American Gambler Book Club

The Natural with Charles Star

I finally broke my standing rule of “No Fiction” in this episode to read Bernard Malamud’s debut novel The Natural [https://bookshop.org/a/6487/9780374502003]. If you’ve seen the 1984 film adaptation starring Robert Redford but, like me, had never read the novel, you will be shocked at how radically different the story in the 1952 novel is from that of the feel-good film. Joining me to discuss is the co-host of the No Homework podcast Charles Star. We recorded this episode live from the cheap seats at a Mets game with terrible microphones, so just pretend it’s 1952 and cut me a break if it sounds bad. Listen to No Homework [https://nohomework.website/] Buy The Natural [https://bookshop.org/a/6487/9780374502003] American Gambler is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit davidhill.substack.com/subscribe [https://davidhill.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

On the Edge with Jennifer Shahade

Nate Silver’s 2024 bestseller On the Edge: Risking it All is a deep-dive into the philosophical and cultural underpinnings of our modern-day gambling-obsessed America. In nearly six hundred pages he examines everything from poker to cryptocurrency to AI, and presents an ontology that divides American elites into “The River” and “The Village”: risk-takers and risk-averse. Joining me to discuss it is the chess and poker player Jennifer Shahade, author of the new book Thinking Sideways: How to Think Like a Chess Player and Win at Life. Buy Thinking Sideways [https://bookshop.org/a/6487/9798897100729] Buy On the Edge [https://bookshop.org/a/6487/9780593491645] Subscribe to Jen’s Substack [https://jenshahade.substack.com/] Donate to Chess in the Schools [https://chessintheschools.org/donate/] American Gambler is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit davidhill.substack.com/subscribe [https://davidhill.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Book Club: Something for Nothing Chapters 4 & 5

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidhill.substack.com [https://davidhill.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] Our current book club pick is Something for Nothing: Luck in America [https://bookshop.org/a/6487/9780142003879] by Jackson Lears. We’re trying something new for this book: weekly livestream discussions. Tune in live each week to watch for free or subscribe and get access to the archived videos. This week we continue with a discussion of Chapters 4 & 5. American Gambler is a reader-supported publ…

Book Club: Something for Nothing Chapters 1-3

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidhill.substack.com [https://davidhill.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] Our current book club pick is Something for Nothing: Luck in America [https://bookshop.org/a/6487/9780142003879] by Jackson Lears. We’re trying something new for this book: weekly livestream discussions. Tune in live each week on Mondays at 2pm to watch or subscribe and get access to the archive. This week we kick it off with a discussion of the Introduction and Chapters 1-3.

The Gambling Animal with Kit Chellel

Two experimental economists spent decades studying the way human beings evaluate risk and probability by doing gambling experiments on people all over the world. Then they repeated those experiments with elephants. What they learned might hold the key to some of humanity's most pressing issues - including climate change. This week we read The Gambling Animal: Humanity’s Evolutionary Winning Streak - and How We Risk It All by Don Ross and Glenn Harrison. My guest to discuss it is the London based senior writer at Bloomberg Kit Chellel, whose new book Lucky Devils: The True Story of Three Rebel Gamblers Who Beat the Odds and Changed the Game is out this week. Buy Lucky Devils [https://bookshop.org/a/6487/9781668080894] Buy The Gambling Animal [https://amzn.to/41vTlmt] Read an excerpt of Lucky Devils at Bloomberg [http://bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-04-10/how-a-nuclear-engineer-built-modern-sports-betting-algorithms?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc3NTgzMzQ3NSwiZXhwIjoxNzc2NDM4Mjc1LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUREE5TzRLSVVQWjgwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiIzMjYwNEJFQTlDNTI0MTczODY2NDdFMjM0MUMxOTk4MiJ9.BwPx-ZUkiobWRfk3lO5jHI_o-tVc_AwJEAsFDn5ujtc] American Gambler is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit davidhill.substack.com/subscribe [https://davidhill.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]