On the Shelf:
Thomas A. Bass, AB'73, The Predictors

In his new book, The Predictors: How a Band of Maverick Physicists Used Chaos Theory to Trade Their Way to a Fortune on Wall Street (Henry Holt & Company), Thomas A. Bass, AB'73, combines computer hacking, physics, and high-stakes trading. The nonfiction work rejoins hacker heroes Doyne Farmer and Norman Packard, whose attempt to break the roulette tables of Las Vegas with toe-operated computers was documented in Bass's 1985 book, The Eudaemonic Pie.

Most recently, the childhood friends from Silver City, New Mexico, used abstruse physics concepts and computer programming to track and predict the patterns of commodities, currency, and equities markets. As Bass reveals, the two form Prediction Company and beat stock-market moguls at their own game, learning firsthand about the "genius and greed, power brokers and rebels" abundant in the world of financial markets.--E.C.