You Bet Your Life: The Burdens of Gambling

You Bet Your Life: The Burdens of Gambling

by Neil D. Isaacs
You Bet Your Life: The Burdens of Gambling

You Bet Your Life: The Burdens of Gambling

by Neil D. Isaacs

Hardcover

$25.00 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Qualifies for Free Shipping
    Choose Expedited Shipping at checkout for delivery by Thursday, April 4
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Related collections and offers


Overview

We are a nation of gamblers: pari-mutuel wagering at horse tracks; blackjack in Las Vegas; the NCAA basketball office pool; even day trading on the internet. Gambling is both our national pastime and our predominant cultural metaphor—play the field; beat the odds; take a chance on love. Yet gambling poses serious risks to individuals and to society as a whole.

Neil Isaacs—sports historian, licensed clinical social worker, English professor, and a gambler himself for more than fifty years—seeks to shatter the myths interfering with our understanding of gambling addiction, its causes, and its treatment. He begins by systematically debunking several commonly held beliefs, demonstrating that there is no such thing as the law of averages, that gambling is not inherently sinful, immoral, or criminal, and that money is not always the prime motivator for gamblers.

Isaacs shows how habitual gambling can lead to compulsive gambling, but avoids oversimplifying this condition. Arguing against a undifferentiated interpretation of pathological gambling as a simple impulse control disorder, he draws examples from fiction, film, and his own practice to demonstrate additional ways gambling can be abused. A radical departure from established views, You Bet Your Life identifies the costs—in dollars, people, families, and credit ratings—of society's failure to address adequately the burdens of gambling.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780813121956
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Publication date: 07/13/2001
Pages: 288
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Neil D. Isaacs, professor of English emeritus at the University of Maryland, is a practicing family therapist with a specialization in pathological gambling. He is the author of numerous books, including Jock Culture, U.S.A.

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews