Fortune's Formula: The Untold Story of the Scientific Betting System That Beat the Casinos and Wall Street

ISBN: 0809046377

Author: Poundstone, William

Condition: Used

In 1956 two Bell Labs scientists discovered the scientific formula for getting rich. One was mathematician Claude Shannon, neurotic father of our digital age, whose genius is ranked with Einsteins. The other was John L. Kelly Jr., a Texas-born, gun-toting physicist. Together they applied the science of information theory-the basis of computers and the Internet-to the problem of making as much money as possible, as fast as possible.Shannon and MIT mathematician Edward O. Thorp took the Kelly formula to Las Vegas. It worked. They realized that there was even more money to be made in the stock market. Thorp used the Kelly system with his phenomenonally successful hedge fund, Princeton-Newport Partners. Shannon became a successful investor, too, topping even Warren Buffetts rate of return. Fortunes Formula traces how the Kelly formula sparked controversyeven as it made fortunes at racetracks, casinos, and tradingdesks. It reveals the dark side of this alluring scheme, which isfounded on exploiting an insiders edge.Shannon believed it was possible for a smart investor to beatthe market-and Fortunes Formula will convince you that he was right. William Poundstone is the bestselling author of nine nonfiction books, including Labyrinths of Reason and The Recursive Universe. In 1956 two Bell Labs scientists discovered the scientific formula for getting rich. One was mathematician Claude Shannon, neurotic father of our digital age, whose genius is ranked with Einstein's. The other was John L. Kelly Jr., a Texas-born, gun-toting physicist. Together they applied the science of information theory-the basis of computers and the Internet-to the problem of making as much money as possible, as fast as possible.Shannon and MIT mathematician Edward O. Thorp took the "Kelly formula" to Las Vegas. It worked. They realized that there was even more money to be made in the stock market. Thorp used the Kelly system with his phenomenonally successful hedge fund, Princeton-Newport Partners. Shannon became a successful investor, too, topping even Warren Buffett's rate of return. Fortune's Formula traces how the Kelly formula sparked controversyeven as it made fortunes at racetracks, casinos, and tradingdesks. It reveals the dark side of this alluring scheme, which isfounded on exploiting an insider's edge.Shannon believed it was possible for a smart investor to beatthe market-and Fortune's Formula will convince you that he was right. "Fortune's Formula may be the world's first history book, gambling primer, mathematics text, economics manual, personal finance guide and joke book in a single volume. Poundstone comes across as the best college professor you ever hand, someone who can turn almost any technical topic into an entertaining and zesty lecture."-The New York Times Book Review "Fortune's Formula may be the world's first history book, gambling primer, mathematics text, economics manual, personal finance guide and joke book in a single volume. Poundstone comes across as the best college professor you ever hand, someone who can turn almost any technical topic into an entertaining and zesty lecture."-The New York Times Book Review "Seldom have true crime and smart math been blended together so engagingly"-The Wall Street Journal"An amazing story that gives a big idea the needed star treatment . . . Fortune's Formula will appeal to readers of such books as Peter L. Bernstein's Against the Gods, Nassim Nicholas Taleb's Fooled by Randomness, and Roger Lowenstein's When Genius Failed. All try to explain why smart people take stupid risks. Poundstone goes them one better by showing how hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management, for one, could have avoided disaster by following the Kelly method."-Business Week "Poundstone, a two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, takes us from chalkboard to stock market and back as he explains the 'Kelly formula' for gambling through the lives of those who developed and exploited the system. It is a rollicking tale about money, mathematics and greed."-Bloomberg "A dazzling array of math geniuses, rogues, swindlers, Nobel Prize winners, gun-toting physicists-all massaging the formulas that give them an edge in creating fortunes."-George J. W. Goodman (aka "Adam Smith"), author of The Money Game and Supermoney "This is a wonderful tale of how mathematics got married to gambling and went off to honeymoon in Las Vegas, before finding ultimate happiness in the biggest casino of all-the world financial markets. Poundstone has produced a rogues' gallery of mobsters and mathematicians, kneecappers and handicappers, card sharps, professors, systems players, numbers runners, and number crunchers-the best 'investment advisers' you can find. Anyone interested in playing the markets should buy this book and read it immediately."-Thomas A. Bass, author of The Eudaemonic Pie and The Predictors "The true story of the intertwining lives of financial legends, mathematical geniuses and crooked mobsters. Who would y