A guide to how the world's smartest gamblers are using science to take on the house - and win - whether they're playing blackjack, having a flutter at the racetrack, buying scratch cards or laying in-play football bets at the bookies'
Adam Kucharski is a researcher at Imperial College London and an award-winning science writer. Born in 1986, he studied at the University of Warwick before completing a PhD in mathematics at the University of Cambridge. He has published papers on topics ranging from evolutionary biology to the social structure of epidemics, and in 2013 was awarded a research fellowship by the UK Medical Research Council to investigate disease emergence in Southeast Asia. Winner of the 2012 Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize, his popular science articles have appeared in the Observer newspaper and BBC Focus and BBC Plus magazines. He currently lives in London.
This book is full of magic. It's brimming with clever people and
clever ideas... The links between betting and science run deep and
wide, allowing Kucharski to cover some thrilling intellectual
territory.
*New Scientist*
Terrific: beautifully written, solidly researched and full of
surprises
*New York Times Numberplay blog*
Elegant and amusing ... anyone planning to enter a casino or place
an online bet would be advised to
keep this book handy
*Wall Street Journal*
Kucharski's clear prose and eye for an entertaining historical
anecdote give his book an accessible feel ... an enjoyable
account.
*Racing Post*
[An] enjoyable... paean to human ingenuity, and a Robin Hood tale
of wealth redistribution.
*Daily Telegraph*
Great stories of how smart people have used maths, statistics and
science to try and beat the odds - legally'
*David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor for the Public Understanding
of Risk, University of Cambridge*
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*
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 Maths'*
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*
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