You are here  A Natural Introduction to Probability Theory
Ronald Meester Publication Date:  Number of Pages:  [Reviewed by
Raymond N. Greenwell , on Most textbooks designed for a one-year
course in mathematical statistics cover probability in the first
few chapters as preparation for the statistics to come. This
book in some ways resembles the first part of such textbooks:
it's all probability, no statistics. But it does the probability
more fully than usual, spending lots of time on motivation,
explanation, and rigorous development of the mathematics. All
the famous examples are presented, sometimes in the exercises:
Simpson's paradox; the two-envelope paradox (including a
continuous variable version in which it paradoxically pays to
sometimes switch envelopes); the St. Petersburg paradox; the
problem of three people trying to guess the color of their hats;
and the problem of the careless hatcheck person (here called the
secretary problem). There are other fascinating but less
familiar examples, such as a