Overview

"""An elegant and amusing account"" of how gambling has been reshaped by the application of science and revealed the truth behind a lucky bet (Wall Street Journal). For the past 500 years, gamblers-led by mathematicians and scientists-have been trying to figure out how to pull the rug out from under Lady Luck. In The Perfect Bet, mathematician and award-winning writer Adam Kucharski tells the astonishing story of how the experts have succeeded, revolutionizing mathematics and science in the process. The house can seem unbeatable. Kucharski shows us just why it isn't. Even better, he demonstrates how the search for the perfect bet has been crucial for the scientific pursuit of a better world."

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9781541697232

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Reviews

Beautifully written, solidly researched, and full of surprises. --New York Times' Numberplay blog Brilliant new book. --CardsChat This book is full of magic. It's brimming with clever people and clever ideas. --New Scientist An elegant and amusing account... Anyone planning to enter a casino or place an online bet would be advised to keep this book handy. --Wall Street Journal

Beautifully written, solidly researched, and full of surprises. --New York Times' Numberplay blog Brilliant new book. --CardsChat This book is full of magic. It's brimming with clever people and clever ideas. --New Scientist An elegant and amusing account... Anyone planning to enter a casino or place an online bet would be advised to keep this book handy. --Wall Street Journal Kucharski does a remarkable job of telling the story of how gambling has influenced science and science has influenced gambling. He manages to make it a good read while providing a scholarly underpinning. -J. Doyne Farmer, Director of the Complexity Economics program at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School This book contains so many great stories of how smart people have used maths, statistics and science to try and beat the odds-legally. It almost, but not quite, makes me want to take up gambling. -David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk, University of Cambridge With an entertaining writing style, Adam Kucharski guides us through the history and state of the art of The Perfect Bet, showing us how mathematics and computers are used to come up with optimal ways to gamble, play games, bluff, and invest our money. Extremely well-written and carefully researched. I highly recommend it. -Arthur Benjamin, Author of The Magic of Math: Solving for X and Figuring out whY In The Perfect Bet, Adam Kucharski takes us on a wild ride through the history, psychology, mathematics, and technology of gaming-a remarkable look behind the curtain of what most people think is intuitive, but isn't. -Paul Offit, author of Bad Faith and Autism's False Prophets Kucharski delivers a fascinating read. -Publishers Weekly A lucid yet sophisticated look at the mathematics of probability as it's played out on gaming tables, arenas, and fields... gamblers and math buffs alike will enjoy it for its smart approach to real-world problems. -Kirkus Reviews With anecdotes of mathematicians, physicists and programmers outwitting 'the house', it's both a paean to human ingenuity, and a Robin Hood tale of wealth redistribution. -Telegraph (UK) Brilliant new book. -CardsChat It's an interesting spin on the gambling industry, and might serve as yet another qualified reason to visit a casino this weekend. -Casino.Org News Kucharski's book is an interesting account of the interactions between gambling, science and mathematics, but what makes it so readable is the way the stories are told-always with a human angle that makes the narrative easier to follow and principles behind it easier to understand. -Prospect (UK) [THE PERFECT BET is] terrific: beautifully written, solidly researched and full of surprises. It's also practical. Even if you don't spend time at Las Vegas you'll be surprised by the clarity it will bring to your day. -New York Times Numberplay blog This book is full of magic. It's brimming with clever people and clever ideas... Even if gambling is not your thing, you should give The Perfect Bet a chance. Its subject matter may seem a little racy to apply to your everyday stick-or-twist decisions, but there's wisdom here, too. -New Scientist An elegant and amusing account...Anyone planning to enter a casino or place an online bet would be advised to keep this book handy. -Wall Street Journal

Kucharski does a remarkable job of telling the story of how gambling has influenced science and science has influenced gambling. He manages to make it a good read while providing a scholarly underpinning. <b>-J. Doyne Farmer, Director of the Complexity Economics program at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School</b> This book contains so many great stories of how smart people have used maths, statistics and science to try and beat the odds-legally. It almost, but not quite, makes me want to take up gambling. <b>-David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk, University of Cambridge</b> With an entertaining writing style, Adam Kucharski guides us through the history and state of the art of <i>The Perfect Bet</i>, showing us how mathematics and computers are used to come up with optimal ways to gamble, play games, bluff, and invest our money. Extremely well-written and carefully researched. I highly recommend it. <b>-Arthur Benjamin, Author of <i>The Magic of Math: Solving for X and Figuring out whY</i></b> In <i>The Perfect Bet</i>, Adam Kucharski takes us on a wild ride through the history, psychology, mathematics, and technology of gaming-a remarkable look behind the curtain of what most people think is intuitive, but isn't. <b>-Paul Offit, author of <i>Bad Faith</i> and <i>Autism's False Prophets</i></b>

Author Information

Adam Kucharski is an associate professor and a Sir Henry Dale fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he works on analysis of infectious disease outbreaks. The author of The Perfect Bet, he lives in London.

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