Everyone who''s had to get to grips with chance knows how tricky even its simplest manifestations can be.

Its workings are a constant challenge to common sense: a run of luck goes bad just when you trust it; expert predictions of everything from the weather to elections prove hopelessly unreliable; proven health advice turns out to be anything but.

Award-winning scientist and writer Robert Matthews shows us how we can cut through the conundrums of chance.

He gives us access to some of the most potent intellectual tools ever developed, and explains how we can use them to guide our judgements and decisions. By the end of the book you''ll know:

• The secret to predicting coincidences;
• The golden rule of professional gamblers;
• How to tell when insurance is a waste of money;
• When to heed health and diet warnings - and when to ignore them;
• How to tell when forecasts are worth taking seriously;
• How to make better choices in the face of uncertainty.

Using a host of real-life examples, this groundbreaking book shows how the laws of probability can sharpen your decisions, make the most of your luck - and quite possibly transform your life.