The hazards of feeling lucky in gambling Why do so many gamblers risk it all when they know the odds of winning are against them? Why do they believe dice are "hot" in a winning streak? Why do we expect heads on a coin toss after several flips have turned up tails? What's Luck Got to Do with It? takes a lively and eye-opening look at the mathematics, history, and psychology of gambling to reveal the most widely held misconceptions about luck. It exposes the hazards of feeling lucky, and uses the mathematics of predictable outcomes to show when our chances of winning are actually good. Mathematician Joseph Mazur traces the history of gambling from the earliest known archaeological evidence of dice playing among Neolithic peoples to the first systematic mathematical studies of games of chance during the Renaissance, from government-administered lotteries to the glittering seductions of grand casinos, and on to the global economic crisis brought on by financiers' trillion-dollar bets. Using plenty of engaging anecdotes, Mazur explains the mathematics behind gambling—including the laws of probability, statistics, betting against expectations, and the law of large numbers—and describes the psychological and emotional factors that entice people to put their faith in winning that ever-elusive jackpot despite its mathematical improbability. As entertaining as it is informative, What's Luck Got to Do with It? demonstrates the pervasive nature of our belief in luck and the deceptive psychology of winning and losing. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.

The American dream of equal opportunity is in peril. America's economic inequality is shocking, poverty threatens to become a heritable condition, and our healthcare system is crumbling despite ever increasing costs. In this thought-provoking book, Edward D. Kleinbard demonstrates how the failure to acknowledge the force of brute luck in our material lives exacerbates these crises leading to warped policy choices that impede genuine equality of opportunity for many Americans. What's Luck Got to Do with It? combines insights from economics, philosophy, and social psychology to argue for government's proper role in addressing the inequity of brute luck. Kleinbard shows how well-designed public investment can blunt the worst effects of existential bad luck that private insurance cannot reach and mitigate inequality by sharing the costs across the entire risk pool, which is to say, all of us. The benefits, as Kleinbard shares in a wealth of data, are economic as well as social a more inclusive economy, higher national income, and greater life satisfaction for millions of Americans. Like it or not, our lives and opportunities are determined largely by luck. Kleinbard shows that while we can't undo every instance of misfortune, we can offer a path to not just a fairer America, but greater economic growth, more broadly shared.

When a mild mannered preacher returns from Las Vegas with a jackpot and a new wife, odds are there is much more to the story! Trevor's mission of mercy goes awry when he drops a quarter into a slot and wins more than he bargained for. Has he fallen from grace? What happened in those lost hours? How can any of this possibly be God's plan?

My reason for writing this book was to have something to do after I got fired from C.W. Post. It was one in a long line of failed jobs over the years. The theme of luck grew out of the fact that through all the job losses there was Millie, my wife, and how having her in my life was a stroke of luck. All the things that happen in your life, good and bad, have a tinge of luck attached to them. By putting things into perspective I was able to cope with what was going on in my life and make peace with it. Ultimately this book is about luck; what it is and how it affects the way one handles life. I was able pour my feelings out and express what I was going through each and every day I was out of work. Writing is a good way to reflect on your life and to examine what role you have in how your life is going. I hope you find it funny as well as poignant and maybe you'll find some good luck in your life after reading it.

2014 James Beard Foundation Book Award, Reference and Scholarship Honor Book for Nonfiction, Black Caucus of the American Library Association In this insightful and eclectic history, Adrian Miller delves into the influences, ingredients, and innovations that make up the soul food tradition. Focusing each chapter on the culinary and social history of one dish--such as fried chicken, chitlins, yams, greens, and "red drinks--Miller uncovers how it got on the soul food plate and what it means for African American culture and identity. Miller argues that the story is more complex and surprising than commonly thought. Four centuries in the making, and fusing European, Native American, and West African cuisines, soul food--in all its fried, pork-infused, and sugary glory--is but one aspect of African American culinary heritage. Miller discusses how soul food has become incorporated into American culture and explores its connections to identity politics, bad health raps, and healthier alternatives. This refreshing look at one of America's most celebrated, mythologized, and maligned cuisines is enriched by spirited sidebars, photographs, and twenty-two recipes.

Humanity has thrown everything we have at implacable luck-novel theologies, entire philosophical movements, fresh branches of mathematics-and yet we seem to have gained only the smallest edge on the power of fortune. The Myth of Luck tells us why we have been fighting an unconquerable foe. Taking us on a guided tour of one of our oldest concepts, we begin in ancient Greece and Rome, considering how Plato, Plutarch, and the Stoics understood luck, before entering the theoretical world of probability and exploring how luck relates to theology, sports, ethics, gambling, knowledge, and present-day psychology. As we travel across traditions, times and cultures, we come to realize that it's not that as soon as we solve one philosophical problem with luck that two more appear, like heads on a hydra, but rather that the monster is altogether mythological. We cannot master luck because there is nothing to defeat: luck is no more than a persistent and troubling illusion. By introducing us to compelling arguments and convincing reasons that explain why there is no such thing as luck, we finally see why in a very real sense we make our own luck, that luck is our own doing. The Myth of Luck helps us to regain our own agency in the world - telling the entertaining story of the philosophy and history of luck along the way.

Veronica A. Odum, a.k.a. omblivnju1027, is a child of Yahweh (God). She is the daughter to a mother who was a domestic engineer and a nurses aide. Her father was a steel worker. Veronica was born and still resides in Baltimore, Maryland. She is of the Methodist faith, a Methodist lay speaker, and the founder of the KISS (Keep it Spiritually Simple) Ministry based on the scripture Luke 10:2728. A graduate of Morgan State University, Veronica has been a teacher of mathematics for over twentytwo years. As a former senior sales director with Mary Kay Cosmetics, the motto, Ordering your life by placing God fi rst, family second, and career third is the belief this author stands by. She enjoys singing, songwriting, poetry, and abstract painting. Veronicas passions include games of strategy, ten-pin bowling, dancing (especially line dancing), a day on the beach, a good book, and a good movie (no horror). The International Library of Poetrys (ILP) Editors selected omblivnju1027 to participate in the Best Poems and Poets of 2007 Award. In 2008, Veronica became a distinguished member of the International Society of Poets (ISP). She is a recipient of three 2008 Editors Choice Awards. Also Veronica is the recipient of the 2008 Outstanding Achievement in Poetry Crystal Award Trophy and the 2008 Poets Merit Award (ISP). She has been married thirty-four years to a man of God, Vance, and through this union, a blessing in son, Verdine.