What's New at BIPS

September 2005

Bayesian Logical Data Analysis for the Physical Sciences: A Comparative Approach with Mathematica Support

This is the newest book (May 2005) on Bayesian methods for physical scientists, written by astronomer Phil Gregory. Aimed at graduate students, it covers the fundamentals at a level between that of the Jaynes and Sivia books. It has a much more "applied" focus than Jaynes's book, and covers several applications at a level well beyond what is addressed in Sivia's book. There is particularly extensive coverage of spectral analysis (detecting and measuring periodic signals), including a self-contained introduction to Fourier methods. It also includes some treatment of frequentist methods. It is currently the only book written for physical scientists that covers modern Bayesian computational methods (i.e., MCMC), though only a small part of the "computational landscape" is explored. It is available in hardcover and in eBook format. A Mathematica notebook with material supporting the book is available for download from the BLDA support page. Gregory has actively taught Bayesian methods to physics and astronomy students for over a decade; the book certainly benefits from his extensive classroom experience.