As a teenager, I stumbled upon a profound realization – probability and statistics were incredibly undervalued subjects in school. Little did I know, they governed every aspect of our lives. Making informed decisions without considering facts probabilistically was simply impossible.
Fast forward to today, and probability has become my full-time obsession. But it’s not just me. We all engage in probabilistic thinking, whether we realize it or not. The services I create are based on thorough probabilistic analyses.
The Foundations of Statistics has indelibly altered my approach to probability and transformed me into a better probabilist.
Now, let me clarify something for those who may have stumbled upon this book without a clear understanding of its nature. The Foundations of Statistics is not your typical probability book. Most texts on probability and statistics adopt a “frequentist toolbox” approach. They provide a list of standard recipes for estimation, testing, and inference using frequentist techniques.
However, Leonard J. Savage takes a different path. They tackle probability from the perspective of consequences. How can we define probability in terms of the decisions we make? This gives rise to a subjective, personal view of probability. They construct a comprehensive theory based on common sense concepts that we witness in our daily lives.
The Foundations of Statistics presents a vital, yet often overlooked perspective that cannot be succinctly captured in a review. I can only wholeheartedly recommend reading this book if you have any interest in probability.
