A Man For All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market
January 27, 2017
Edward Thorp, professor, gambler, author, investor, and inventor, tells the story of his incredible life in this new book.
A Man for All Markets is the incredible true story of Edward Thorp: the card-counting mathematics professor who taught the world how to beat the dealer, invented the first wearable computer, and started a revolution on Wall Street.
Professor. Card-counter. Bestselling author. Hedge fund manager. Growing up in a family that struggled to get by, Ed Thorp never imagined that he would become a professor who would mathematically prove how card-counting gives every player an edge; that his discoveries would cause such an uproar among the casinos that they would attempt to change the rules of the game; that he would invent the wearable computer, heralding the technology that we use today; that he would write a bestselling book; or that he would take his knowledge of gambling to Wall Street, revolutionize investing, and make millions. And yet, all of that happened. After Thorp went on to Wall Street, using the Kelly formula to get more buck for his bang, he profited even during the crashes of 1987 and 1998.
This is the true story of a man who, through a series of twists and turns, went from a professor to a gambler to an investor, and an exciting personal look at the predictability of chance and how to walk the tightrope between risk and return.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Edward O. Thorp is the author of the bestseller Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One. It presented the first scientific system ever devised for a major casino gambling game and revolutionized the game of blackjack. His book Beat the Market helped start the derivatives revolution that transformed world securities markets. Based on his work, he launched the first market neutral hedge fund in 1969. Dr. Thorp, with Clade Shannon, also invented the first wearable computer in 1961 to win roulette. He has also written Elementary Probability, The Mathematics of Gambling, and numerous mathematical papers of probability, game theory, and functional analysis.
He completed undergraduate and graduate work at U.C.L.A., receiving the B.A. and M.A. in physics, and the Ph.D. in mathematics in 1958. He has taught at U.C.L.A., M.I.T., and New Mexico State University, and was Professor of Mathematics and Finance at the University of California at Irvine.