strength of it's winning the Costa first novel award and was a bit disappointed in the rather pedestrian beginning with Adam getting slightly cold feet about marrying his long term girlfriend Rachel. It develops into a really interesting story though and it didn't really cover the ground I was expecting it to though it does make for a good look at the North London Jewish community. The writing is good and it's very quoteworthy. I enjoyed it.

I'm quite surprised, reading other Goodreads reviews after finishing the book, to find it is a reworking of an Edith Wharton novel. I will have to have a read of that sometime. I'm unsure what to make of this fact without knowing the original work. Certainly this was worth reading in it's own right though.

This was a kindle eBook.

I loved this. The tale of Ursula Todd, who repeatedly dies and gets to live bits of her life over again to get them 'right'. The first half is totally glorious. Fabulous storytelling. Halfway through I realised it was going to be near impossible for Atkinson to pull off a perfect ending to this and I wondered how on earth she was going to manage it. I didn't think the end was as good as some of what came before it but I can't work out how it could have been better. Just go and read it already and see what you think!

This was a kindle eBook.

A very enjoyable tale of a grown up Irish family in London, set during the 1976 heatwave. One you really want the author to revisit so you can see 'what happened next'.

This was a kindle eBook.

I've read the book, but not yet written anything down about it. Check back later (maybe!).

This was a hardback.

It's near impossible to review this on any level without spoilers. It's better than most books I award a 3 star rating. I came to the book knowing very little about it - I didn't even know it was a thriller - only that it had been widely lauded. So the first part which seemed very workaday writing with an obviously unreliable narrator seemed to have big flashing "this is a setup for something" signs. And I guessed what the something was. Which wasn't a problem other than I was bored to death with the setup. The book improved after the twist and I can see why people really like it but I really don't want to say any more about that.

A good interesting story which just took too long to find the interesting bit.

This was a kindle eBook.

I've read the book, but not yet written anything down about it. Check back later (maybe!).

This was a kindle eBook.