Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk
In Against the Gods, the ancient chaos of fate is challenged by humanity’s relentless quest to measure, predict, and master the unknown. From the gamblers of Renaissance Italy to the architects of modern finance, this sweeping narrative traces how risk—once the realm of divine caprice—was transformed into a tool of decision, progress, and power. But can numbers truly conquer uncertainty, or do we merely wrap randomness in the illusion of control? Blending intellectual history with sharp economic insight, this book invites readers to reconsider how we understand the future—and how that understanding shapes the choices we make today. It is both a celebration of reason’s triumph and a quiet meditation on its limits.
- Originally Published: 1998
- Publisher : Wiley, 1998
- Pages: 400
- Genre: Investing
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN-13: 978-0471295631
- Access: Prime Membership
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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