Title: Money for Nothing
Author: Ugel, Edward
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Have you ever thought about what it would be like to win the lottery? Edward Ugel learned about winning the lottery from a different angle. For seven years he was part of the industry that buys out winners with a lump sum payment. He explores his own gambling and addiction demons in his description of this manipulative cutthroat industry and how they take advantage of people who find that winning the lottery is not all it is cracked up to be. In the process he finds that he has a lot in common with the winners he manipulates.
Title: Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of How Six Students took Vegas for Millions
Author: Mezrich Ben
Did you see the movie 21? It is based on a true story of a group of mathematic whizzes from MIT who work as a team counting cards while playing blackjack in the casinos. Although it can be done,it comes at some risk as the casinos keep a close eye out for this type of activity. Ben Mezerich lives this double life as a student during the week and a high roller gambler on the weekends. He becomes addicted to the adrenaline rush of gaming the system and the glamorous lifestyle the casinos offer to their customers who spend a lot of money in their establishments.
Title: The Black Swan: the impact of the highly improbable
Author: Taleb, Nassim
A Black Swan is characterized by three principal traits: 1) it is a highly improbable event. 2)it is unpredictable and 3) after it occurs we devise an explanation that makes it appear less random and more predictable than it in fact was. In his book Nassim Taleb cites the success of Google and the 9/11 tragedy as examples of black swans. He postulates that black swans are responsible for many occurences in our world from the rise of major religions, to events in our daily lives. Taleb examines our methods of learning and how we fool ourselves into thinking we know more than we actually do. As someone who has spent his life considering problems of luck, uncertainty, probability, and knowledge, he will challenge you to change how you look at the world.
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