Preordered it. It sounds interesting. I wish you guys success!

Available outside of the US on Amazon? Can't seem to find it on a non .com

Looks great.

I could get it from Amazon, but don't want to support them.
How can I buy it without a go-between?

Hi penny:

Right now you can't. After the book comes out and we get it in the supply chain that could change, but it could also take a month or two.

Best wishes,
Mason

Hi Mookie:

Once we get the book we'll ship to Amazon and we already have orders. However, it's up to Amazon to move the book to their non-US sites. Now we expect this to happen but we also have no control over it, and it usually takes a couple of weeks after they have received books from us.

Best wishes,
Mason

Hi Everyone:

We now have received books from our printer. We'll immediately be shipping to Amazon meaning that those of you who ordered from Amazon should get your copy soon. Also, here are a couple of pictures of the book:





Best wishes,
Mason

Thanks for this Mason, and for knowing it would take a collaboration to bring it more richness and breadth. I'll get around to reading it this Summer but wanted to say thank you - perspective is something we can all enjoy having more of.

Hi Everyone:

For those interested, Amazon is now showing the book in stock:

https://www.amazon.com/History-World...69HF242JCTGHEH

Best wishes,
Mason

Hi Mason - there's another forum I'm on which has a thread dedicated to discussion of your latest offering.
Would you be interested in popping over and joining in? Maybe doing an AMA or something?

Best wished
EPC

Hi epc:

Perhaps. Can you post a link and I’ll look at it.

Best wishes,
Mason

Sorry Mason - my idea got shot down by the community.
Thanks for offering to look though.

Best wishes
Epc

I will be buying 1, thank u u 2

Hi Epc:

That's a shame. But I'll answer all the questions that I can here. Also, the book is just beginning to get out so there should be some questions soon.

Best wishes,
Mason

Hi jfound:

Thanks. We at 2+2, plus my co-author, feel that many people will find this book highly interesting, plus I don't believe there has ever been anything written quite like it.

Best wishes,
Mason

Thanks Mason - to be honest I think they'd be a little intimidated having an actual hero posting in the thread. Most people who've read it are highly complimentary- a couple of people couldn't really understand the Thermistocles’ gamble segment but I think it went over their heads a little.

Best Regards
Epc

Hi Epc:

I'm curious who these people are since Amazon didn't start shiping the book until 4 days ago. (But I did send a few sample books out early, so perhaps that's where this information is coming from.)

Since you mention Themistocles, he gambled that Persian King Xerxes (in 480 BC) would pass up a sure victory that would take time, for a chance at a quick and glorious victory. Thus, instead of following conventional strategy, which would only give him a small chance of victory, Themistocles followed a strategy that would assure he would always lose provided his opponent, Xerxes countered it correctly. But he gambled that Xerses would not do this.

And this is from page 28:

Finally, we want to mention that another aspect of gambling is also present here. It’s something we often see in poker, especially in heads-up matches. What happens is that it’s sometimes important to defeat your inferior opponent slowly, rather than quickly, if the slower strategy has a much lower variance and there is not another game readily available. This is something Xerxes didn’t understand, but his opponent, Themistocles, obviously did.

Best wishes,
Mason

Will an audio version be available?

Hi Tuma:

At this moment, we're not looking to do an audio book. Perhaps sometime in the future, but it's not a high priority for us.

On the other hand, the kindle is currently in process and we hope to have it up in seven to ten days.

Best wishes,
Mason

Mason,

I’ve seen that this book uses Wikipedia heavily as a source. In the introduction stating “much of what follows comes from Wikipedia”.

Could you provide a rough breakdown of what percentage of this text is taken from Wikipedia? What percentage is taken from primary sources? What percentage is your own original work?

Can you discuss how the decision was made to use Wikipedia heavily as a source for this book as this runs contrary to what is considered an acceptable source in historical text?

Thanks

The book is not supposed to be a definitive historical work. Instead, it's supposed to be a different way of looking at some historical events.

However, when you see entries like:

or

you can assume that other sources were used.

MM

I do appreciate this distinction that it isn’t meant to be a historical work but simply history from the author’s perspective. I do believe that when writing a history based text though that their should be a burden placed on the author to use credible and reliable sources to ensure an accurate telling of history. Otherwise the work becomes simply a text based on a preconceived idea that the author has and fitting stories to that narrative.

When that is the case, the book is about the author’s bias and not about history. Historical events simply become a vehicle for the author to make whatever point they went into the text wanting to make. The book could have just as easily been Aesop’s Fables from a Gambler’s Perspective.

There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. An author is free to write what they choose, and there is clearly a market for this sort of historical fiction. I do believe that this type of book should be required to be classified as such though.

This is from the second paragraph of the "Introduction:"

I think this does a good job of explaining in two sentences what this book is about and how it was put together. It appears that "Little snippets" is not what you're looking for although some chapters are done more in debt.

And to give others reading here a better idea as to what this book is about, this is also from the "Introduction:"

I think where you're getting confused is that History of the World from a Gambler's Perspective is a book about gambling, and as far as I know, it's a completely unique book in terms of the subject matter and the topics discussed.

If you're so bothered that we, meaning both authors, relied on Wikipedia for some of our information, then you'll be missing out on what we think is a highly enjoyable read that will encourage most readers to look at life and history in a different way.

Mason

Does the book contain any math or try to quantify the gambling that it describes?

Hi BD:

There is a short discussion of expectation and variance. But this is done with very little math. For example, on page 9:

Best wishes,
Mason

I think the confusing part is that I'm not sure I've ever seen a published book of any kind use wikipedia as a reference. Have you? It just seems odd.

Did your collaborator have any reservations about your liberal sourcing of wikipedia? I'm kind of grunching, but I seem to recall that he was a professional historian or something like that. My understanding is that those folks frown upon wikipedia as a source for anything.