Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a regular columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. She is the author of An Economist Walks into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk.

"How should we think about risks in our lives? Although most of us think we are taking too much, are we actually taking much too little? Allison Schrager’s fascinating and deeply informed book will help you navigate a world in which you are probably not taking as many chances as you should.”—Kenneth Rogoff, author of Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider's View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead“It’s the foundational principle in finance: there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Every return requires risk. Eliminating the risk may eliminate the potential return—not just in markets, but, Allison Schrager argues, in life. Is playing it safe the riskiest thing we do?”—Ian Bremmer, author of Every Nation for Itself: What Happens When No One Leads the World“Living means dealing with risk. Yet most of us don’t know how to think about the cosmic roulette that governs our choices, from the trifling to the existential. That includes policymakers, who must trade off risk and reward in their own decisions and in the incentives they provide to citizens. Allison Schrager explains the history, logic, politics, and psychology of risk in a book that is fascinating, timely, and practical.”—Steven Pinker, Harvard University

• PrefaceChapter 1: No Risk, No RewardChapter 2: What Does “Risk” Mean?Chapter 3: Myth 1: The World Is Getting RiskierChapter 4: Myth 2: You Take More Risks Than Your ParentsChapter 5: Myth 3: You Shouldn’t Take Risks unless You’re RichChapter 6: Myth 4: We All Know What “Safe” MeansChapter 7: Myth 5: We’re Bad at Risk-TakingChapter 8: Myth 6: You Are Too Old to Take RisksChapter 9: Myth 7: Risk Is All or NothingChapter 10: What We Can Do to Fix ItNotesAcknowledgementsIndex

Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a regular columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. She is the author of An Economist Walks into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk.

"How should we think about risks in our lives? Although most of us think we are taking too much, are we actually taking much too little? Allison Schrager’s fascinating and deeply informed book will help you navigate a world in which you are probably not taking as many chances as you should.”—Kenneth Rogoff, author of Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider's View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead“It’s the foundational principle in finance: there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Every return requires risk. Eliminating the risk may eliminate the potential return—not just in markets, but, Allison Schrager argues, in life. Is playing it safe the riskiest thing we do?”—Ian Bremmer, author of Every Nation for Itself: What Happens When No One Leads the World“Living means dealing with risk. Yet most of us don’t know how to think about the cosmic roulette that governs our choices, from the trifling to the existential. That includes policymakers, who must trade off risk and reward in their own decisions and in the incentives they provide to citizens. Allison Schrager explains the history, logic, politics, and psychology of risk in a book that is fascinating, timely, and practical.”—Steven Pinker, Harvard University

• PrefaceChapter 1: No Risk, No RewardChapter 2: What Does “Risk” Mean?Chapter 3: Myth 1: The World Is Getting RiskierChapter 4: Myth 2: You Take More Risks Than Your ParentsChapter 5: Myth 3: You Shouldn’t Take Risks unless You’re RichChapter 6: Myth 4: We All Know What “Safe” MeansChapter 7: Myth 5: We’re Bad at Risk-TakingChapter 8: Myth 6: You Are Too Old to Take RisksChapter 9: Myth 7: Risk Is All or NothingChapter 10: What We Can Do to Fix ItNotesAcknowledgementsIndex

Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a regular columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. She is the author of An Economist Walks into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk.

"How should we think about risks in our lives? Although most of us think we are taking too much, are we actually taking much too little? Allison Schrager’s fascinating and deeply informed book will help you navigate a world in which you are probably not taking as many chances as you should.”—Kenneth Rogoff, author of Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider's View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead“It’s the foundational principle in finance: there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Every return requires risk. Eliminating the risk may eliminate the potential return—not just in markets, but, Allison Schrager argues, in life. Is playing it safe the riskiest thing we do?”—Ian Bremmer, author of Every Nation for Itself: What Happens When No One Leads the World“Living means dealing with risk. Yet most of us don’t know how to think about the cosmic roulette that governs our choices, from the trifling to the existential. That includes policymakers, who must trade off risk and reward in their own decisions and in the incentives they provide to citizens. Allison Schrager explains the history, logic, politics, and psychology of risk in a book that is fascinating, timely, and practical.”—Steven Pinker, Harvard University

• PrefaceChapter 1: No Risk, No RewardChapter 2: What Does “Risk” Mean?Chapter 3: Myth 1: The World Is Getting RiskierChapter 4: Myth 2: You Take More Risks Than Your ParentsChapter 5: Myth 3: You Shouldn’t Take Risks unless You’re RichChapter 6: Myth 4: We All Know What “Safe” MeansChapter 7: Myth 5: We’re Bad at Risk-TakingChapter 8: Myth 6: You Are Too Old to Take RisksChapter 9: Myth 7: Risk Is All or NothingChapter 10: What We Can Do to Fix ItNotesAcknowledgementsIndex