Books Can Be Helpful in Understanding Gambling
There are a wide range of books available today that will help you with your wagering. Two books that are truly helpful are “The Age of Chance” by Gerda Reith and “You Bet Your Life” by Neil Isaacs. Each ones goes after the inner-working of a gambler. They look at things like psychological, cosial and historical perspectives of gambling. Both authors take a different look at why gambling has always been around in human cultures. It may have been very crude way back, but it still was alive and well. It developed quickly over the yearst has evolved over the centuries in different cultures, the dangers in losing control and how the games have been modified for different generations.
Reith looks at the origins of chance and fate; examines the theory that there is no such thing as chance; discusses risk then isolates the various games and why people are attracted to certain forms of play. Going back several hundred years, the author looks at people’s fascination with numbers and how casinos nurtured the games which attracted players. Perhaps the most interesting sections discuss “the experience of play” including factors like excitement, the impact of boredom and our need to escape from it.
Subjects of lucky-people, things, places, times and numbers get appropriate attention from Reith, who is also a sociology professor. With a dozen pages of references and resources and a name and subject index, this is a marvelous resource for anyone planning to study the phenomenon of gambling and why people continue to risk their money and time on the games. Neil Isaacs is an experienced lifelong gambler himself and as well a licensed specialist specializing in the treatment of problem gamblers. The book is written with the skill of a novelist, humanizing the subject of compulsive gambling and may help anyone better understand the gambling culture along with the history, psychology and literature of play. In a dozen chapters Isaacs discusses the compulsion to lose, and factors like anxiety, depression and psychosis, addiction, diagnosis and treatment. These are two very interesting resources on the art of gambling and its origin. The interesting thing is that it will give you some real insight into what goes on and how the market was built.
