'The Quants': Ed Thorp interview on NPR

Here's an interview on NPR with Ed Thorp and author of 'The Quants' Scott Patterson. The book is #23 on the New York Times National Best Seller List (hardcover-nonfiction) and is subtitled "How a new breed of math whizzes conquered Wall Street and nearly destroyed it." Thorp discusses blackjack considerably in the interview before the debacle on Wall Street is discussed. Thorp was playing to the lowest common denominator of the audience who only know of card counting as 2-6=+1 and 10/aces=-1. It was implied that he developed High-Low through the computer work at MIT instead of the Ten Count. The 1962 original version of "Beat The Dealer" did not include High-Low and was dedicated to the Ten Count.

Also curious was Thorp's admission that he trusted others with his investments who didn't use Kelly Criterion when the financial meltdown occurred. Thorp lost much of his wealth to the new breed of Quants who ignored money management and leveraged at will. "Any good investment, sufficiently leveraged, can lead to ruin" Thorp says in the book which asks the question, why didn't Thorp use his investing methods with his wealth at that time? Thorp did recover most of his wealth back after the meltdown using his tried and true methods.