Books

Books : reviews

John Coates.
The Hour between Dog and Wolf: risk-taking, gut feelings and the biology of boom and bust.
4th Estate. 2012

What happens to your body when you take risks? What happens to it when you make or lose a lot of money?

In this startling book, neuroscientist and former Wall Street trader John Coates graphically illustrates what happens to your body when you place a bet in the financial markets. You transform into a different person, a change which Coates refers to as ‘the hour between dog and wolf’. He tells a story of a group of traders caught in a bull market and then a crash. As the excitement builds he takes us inside the traders’ bodies to see the biology of risk-taking at work, a biology shared by athletes, politicians, soldiers – anyone who ventures beyond their safety zone.