Jessica and I made our way through what felt like every store in the Bayshore mall. I’m tired. After this post, it’s bedtime for me.

The stores didn’t fully cooperate, however. I wanted some khaki pants and was denied. I tried a number of pairs, but none really worked for me. I did a blue collared shirt on sale for just $15, and two fabulous t‑shirts for $30. Three shirts for $50. I’m pleased. The pants will just have to come later.

That said, I don’t think I’m all that good at the shopping thing. Jessica bought far more than I did! She’s the master at sniffing out deals. I’m glad she came with me though, because I was very happy to take advantage of her opinion.

The only other thing I got was a book. In my “Random?” post yesterday, I mentioned The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives, by Leonard Mlodinow. This is the book I bought. Lori sent me a review and a friend of hers told me about a write-up she read in The Globe and Mail. All indications were good so I picked it up.

I read most of the first chapter and I’m pretty impressed. I’ve been though more than my share of science books written for the public and this one has one of the most inviting writing styles. It’s extremely easy to read. The review I read claims it can get pretty heavy, but based on the way it’s written so far, I expect no problems if it does get dense.

Some of the things Mlodinow has touched upon are very encouraging. This is the final paragraph of the prologue:

The title The Drunkard’s Walk comes from a mathematical term describing random motion, such as the paths molecules follow as they fly through space, incessantly bumping, and being bumped by, their sister molecules. That can be a metaphor for our lives, our paths from college to career, from single life to family life, from the first hole to the eighteenth. The surprise is that the tools used to understand the drunkard’s walk can also be employed to help understand the events of everyday life. The goal of this book is to illustrate the role of chance in the world around us and to show how we may recognize it at work in human affairs. I hope that after this tour of the world of randomness, you, the reader, will begin to see life in a different light, with a deeper understanding of the everyday world.

A lofty goal, indeed! Even if Mlodinow is only partially successful, The Drunkard’s Walk will be an extraordinary book.