The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century.

David Salsburg. In the early 19th century, educated people believed that reality could be understood and future events predicted using just a few mathematical formulas, such as Newton's laws of motion. This philosophy was known as the belief in a clockwork universe. As the century drew to a close and physical measurements became more accurate, more inconsistencies began cropping up between various fundamental formulas. A new paradigm emerged to replace the clockwork: the statistical model of reality. Salsburg documents the shift to statistical models and profiles the individuals who advanced the cause. While he introduces mathematical concepts such as randomness, probability, and statistical distribution, he focuses primarily on how these tools help solve scientific problems. WH Freeman, 2001, 340 p., b&w photos/illus., hardcover, $23.95.