FT Business Book of the Year

Best business books

All the books longlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award

A Man For All Markets by Edward Thorp

A Man For All Markets

An extraordinary autobiography of an entrepreneur and innovator who, in a later era, might well have applied his inventive genius in Silicon Valley rather than on Wall Street. — Read the complete FT review

Synopsis

Edward O. Thorp rose up from nothing to become a professor at MIT, invented card counting and proceeded to beat the dealers of Las Vegas at blackjack, roulette and baccarat. Having brushed shoulders with casino mobsters and survived, he shared his secrets with the world, launching a gambling renaissance. His next stop was Wall Street, where he used statistical techniques to identify and exploit pricing anomalies in the securities markets, ushering in a stock market revolution and becoming one of the first of the great quantitative investors. In a remarkable career, Thorp attracted the attention of the legendary Warren Buffett, detected the Bernie Madoff scheme, invented the world’s first wearable computer and amassed a significant personal fortune.

Now Thorp shares his incredible life story for the first time, revealing how he made his money and giving advice to the next generation of investors. An intellectual thrill ride, replete with practical wisdom, A Man for All Markets reveals the power of logic in a seemingly irrational world.