The Drunkard's Walk by Leonard Mlodinow

[thatguy]

First, let me say excitedly that I read a book! I never seem to find the time. I never seem to finish books. It's generally a struggle, but 3 things occurred that helped:

1) I used the library (Sunnyvale) ebook checkout system which goes through a nation-wide service called "Libby". The funny thing about ebooks is that while you can make as many copies as you want since they are ethereal collections of 1's and 0's. The folks holding the purse-strings restrict the number of ebook copies in circulation and this number is shared within library groups, further limiting the number of actual ebooks you can check out. I put in a request for this title and was put in a queue. I eventually got an email that the ebook was available to me, but I need to respond within 72 hours or I would lose my place in the queue and have to wait again. Unfortunately, I didn't read that part and got bumped, so I had to wait. When my number came up again, I jumped on it and "checked out" the book. In addition to this queueing system, there is also a time limit, so I was forced to read the entire book before a deadline. This really kicked me in the butt to finish the book.

2) Since this "Libby" service/app gave me the option to read the book in the Amazon Kindle app, I could read it on my phone or my desktop which enabled me to pick it up and put it down and remain reasonably in sync between platforms.

3) I believe I suffer from some mild dyslexia. I've always struggled finishing books. Grokking heavy concepts. Staying focused when reading. Staying awake when reading...The Kindle app lets you customize the reader view and even substitute fonts. Somewhere, I discovered a "dyslexia" font (it might have been from the Kindle app). 

https://www.opendyslexic.org

The font has weighted forms which makes it easier to read. I found that I could read faster, with better comprehension. I'm not sure that that's all in my head, or a real outcome of using this font. But it feels like it helped for me... 

While this is an exciting title for a book, it's a work of non-fiction. The first 9 chapters cover the mathematical concepts used in probability and statistics, with lots of history sprinkled in. The "drunkard's walk" is meant to describe the random meandering of things, eg: the movement of a particular oxygen atom in a gas with bazillions of others. It's very well written, easy to read. I found it engaging (time pressure and easy to read font not withstanding). The last chapter brings it all around to randomness and determinism vs non-determinism and you. Recommended, if that's your sort of thing...

--tg

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I’m going to go look up that font — sounds great!

[thatguy]

https://www.opendyslexic.org/about

About


OpenDyslexic is a new open sourced font created to increase readability for readers with dyslexia. The typeface includes regular, bold, italic, and bold-italic styles, and 2 typefaces: OpenDyslexic, and OpenDyslexic-Alta. It was created to help with my reading, and is being updated continually and improved based on input from other dyslexic users. There are no restrictions on using OpenDyslexic. OpenDyslexic is created to help with some of the symptoms of dyslexia. Letters have heavy weighted bottoms to indicate direction. You are able to quickly figure out which part of the letter is down which aids in recognizing the correct letter, and sometimes helps to keep your brain from rotating them around. Consistently weighted bottoms can also help reinforce the line of text. The unique shapes of each letter can help prevent confusion through flipping and swapping. 

OpenDyslexic uses unique letter shapes, to help prevent confusion.


A heavier bottom is used to show which way is supposed to be down. OpenDyslexic also has other features, like wider letter spacing and a unique italic style. Like how this page looks? The scripts and CSS are available on github, free!

--tg

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Very cool!

[cranefly]

Opendyslexic has some nice ideas.  I don't think it applies to me (is there an ADHD typeface?), but I see its logic.

BTW, as for The Drunkard's Walk, did it delve into quantum computers at all?  I think the drunkard's walk is a problem that lends itself well to quantum computer algorithms.