Book 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 PETER L. BERNSTEIN is President of
Peter L. Bernstein, Inc., economic consultants to institutional advisors
and corporations. His semimonthly analysis of the capital markets and
the real economy, Economics and Portfolio Strategy, is read by managers
and owners of investments totaling over one trillion dollars. Mr.
Bernstein is the author of many articles in the professional and popular
press, as well as six books in economics and finance, including the
bestselling Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street.
He is the coeditor of Investment Management (Wiley), and was the first
editor of The Journal of Portfolio Management.
