The Gambling Animal

Evolution is a series of bets, and no animal gambles the way humans do. This has led us to unprecedented ecological dominance, via the steepest odds and unlikeliest of outcomes, but our winning streak cuts both ways: the secret to our success may yet be our downfall.

The Gambling Animal offers a revelatory retelling of the human story. Drawing on their unique research into the risk psychology of humans and other animals - including our most impressive rivals, elephants - Don Ross and Glenn Harrison reveal the hidden logic of our rise.

Even before the dawn of civilisation, we bet the Earth on our ability to keep doubling down. But with an ecological crisis on the horizon, how long will our winning streak continue?

Don Ross is professor and head of the School of Society, Politics and Ethics at University College Cork, Ireland; professor at the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town; and program director for Methodology at the Center for Economic Analysis of Risk, J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. He studies the design and interpretation of risky choice experiments with people and other animals. Glenn Harrison is a distinguished university professor; the C. V. Starr Chair of Risk Management & Insurance; and director of the Center for the Economic Analysis of Risk, Maurice R. Greenberg School of Risk Science, J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. He is also an adjunct professor at the School of Economics, University of Cape Town. He researches the economics of risk.