In 1961, MIT mathematics professor Ed Thorp made a small Vegas fortune by "counting cards"; his 1962 bestseller, "Beat the Dealer," made the phrase a household word. With Claude Shannon, the father of information theory, Thorp next...

There's a useful calculation being employed by Wall Street, Silicon Valley and maths professors all over the world, and it predicts that the human species will become extinct in 760 years. Unfortunately, there is disagreement over how to...

Head in the Cloud von Poundstone, William

Are You Smart Enough to Work For Google? von Poundstone, William

Fascinating journey explores key concepts in information theory in terms of Conway's "Game of Life" program. Topics include the limits of knowledge, paradox of complexity, Maxwell's demon, Big Bang theory, much more. 1985 edition. von...

Rock Breaks Scissors: A Practical Guide to Outguessing and Outwitting Almost Everybody von Poundstone, William

Prada stores carry a few obscenely expensive items in order to boost sales for everything else (which look like bargains in comparison). People used to download music for free, then Steve Jobs convinced them to pay. How? By charging 99...

Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (And How to Take Advantage of It)

"Fortune's Formula: The Untold Story Of The Scientific Betting System That Beat The Casinos And Wall Street" von William Poundstone ist eine faszinierende Erzählung über die Entwicklung einer wissenschaftlichen Formel, die sowohl in...

"Rock Breaks Scissors: A Practical Guide to Outguessing and Outwitting Almost Everybody" von William Poundstone ist ein erhellendes und unterhaltsames Handbuch, das die Wissenschaft des Vorhersagens durch eine Vielzahl von Beispielen aus...

More people know who Khloe Kardashian is than who René Descartes was. Most can't find Delaware on a map; don't know what Frank Lloyd Wright did for living; can't say how many calories are in a Big Mac or how many candles are on a...

In the 18th century, the British minister and mathematician Thomas Bayes devised a theorem that allowed him to assign probabilities to events that had never happened before. Incredibly, this theorem can also be used to lay odds on the...