How Random Things Can Affect Your Life

Acclaimed writer and scientist Leonard Mlodinow discusses his book, "The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives".

Mlodinow received his doctorate in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, was an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the Max Planck Institute, and now teaches about randomness to future scientists at Caltech. Along the way, he also wrote for the television series MacGyver and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

In "The Drunkard's Walk," Leonard Mlodinow shows us how randomness, chance, and probability reveal a tremendous amount about our daily lives, and how we misunderstand the significance of everything from a casual conversation to a major financial setback. As a result, successes and failures in life are often attributed to clear and obvious cases, when in actuality they are more profoundly influenced by chance.

Originally published on May 28th, 2008 as part of the Authors at Google series.

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