Sharon Bertsch McGrayne is the author of numerous books, including Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous Discoveries and Prometheans in the Lab: Chemistry and the Making of the Modern World. She lives in Seattle.
“If you’re not thinking like a Bayesian, perhaps you should
be.”—John Allen Paulos, New York Times Book Review
“A masterfully researched tale of human struggle and
accomplishment. . . . Renders perplexing mathematical debates
digestible and vivid for even the most lay of audiences.”—Michael
Washburn, Boston Globe
“Superb.”—Andrew Hacker, New York Review of Books
“Engrossing. . . . A compelling and entertaining fusion of history,
theory and biography.”—Ian Critchley, Sunday Times
“Engaging. . . . Readers will be amazed at the impact that Bayes’
rule has had in diverse fields, as well as by its rejection by too
many statisticians. . . . I was brought up, statistically speaking,
as what is called a frequentist. . . . But reading McGrayne’s book
has made me determined to try, once again, to master the
intricacies of Bayesian statistics. I am confident that other
readers will feel the same.”—The Lancet
“Makes the theory come alive . . . enjoyable . . . densely packed
and engaging . . . very accessible. . . . An admirable job of
giving a voice to the scores of famous and non-famous people and
data who contributed, for good or for worse.”—Significance
Magazine
“A very compelling documented account . . . very interesting
reading.”—José Bernardo, Valencia List Blog
“McGrayne explains [it] beautifully. . . . Top holiday
reading.”—The Australian
“The Theory That Would Not Die is a rollicking tale of the triumph
of a powerful mathematical tool.”—Andrew Robinson, Nature
“The Theory That Would Not Die is the first popular science book to
document the rocky story of Bayes’s rule. At times, her tale has
everything you would expect of a modern-day thriller. . . . To have
crafted a page-turner out of the history of statistics is an
impressive feat. If only lectures at university had been this
racy.”—David Robson, New Scientist
“McGrayne holds the hand of the general reader as she lays out the
history of the theorem and how it is now used in just about every
walk of life. . . . Science writing at its absolute peak.”—The
Bookseller
“Scientists and statisticians have fought over a deep philosophical
divide about probability, which Sharon Bertsch McGrayne explores
with great clarity and wit.”—Christine Evans-Pughe, Engineering and
Technology Magazine
“We now know how to think rationally about our uncertain world.
This book describes in vivid prose, accessible to the lay person,
the development of Bayes’ rule over more than two hundred years
from an idea to its widespread acceptance in practice.”—Dennis
Lindley, University College London
“A book simply highlighting the astonishing 200 year controversy
over Bayesian analysis would have been highly welcome. This book
does so much more, however, uncovering the almost secret role of
Bayesian analysis in a stunning series of the most important
developments of the twentieth century. What a revelation and what a
delightful read!”—James Berger, Arts & Sciences Professor of
Statistics, Duke University, and member, National Academy of
Sciences
“Well known in statistical circles, Bayes’s Theorem was first given
in a posthumous paper by the English clergyman Thomas Bayes in the
mid-eighteenth century. McGrayne provides a fascinating account of
the modern use of this result in matters as diverse as
cryptography, assurance, the investigation of the connection
between smoking and cancer, RAND, the identification of the author
of certain papers in The Federalist, election forecasting and the
search for a missing H-bomb. The general reader will enjoy her easy
style and the way in which she has successfully illustrated the use
of a result of prime importance in scientific work.”—Andrew I.
Dale, author of A History of Inverse Probability from Thomas Bayes
to Karl Pearson and Most Honorable Remembrance: The Life and Work
of Thomas Bayes
“Fascinating. . . . I truly admire [McGrayne’s] style of writing,
and . . . ability to turn complex mathematical ideas into
intriguing stories, centered around real people.”—Judea Pearl,
winner of the 2012 Turing Award
“Compelling, fast-paced reading full of lively characters and
anecdotes. . . . A great story.”—Robert E. Kass, Carnegie Mellon
University
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