Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"It is rare to come across a book that can truly be called fascinating, but here is one."-New Scientist

Why Flip a Coin?

What's the best way to choose the right spouse? . . . How can I increase my chances of winning the office football pool? . . . By what process should I choose a candidate in the Senate race? . . . Could I possibly make more money playing poker instead of the stock market?

Using examples gleaned from everyday life, noted physicist H. W. Lewis explains what science has discovered about the rules that govern good-and not-so-good-decision making. Full of provocative insights into human psychology and behavior, Why Flip a Coin? will leave you laughing-even as you're learning.

"Should you read this book or not? If you don't read it you will surely miss out on Lewis's flinty wit and sharp sense of irony. The choice is clear. You needn't even flip a coin."-The Sciences

"Lighthearted but far from flippant."-Amazon.com (Science Editor's Recommended Book)

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Basics: The First Cut
• The Dating Game
• Probability
• Gains and Losses
• Putting It All Together
• Stability: The Social Island
• The Prisoners' Dilemma
• Competitive Games
• A Paradox
• Rankings
• Voting
• Impossibility
• Protecting the Future
• Public Decisions
• Apportionment
• War: Lanchester's Law
• Fluctuations and Regression
• Investing: The Stock Market
• Gambling
• Sports-Mainly Baseball
• The Lady or the Tiger
• Law and Juries
• Intro Redux
• Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Lewis, a physicist with extensive background in decision and risk analysis, is well known for his work in the safety assessment of nuclear reactors and for his earlier book, Technological Risk (CH, May'91). Unlike other books on decision analysis such as M.G. Morgan and M. Henrion's Uncertainty: A Guide to Dealing with Uncertainty in Quantitative Risk and Policy Analysis, 1990; and R.T. Clemen's Making Hard Decisions, 2nd ed., 1996, Lewis's is written for a nonmathematical audience. Topics include decision making under uncertainty, multiparty decisions, and game theory. Unfortunately, the author fails to provide references to more advanced works on decision analysis or to books such as M.B. Gerrard, Whose Backyard, Whose Risk: Fear and Fairness in Toxic and Nuclear Waste Siting (CH, May'95), which discuss decision making in particular areas of public policy. The book would have been greatly improved by the addition of an annotated bibliography. General readers; undergraduates. B. Borchers; New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

Author notes provided by Syndetics

H. W. LEWIS is Professor of Physics, Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award for his book Technological Risk. He has served on a number of national science advisory committees, including the Defense Science Board and the President's Nuclear Safety Oversight Committee.