Against the Gods
The Remarkable Story of Risk

Books published at the end of the 20th century have a certain purity to them. Free from the banalities of the information age yet aware of the implications of the technological revolution, the best among them are wonderfully endearing. Against the Gods is a classic, a 1996 tour de force by the late......more

Unfortunately, Bernstein just isn't a very strong writer. This is visible from the very beginning in his word choice and his many slips into generalization. He is very prone to hyperbole and "dressing up" relatively meaningless statements with strained poetic language. For readers, it can often be g......more

I had started the book with very high expectations but unfortunately, I am disappointed for the most part. I have to say that the title of the book is not totally compatible with the content. “Against The Gods” gives the impression that the book would illustrate how human beings overcame their supers......more

Thoroughly enjoyed this. It examines the study and the notion of risk throughout...well throughout forever. A lot of the reviews make this out to be chock full of math, but speaking as a very non-math person I found it perfectly accessible. The author has a nice way of mixing background color and th......more

This was a pretty good book, and it made a valiant attempt to thread the needle between being a book for math/ stats geeks and normal humans, but I am not sure it made it. I suspect the non-geeks would give up before making it through, and the geeks would make it through, but be disappointed by the......more