The Theory That Would Not Die

The first-ever account of Bayes' rule for general readers. It appears to be a straightforward, one-line theorem: by updating our initial beliefs with objective new information, we get a new and improved belief. To its adherents, it is an elegant statement about learning from experience. To its opponents, it is subjectivity run amok. This is a vivid account of the generations-long dispute over one of the greatest breakthroughs in the history of applied mathematics and statistics.