Summary of Peter L. Bernstein's Against the Gods

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 Gambling has been a popular pastime and often an addiction for thousands of years. It was a game of chance that inspired Pascal and Fermat's revolutionary breakthrough into the laws of probability, not some profound question about the nature of capitalism or visions of the future.
#2 The most addictive forms of gambling are the pure games of chance played at the casinos that are now spreading like wildfire through American communities. The New York Times reported in September 1995 that state governments pay three dollars in costs to social agencies and the criminal justice system for every dollar of revenue they take in from the casinos.
#3 The law of averages does not apply to games of chance. Gamblers believe that the odds will bring their losing streaks to a quick end, but the law of averages does not hear them.
#4 The Greeks, who were the most civilized of all the ancients, had little interest in applying theory to any sort of technology that would have changed their views of the manageability of the future.

Sujets

• Portfolio management

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669374763
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Peter L. Bernstein's Against the Gods
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10 Insights from Chapter 11 Insights from Chapter 12 Insights from Chapter 13 Insights from Chapter 14
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Gambling has been a popular pastime and often an addiction for thousands of years. It was a game of chance that inspired Pascal and Fermat's revolutionary breakthrough into the laws of probability, not some profound question about the nature of capitalism or visions of the future.

#2

The most addictive forms of gambling are the pure games of chance played at the casinos that are now spreading like wildfire through American communities. The New York Times reported in September 1995 that state governments pay three dollars in costs to social agencies and the criminal justice system for every dollar of revenue they take in from the casinos.

#3

The law of averages does not apply to games of chance. Gamblers believe that the odds will bring their losing streaks to a quick end, but the law of averages does not hear them.

#4

The Greeks, who were the most civilized of all the ancients, had little interest in applying theory to any sort of technology that would have changed their views of the manageability of the future.

#5

The Greeks did not develop a methodical approach to risk, as they did not believe that order could be found in the chaotic nature of day-to-day existence. They believed that order only existed in the skies, where the planets and stars regularly appeared in their appointed places with an unmatched regularity.

#6

The search for a better life on earth continued, and by the year 1000, Christians were sailing great distances, meeting new peoples, and encountering new ideas. Then came the Crusades, a seismic culture shock.

#7

The Arabic numbering system, which was used to make calculations, was not enough to transform Europe. It took the arrival of the Europeans to bring about the change in how Europe measured and counted.

#8

The growth of trade and commerce, along with the new sense of opportunity, led to a dramatic acceleration in the growth of capitalism. capitalism could not have flourished without two new activities that had been unnecessary so long as the future was a matter of chance or God's will.

#9

The story of numbers in the West begins in 1202, when the cathedral of Chartres was nearing completion and King John was finishing his third year on the throne of England. In that year, a book titled Liber Abaci, or Book of the Abacus, appeared in Italy. The fifteen chapters of the book were entirely handwritten; it would take three hundred years before the invention of printing.

#10

Fibonacci's book, Liber Abaci, was far more than a primer for reading and writing with the new numerals. It contained many practical applications, and was loved by the Emperor Frederick, who invited Fibonacci to appear before him.

#11

The Fibonacci series is more than a source of amusement. It defines the proportions of the Parthenon, the shape of playing cards and credit cards, and the proportions of the General Assembly Building at the United Nations in New York.

#12

The first systematic efforts to measure and count were undertaken by humans some 10,000 years ago. The Egyptians became experts in astronomy and in predicting the times when the Nile would flood or withdraw, but managing or influencing the future probably never entered their minds.

#13

The Greeks developed an alphabetic numbering system that used the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet and three letters that subsequently became obsolete. The system had limitations, but it made possible great advances in geometry and its many applications in astronomy, navigation, and mechanics.

#14

The Greeks were not interested in samples, but in concepts that would apply everywhere, in every case. They were not interested in calculations, but in proof. They developed a numbering system that would become the basis of Western mathematics.

#15

The Hindu-Arabic system was the first numbering system to use zero, and it revolutionized the old system in two ways. First, it meant that people could use only ten digits to perform every conceivable calculation and write any conceivable number. Second, it meant that a sequence of numbers like 1, 10, 100 indicated that the next number in the sequence would be 1000.

#16

The new numbering system was popularized by the Moorish universities in Spain and elsewhere, and by the Saracens in Sicily. It was not widely used until the thirteenth century.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The invention of printing with movable type in the middle of the fifteenth century was the catalyst that finally overcame opposition to the use of the new numbers. Now the fraudulent alterations were no longer possible. The first inklings of the laws of probability were seen in gambling.

#2

The Renaissance was a time of discovery. Columbus set sail in the year Piero died, and Copernicus revolutionized humanity's view of the heavens. The Summa de arithmetic, geometria et proportionalita was written by a Franciscan monk in Rome in 1494. It presented the basic principles of algebra and contained multiplication tables up to 60 x 60.

#3

The problem of the points, which was a brain teaser presented by Paccioli, marked the beginning of a systematic analysis of probability. It brought us to the threshold of the quantification of risk.

#4

The Greeks and Romans played games of chance by rules that make no sense in our times. The reason was that the Greeks had little interest in experimentation, and theory and proof were all that mattered to them.

#5

Cardano was a gambler and a physician. He was the most famous physician of his age, and the Pope and Europe's royal and imperial families sought his counsel. He had no use for court intrigue, however, and declined their invitations.

#6

Cardano was a Renaissance man who wrote 131 printed works, 111 in manuscript form at his death. He covered a wide range of subjects, from mathematics to urine, teeth, the life of the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ's horoscope, and dreams.

#7