What is Markov Chain Monte Carlo and Why it Matters

This book presents a narrative account of Markov Chain Monte Carlo at a popular level. The author relies on history to provide a unifying narrative thread; on the centuries-old tension between "classical" and Bayesian approaches, as a plot theme that can highlight the importance of MCMC in changing the practice of statistics; and on applied examples and on metaphor in the hope of conveying the concepts without making technical demands of the reader.