Life: The Odds (and How to Improve Them) Gregory Baer Plume 252 pp. ISBN: 0-452-28594-1 Available from Powell's Books.

Life: The Odds is a compact collection of miscellaneous information -- some of it useless, some of it surprisingly relevant, all of it entertaining. For instance, the section on "Growing Up to Be President" became suddenly relevant in a recent conversation. Did you know that only two people have moved directly from the United States Senate to the office of the President (go ahead -- name them, I dare you)? Not good odds for the recent Democratic candidate...

Baer approaches his subject with tongue firmly in cheek -- thankfully without resorting to (too much) forced humor. His explanation for writing the book in the first place ("Kids, Daddy wrote the book for the money") lets the reader know where he stands right off the bat. Nonetheless, there is a lot of interesting stuff here, including a (very) brief explanation of how the numbers work. If you really want to know how to increase your chances of dating a supermodel or marrying a millionare, or want to be able to impress your friends by reciting equations such as N = R*fp*ne*fl*fi*fc*L (and know what it means), this is the place to look.

Of more interest to some, perhaps, are the suggestions for improving your odds of getting a hole in one, winning at blackjack (okay -- not losing at blackjack quite so often), or avoiding an IRS audit. I'm hoping that none of you need tutelage on how to get away with murder -- but just so as to not leave anyone out, it's in here. Right in front of the section on being a murder victim. What's more, did you know that your chances of being killed by an asteroid are three times greater than dying in a bus or train crash, three times greater than dying in an earthquake, twenty five times greater than dying of a snakebite, and, even though last summer's newscasters would have you believe differently, two hundred and fifty times greater than dying from a shark attack?

While contemplating absurd ways to shuffle off this mortal coil is always fun, Life is more than just a collection of miscellaneous trivia -- it's a pretty darn good read. There are a lot of facts and figures, but they're all nicely broken down and explained, complete with pretty charts and graphs for a visual breakdown of the odds of various endeavors -- you know, for the visual learners. As an added bonus for those of you who are more scholarly inclined, there are footnotes and endnotes, both of which often contain links to web sites so you can do your own further research.

Research angle aside, what Baer has really done is created a great bathroom book, although I can just imagine the race for the rulers after reading the second chapter (Being Poorly Endowed -- or Romantically Linked to Someone Poorly Endowed). Whether you read it in the smallest room in your house, or use it as a jumping off point for a trip to your local library to borrow some science texts (or gambling books), Life: the Odds proves quite useful.

By the way, that really long math thing I rattle off earlier is the Drake Equation, which is used to calculate the odds that we might find intelligent life in the universe. Bonus points if you knew this already. Extra bonus points if you knew this before you saw a certain show on PBS recently. Triple bonus if you knew this and you're not involved in SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, for those of you who aren't regular listeners of George Noory's radio show). And the two senators who grew up to be president were (drumroll please) John F. Kennedy and Warren G. Harding.

-- Robert E. Thomas

Plume is a unit of the Penguin group.