The best book of elementary probability
11/21/2007
This is a must buy for people who would like to learn elementary probability. The only background you need is basic series and calculus. This is the best probability book I have seen.
Great book, will get even better with the second edition
12/18/2007
This book is generally excellent, with clear explanations and a good balance of rigor and practical application. You won't find proofs of everything, but you will find excellent guidance and intuition through the various topics, especially the fundamentals. The only significant complaint I have is that certain topics are covered too briefly (such as the central limit theorem or stochastic processes) or not at all (e.g. null hypothesis significance testing).
Much of this will be rememedied in a second edition, which will include a welcome added chapter on estimation. We used a preliminary version of the chapter in the probability class for which the book was written, and it's fantastic. It was the most interesting part of the book, and I'm sorry that I didn't wait to buy the book when I could have gotten the final version.
I hope the second edition also fleshes out the chapter on Markov chains, which are presented very tersely, and without the use of linear algebra. Studying Markov chains without using linear algebra is like studying differential equations without the Lapace transform; you can do it but it's much harder than it has to be.
In the end, the terse coverage of certain topics is more than made up for by the fine handling of the basics, and I unreservedly recommend the book for anybody studying the topic for the first time.