Reviews for Introduction to probability and statistics

The average rating for Introduction to probability and statistics based on 4 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-07-11 00:00:00 Thanhtrong Nguyen This was an okay book. It took me a while to get into it. I don't think Lak is making a convincing enough argument that India will be the next superpower. He spends the entire book outlining all sorts of significant problems that India has (sanitation, poverty, illiteracy rates, ineffective and corrupt leaders, bad roads, pollution) but still declares that in a few decades India will not only overcome those problems, but get better than the rest of the world. I don't disagree that India has the potential to become a superpower, but I don't think those problems should be brushed aside in the way he does. I think he should have taken a softer approach instead of saying India absolutely will be the next superpower. The index at the back of the book was also poorly written, by the way. Pakistan doesn't even show up in the index. But, I did find many of the stories interesting. He talked about a man who started breeding farms for worms in order to make good soil without copious amounts of chemicals. The problems with disposal of human waste are heart-wrenching. Much of India just doesn't get the concept of sewage systems, and they're still using a system of sweepers--people who make a living collecting and disposing of the waste. It's a horrible job and those people have no hope of rising out of poverty because they are so susceptible to disease and nobody wants to come anywhere near them. I also didn't realize how bad the pollution is. Indians are going to have to develop an understanding of how their actions affect their environment--i.e. they can't just throw whatever they want to into the river, they can't use prolific amounts of chemicals to fertilize the soil, and they can't just "do their business" in a field somewhere.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-07-11 00:00:00 Susan D Gorbutt This was an okay book. It took me a while to get into it. I don't think Lak is making a convincing enough argument that India will be the next superpower. He spends the entire book outlining all sorts of significant problems that India has (sanitation, poverty, illiteracy rates, ineffective and corrupt leaders, bad roads, pollution) but still declares that in a few decades India will not only overcome those problems, but get better than the rest of the world. I don't disagree that India has the potential to become a superpower, but I don't think those problems should be brushed aside in the way he does. I think he should have taken a softer approach instead of saying India absolutely will be the next superpower. The index at the back of the book was also poorly written, by the way. Pakistan doesn't even show up in the index. But, I did find many of the stories interesting. He talked about a man who started breeding farms for worms in order to make good soil without copious amounts of chemicals. The problems with disposal of human waste are heart-wrenching. Much of India just doesn't get the concept of sewage systems, and they're still using a system of sweepers--people who make a living collecting and disposing of the waste. It's a horrible job and those people have no hope of rising out of poverty because they are so susceptible to disease and nobody wants to come anywhere near them. I also didn't realize how bad the pollution is. Indians are going to have to develop an understanding of how their actions affect their environment--i.e. they can't just throw whatever they want to into the river, they can't use prolific amounts of chemicals to fertilize the soil, and they can't just "do their business" in a field somewhere.

Review # 3 was written on 2014-09-08 00:00:00 Joseph Summerlin Written by a (British? Canadian?) journalist, the book was a tad tedious at times, but it is informative in addressing the how and why of the citizens of India gaining ground in the world marketplace, with some colorful characters along the way. I learned much about the culture, but I found myself bogged down by the writing at times. The end projects India's potential future as an "Asian America," given that it's a liberal democracy.

Review # 4 was written on 2014-09-08 00:00:00 Laura Bollinger Written by a (British? Canadian?) journalist, the book was a tad tedious at times, but it is informative in addressing the how and why of the citizens of India gaining ground in the world marketplace, with some colorful characters along the way. I learned much about the culture, but I found myself bogged down by the writing at times. The end projects India's potential future as an "Asian America," given that it's a liberal democracy.