Day: April 16, 2007

What a nice surprise to linger in the public library on Saturday morning and find a Dick Francis novel I had not read: Under Orders. According to Wikipedia, this was the first novel since the death of his wife, Mary. Like all of the Francis books, a fun read that didn’t take much more than a day…and only that long because I made time to go for a ride in the park, ride for exercise on my own, and even help with a bit of garden cleanup. Dick Francis is my literary comfort food.

I read the graphic novel over a year ago. The film version of A History of Violence has been on the list ever since. The film was solid. Different, though, in its patience and willingness to linger even further on the small town scenes instead of the Philadelphia backstory and finale.

Unlike a horror movie or other violent thriller, there are few surprises. You know what’s coming…most of the time. There is one sex scene which startled me. Never saw it coming, although it shares some of the emotion of the title.

The iconic image I mentioned when writing about the book is not in the film. Maybe that is why I was not startled, since I was waiting for that gruesome step.

Metacritic score of 81 is appropriate.

Chances Are…Adventures in Probability was my other pickup at Cody’s a few weeks ago. Michael Kaplan and Ellen Kaplan jointly authored this exploration of statistics, but the voice is consistent. Chances Are… picks through history with an eye on the odds. Skills with numbers, and misconceptions about numbers, affect far more than simply the roulette wheel, and the Kaplans enjoy underlining the importance. Math isn’t avoided, of course, but the point is more how math is understood and misunderstood.

Each chapter follows a theme. My favorite was Chapter 5, Securing, considering insurance. That may not scream exciting. But weighing the odds isn’t simply a requirement for gamblers. It’s a necessity for commerce on any scale beyond the village. Sharing and distributing risk, even catastrophe, doesn’t depend on good will, but math. Like the other themes, the story of insurance through history reminds us that there are no certainties, just better calculations of probabilities.

I’m mildly curious whether Michael and Ellen are brother and sister or something else, since they are not husband and wife.