Are life's uncertainties random? Or are they governed by concepts of fate, destiny, superstition, astrology, or divine intervention?

As a scientist and a man of reason, Jeffrey Rosenthal has long considered the value of luck, good and bad, seeking to measure chance and hope in formulas scratched out on chalkboards.

In Knock on Wood, Rosenthal, with great humour and irreverence, divines the world of luck, fate and chance, putting his considerable scientific acumen to the test in deducing whether luck is real or the mere stuff of superstition.

About the Author: Jeffrey S. Rosenthal is a professor of statistics at the University of Toronto. He received his BSc in mathematics, physics, and computer science from the University of Toronto at the age of 20; his PhD in mathematics from Harvard University at the age of 24; and tenure at the age of 29. He has received teaching awards at both Harvard and U of T. Rosenthal’s first book, Struck by Lightning: The Curious World of Probabilities, was a national bestseller in Canada and was published in 14 countries and in 10 languages.