A World of Chance : Betting on Religion, Games, Wall Street (Hardcover)

1. From religion to risk management - what do you do when facing uncertainty?; 2. Anything wrong with gambling as a pastime?; 3. Are you rich? Risk-taking, gambling, and the leapfrogging instinct; 4. Betting on futures; 5. Gambling - as banking: poker, junk bonds and central banks; 6. 'Lottery is a taxation, and Heav'n be prais'd, it is easily rais'd'; 7. Politics and prohibitions, or, what's a good tax anyway?; 8. How gamblers and risk-takers correct the future; Appendix 1. Gambling and risk-taking: the leapfrogging instinct; Appendix 2. Human nature and the 'civilizing' process; Appendix 3. A statistical profile of gamblers.