Publishers Weekly
06/28/2021
“Downside protection in politics, war, and business favors the ‘deciders’,” writes former NYU business professor Silber (The Story of Silver) in this unsatisfactory survey of decision making. Studying the risky “go for broke” phenomenon, he finds that it is “a surprisingly powerful weapon for understanding behavior under uncertainty in life.” The ensuing examination is full of accessible anecdotes: he describes such historical figures as Woodrow Wilson and his hesitation to enter WWI out of fear of damaging his chances at reelection; Rosa Parks, whose belief that as long as Jim Crow laws lasted, “I had nothing to lose”; and Hitler’s ill-fated gamble on the Battle of the Bulge. Silber also considers asylum seekers who “hazard death to escape persecution and poverty,” and prisoners serving life sentences who are made into model citizens when given “something to lose.” But the anecdotes never coalesce into an illuminating whole, and the idea that risks with a large payoff are tempting feels like a truism. Fit neither for established or aspiring leaders, this is an easy one to skip. Agent: Richard Abate, 3 Arts Entertainment. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
"Silber is a charming narrator, and the stories in this book range from the Montgomery bus boycott to the mating habits of spiders to the sinking of the Lusitania. The insight linking these episodes is both simple and profound: when people (or spiders) have nothing to lose, caution deserts them. Refugees seeking asylum, presidents facing term limits, patients with terminal illnesses, Adolf Hitler in December 1944: all illustrate how desperate people will rationally gamble for redemption. Read Silber for the pleasure of his prose. But also read him for his wisdom." — Sebastian Mallaby, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and author of More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite
"Silber has a great eye for forces that have driven important decisions in history. This book weaves together gripping accounts of risky behavior by politicians, generals, and business leaders, and how they impacted society in surprising ways. I couldn't put this book down." — Thomas J. Sargent, Nobel Laureate in Economics
“Silber uses specific examples of how ‘the power of nothing to lose’ has benefited many people who have changed the course of history, from Rosa Parks to star athletes such as Venus Williams.” — Sofia Pitt, CNBC
"A brisk look at times when it pays off to take a chance." — Kirkus Reviews
"'As Bill Silber shows in this enthralling and entertaining book—which I devoured in a single sitting—all kinds of people through history have acted recklessly in the belief that they had nothing to lose, from second-term presidents pardoning crooked cronies to quarter-backs throwing Hail Mary passes. One of the world's most brilliant teachers of finance, Bill Silber knows that the best way to teach the tricky math of options-pricing is to wrap it in good yarns from sports, politics and history. The Power of Nothing to Lose brings together some of his best stories—and kindly omits the math." — Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution, and author of The Ascent of Money
"What do Rosa Parks, Mohamed Atta, Aaron Rodgers, George Washington,and Adolf Hitler, have in common...Silber has the answer." — Keen On Podcast
"Fascinating." — Tobias Carlisle, The Acquirers Podcast
"[William L. Silber's] comments are pertinent in the present day of cryptocurrencies, the ‘retailization’ of options trading, NFTs, and meme stocks, among others." — The Contrarian Investor Podcast
The Contrarian Investor Podcast
"[William L. Silber's] comments are pertinent in the present day of cryptocurrencies, the ‘retailization’ of options trading, NFTs, and meme stocks, among others."
Niall Ferguson
"'As Bill Silber shows in this enthralling and entertaining book—which I devoured in a single sitting—all kinds of people through history have acted recklessly in the belief that they had nothing to lose, from second-term presidents pardoning crooked cronies to quarter-backs throwing Hail Mary passes. One of the world's most brilliant teachers of finance, Bill Silber knows that the best way to teach the tricky math of options-pricing is to wrap it in good yarns from sports, politics and history. The Power of Nothing to Lose brings together some of his best stories—and kindly omits the math."
Sofia Pitt
Silber uses specific examples of how ‘the power of nothing to lose’ has benefited many people who have changed the course of history, from Rosa Parks to star athletes such as Venus Williams.”
Keen On Podcast
"What do Rosa Parks, Mohamed Atta, Aaron Rodgers, George Washington,and Adolf Hitler, have in common...Silber has the answer."
Tobias Carlisle
"Fascinating."
Sebastian Mallaby
"Silber is a charming narrator, and the stories in this book range from the Montgomery bus boycott to the mating habits of spiders to the sinking of the Lusitania. The insight linking these episodes is both simple and profound: when people (or spiders) have nothing to lose, caution deserts them. Refugees seeking asylum, presidents facing term limits, patients with terminal illnesses, Adolf Hitler in December 1944: all illustrate how desperate people will rationally gamble for redemption. Read Silber for the pleasure of his prose. But also read him for his wisdom."
Thomas J. Sargent
"Silber has a great eye for forces that have driven important decisions in history. This book weaves together gripping accounts of risky behavior by politicians, generals, and business leaders, and how they impacted society in surprising ways. I couldn't put this book down."
Kirkus Reviews
2021-05-27
Financial history expert Silber recapitulates a course in risk assessment, showing that generals and politicians no less than investors “take daring chances” in the absence of other options.
There are upsides when people are willing to game the chances of “downside protection,” writes former NYU economics professor Silber. For example, patients with terminal illnesses are crucial to the practice of medical experimentation, since many figure they don’t have much to lose. That decision, writes the author, is very much like the star quarterback who throws what Roger Staubach christened “the Hail Mary pass.” Never mind that the risk is turned all the way up. “The Hail Mary connects less than one in twenty times,” writes Silber, “which may be okay at the end of a football game, but not as a steady diet in life.” Yet the moral equivalents of the Hail Mary are frequent in our history. Silber suggests that having nothing to lose led Rosa Parks to refuse to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus. Similarly, Woodrow Wilson sent Americans to World War I not in 1915, when it could have ended the war sooner, but in 1917, after he had won reelection and didn’t have to fulfill his campaign slogan of avoiding war. Writes Silber, sagely, “second-term presidents should come with a warning label: Do not provoke a lame duck.” Desperation will drive people to extraordinary measures, of course, including attempting to enter a country illegally and, in the case of rogue trader Nick Leeson, taking advantage of the fact that his employer, Barings Bank, “encouraged traders to become daredevils, ignoring the fallout.” (Barings collapsed in 1995.) With an eye to behavioral economics, Silber turns up a few surprises: Even though prisoners serving life sentences don’t have much incentive to behave, they “resemble members of the local chamber of commerce more than Murder Incorporated.”
A brisk look at times when it pays off to take a chance.
