What Is Random?: Chance and Order in Mathematics and Life

We all know what randomness is. Or at least we think we do. We sometimes choose between options "at random," and if we toss a coin we know it will land heads or tails "at random." But are events like these truly random? Randomness turns out to be one of those concepts, like "solid matter" in physics, that works just fine on an everyday level but mysteriously disappears once we move in to examine its fine structure.

In this fascinating book, mathematician Ed Beltrami takes a close enough lo...