Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk

I recently finished Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter Bernstein. A surprisingly engaging book about the development of the knowledge of statistics and ultimately risk. Yes, I said an engaging book about statistics and risk. Peter does a great job explaining how we developed an understanding of statistics, how that developed in to game theory, strategy, risk management, and ultimately the transfer of risk through derivatives. Written in ’95 it does not contain any analysis of the crisis we’re currently undergoing, but he does have some points that seem appropriate for our current situation. I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in mathematics, history, and especially the history of knowledge. Mr. Bernstein is able to paint the path of not just the development of statistics and risk, but how we approach and understand the world around us. I highly recommend it.