Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk | 
 enlarge | Author: Peter L. Bernstein
Publisher: Wiley
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  152 reviews
Sales Rank: 3519
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 1.1
ISBN: 0471295639
Dewey Decimal Number: 368
UPC: 723812295630
EAN: 9780471295631
ASIN: 0471295639
Publication Date: August 31, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: this book has some readers and shelf wear.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
With the stock market breaking records almost daily, leaving longtime market analysts shaking their heads and revising their forecasts, a study of the concept of risk seems quite timely. Peter Bernstein has written a comprehensive history of man's efforts to understand risk and probability, beginning with early gamblers in ancient Greece, continuing through the 17th-century French mathematicians Pascal and Fermat and up to modern chaos theory. Along the way he demonstrates that understanding risk underlies everything from game theory to bridge-building to winemaking.
Product Description
A Business Week, New York Times Business, and USA Today Bestseller
"Ambitious and readable . . . an engaging introduction to the oddsmakers, whom Bernstein regards as true humanists helping to release mankind from the choke holds of superstition and fatalism." -The New York Times
"An extraordinarily entertaining and informative book." -The Wall Street Journal
"A lively panoramic book . . . Against the Gods sets up an ambitious premise and then delivers on it." -Business Week
"Deserves to be, and surely will be, widely read." -The Economist
"[A] challenging book, one that may change forever the way people think about the world." -Worth
"No one else could have written a book of such central importance with so much charm and excitement." -Robert Heilbroner author, The Worldly Philosophers
"With his wonderful knowledge of the history and current manifestations of risk, Peter Bernstein brings us Against the Gods. Nothing like it will come out of the financial world this year or ever. I speak carefully: no one should miss it." -John Kenneth Galbraith Professor of Economics Emeritus, Harvard University
In this unique exploration of the role of risk in our society, Peter Bernstein argues that the notion of bringing risk under control is one of the central ideas that distinguishes modern times from the distant past. Against the Gods chronicles the remarkable intellectual adventure that liberated humanity from oracles and soothsayers by means of the powerful tools of risk management that are available to us today.
"An extremely readable history of risk." -Barron's
"Fascinating . . . this challenging volume will help you understand the uncertainties that every investor must face." -Money
"A singular achievement." -Times Literary Supplement
"There's a growing market for savants who can render the recondite intelligibly-witness Stephen Jay Gould (natural history), Oliver Sacks (disease), Richard Dawkins (heredity), James Gleick (physics), Paul Krugman (economics)-and Bernstein would mingle well in their company." -The Australian
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| Customer Reviews: Read 147 more reviews...
Today's hero is often tomorrow's blockhead. August 25, 2008
There are two things that I really liked about this book, and one thing that I didn't. The good things:
1) The author's vast knowledge of the financial markets, from most of a century of experience.
2) His extensive and entertaining history of risk analysis.
The bad thing:
His attempts to explain math concepts that he apparently doesn't understand very well.
His history of risk analysis was a pleasure to read -- from Fibonacci and Cardano, to Markowitz and Sharpe. My favorite, was his coverage of Francis Galton, the man who measured everything.
Above all, the greatest value in this book is that it's packed with the author's knowledge of finance, from 63 years of experience. He's 89 years old now, and appears to still be going strong.
This book is well worth reading.
My favorite quote from the book:
Today's hero is often tomorrow's blockhead.(pg 297)
 Very Interesting! August 10, 2008
Risk Management has always been interesting to me, and learning about the history of it through this book has increased my understanding tremendously. The book is written very well, and it reads very easily for the material being discussed. I was pleasantly surprised as I delved further and further into the book.
History of Statistics June 6, 2008
I wasn't sure what this book would be about when I flipped through the pages at some airport (even with the subtitle, it still wasn' clear what the book would address). I made the right decision to buy it.
For all of us who have had a course in statistics and who trade in the stock market, this book provides a history which otherwise may be difficult to come by as in this book. The book is also well-written and fun to read.
Just Great! May 17, 2008
Great book for Risk Manager's Professionals. Include great point of view and provide a good background.
A must April 9, 2008
This book is an abolute must for whoever uses the word RISK in reflexion, work, publication or lecture.
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