Even if you think you don’t like mathematics, or are wondering why it even exists, don’t give up on the subject just yet. If you dread doing “simple”, everyday mathematical problems or if you cringe at the sound of people writing non-stop, pencil screeching the paper, to solve physics, population, or homework problems, do not fear. With all this doubt about mathematics and statistics, you would be benefited by taking the time to read a book about the revolution of science through mathematics. In his nonfiction book The Lady Tasting Tea, David Salsburg lays out the history and importance behind “How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century” in a straightforward, simple kind of way.
The book is intended to help non-mathematicians to understand the science revolution without much background knowledge in the area. To do this David Salsburg takes the reader on a detailed journey through time and focuses on the specific people and events that changed science through their theories and the “drama” within it. Statisticians greatly disagreed with some of each other’s work which caused conflict. But, the conflicts eventually worked out so that a new theory evolved after the check and re-check of specific mathematical problems by several people. “[Scientific research] usually requires a combination of minds. This is because it is so easy to make mistakes,” wrote the author of The Lady Tasting Tea.
The person most mentioned in Salsburg’s book, Sir Ronald A. Fisher, was a real scientific and mathematical genius that greatly impacted the scientific revolution. He set up experiments and did mathematical calculations on the probability of a certain outcome. Actually, in the very beginning of the book an occurrence was described that happened in England in the 1920’s. Fisher was drinking tea with some other science colleagues as he began listening intently to a woman who “was insisting that tea tasted different depending upon whether the tea was poured into the milk or whether the milk was poured into the tea”. He immediately started analyzing this hypothesis and decided to make an outline for such an experiment that could test the theory. R.A. Fisher, like most of his kind, was very interested in the results of his work. He got a certain amount of “intellectual excitement” out of it. The background of R.A. Fisher illustrated throughout the book is similar to how Salsburg introduces the reader to other important figures.
Much of the book is focused on the work of men in the science and statistics fields. Why is that? Well considering the book is about the history of how math changed science, one must realize that women in history didn’t have a huge part in the work force until the later 1900’s. Towards the end of the book in the chapter titled “Advice From the Lady in Black”, Salsburg described that “male theoreticians dominated the development of statistical methods in the early years of the twentieth century”. He goes on to explain the roles of specific women in different departments of statistical and scientific work and how they got prominent positions. For example, Stella Cunliffe was known for “reducing the most complicated mathematical models to understandable terms for the scientists with whom she collaborated”. She also worked at Guinness Brewing Company where she set up agricultural experiments to find the best ingredients for the company using math and science, which is intriguing to read about.
Although several other people were mentioned in the history of the statistical revolution, Fisher was the primary focus of the author’s intentions for this particular book. Salsburg has also written books in the same topic of statistics like The Use of Restricted Significance Tests in Clinical Trials (Statistics for Biology and Health) which discusses the deep details of methods in statistics. That book is similar to The Lady Tasting Tea but written for a more educated reader.
As I am not a mathematical genius, I still found his book to be kind of interesting. Before reading the book I only knew that mathematical and scientific theories always change throughout history and I thought the book would have been more about how different people’s lives intertwined to make new theories. The most interesting parts were the ones that included the controversial drama (like the constant arguments between R.A. Fisher and Karl Pearson) that I was originally expecting. I was slightly disappointed, though, that some of the content still seemed kind of confusing contrary to the author’s intentions.
In conclusion, The Lady Tasting Tea was informative about things that affect everyone every day, like probability. A lot of people don’t understand that decisions they make are all about probability of certain consequences for their actions. Salsburg’s novel should be read by people interested in statistical studies as a future career. The book is completely informative on how statistics and math changed.
