What do you think?
Rate this book
Chancing It : Why We Take Risks
Book by Ralph Keyes
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
8 people want to read
About the author
Ralph Keyes
21 books43 followersRalph Keyes is an American author. His 16 books include Is There Life After High School?, The Courage to Write, and The Post-Truth Era. That 2004 book illustrated Keyes's anticipation of social trends in his writing.
Keyes's books have dealt with topics in popular culture such as risk-taking, time pressure, loneliness, honesty, and human height. More recently he has turned to language: researching quotations, words, and expressions. "Nice Guys Finish Seventh" and The Quote Verifier explore the actual sources of familiar quotations. I Love It When You Talk Retro is about common words and phrases that are based on past events. His most recent book is Euphemania: Our Love Affair with Euphemisms. (The British edition is titled Unmentionables: From Family Jewels to Friendly Fire, What We Say Instead of What We Mean.)
Keyes has also written numerous articles for publications ranging from GQ to Good Housekeeping. An article he co-authored in 2002 won the McKinsey Award for Best Article of the Year in The Harvard Business Review.
Keyes is a frequent guest on NPR shows such as All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation, and On the Media; and has appeared on The Tonight Show, 20/20, and The Oprah Winfrey Show on television. He also speaks to professional, corporate and educational groups.
After graduating from Antioch College in 1967, Keyes did graduate work at the London School of Economics and Political Science. From 1968 to 1970 he worked as an assistant to Bill Moyers, then the publisher of Long Island's Newsday. For the following decade he was a Fellow of the Center for Studies of the Person in La Jolla, California, then did freelance writing and speaking in the Philadelphia area.
Keyes's books have dealt with topics in popular culture such as risk-taking, time pressure, loneliness, honesty, and human height. More recently he has turned to language: researching quotations, words, and expressions. "Nice Guys Finish Seventh" and The Quote Verifier explore the actual sources of familiar quotations. I Love It When You Talk Retro is about common words and phrases that are based on past events. His most recent book is Euphemania: Our Love Affair with Euphemisms. (The British edition is titled Unmentionables: From Family Jewels to Friendly Fire, What We Say Instead of What We Mean.)
Keyes has also written numerous articles for publications ranging from GQ to Good Housekeeping. An article he co-authored in 2002 won the McKinsey Award for Best Article of the Year in The Harvard Business Review.
Keyes is a frequent guest on NPR shows such as All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation, and On the Media; and has appeared on The Tonight Show, 20/20, and The Oprah Winfrey Show on television. He also speaks to professional, corporate and educational groups.
After graduating from Antioch College in 1967, Keyes did graduate work at the London School of Economics and Political Science. From 1968 to 1970 he worked as an assistant to Bill Moyers, then the publisher of Long Island's Newsday. For the following decade he was a Fellow of the Center for Studies of the Person in La Jolla, California, then did freelance writing and speaking in the Philadelphia area.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 9, 2010
I read this for class, so normally I would not have picked it up. But surprisingly, it was quite interesting.
Most of it is anecdotes of different type of risk-takers - by risk-takers, it means all types, like financial, physical, family, relationship, etc. It was interesting to see how different people perceive risk.
Anyway, its an interesting perspective. Some of the chapters were boring and repetitious, but overall, it was informative and helped me analyze my own risk-taking behaviors.
Most of it is anecdotes of different type of risk-takers - by risk-takers, it means all types, like financial, physical, family, relationship, etc. It was interesting to see how different people perceive risk.
Anyway, its an interesting perspective. Some of the chapters were boring and repetitious, but overall, it was informative and helped me analyze my own risk-taking behaviors.
Displaying 1 of 1 review