“Pemberton’s beautifully told story is a rags to riches journey—beginning in a place and with a jarring set of experiences that could have destroyed his life. But Steve’s refusal to give in to those forces, and his resolve to create a better life, shows a courage and resilience that is an example for many of us to follow.” —Stedman Graham, author, educator Home is the place where our life stories begin. A Chance in the World is the astonishing true story of a boy destined to become a man of resilience determination and vision. Down in the dank basement, amidst my moldy, hoarded food and beloved worm-eaten books, I dreamed that my real home, the place where my story had begun, was out there somewhere, and one day I was going to find it. Taken from his mother at age three, Steve Klakowicz lives a terrifying existence. Caught in the clutches of a cruel foster family and subjected to constant abuse, Steve finds his only refuge in a box of books given to him by a kind stranger. In these books, he discovers new worlds he can only imagine and begins to hope that one day he might have a different life, that one day he will find his true home. A fair-complexioned boy with blue eyes, a curly Afro, and a Polish last name, he is determined to unravel the mystery of his origins and find his birth family. Armed with just a single clue, Steve embarks on an extraordinary quest for his identity, only to find that nothing is as it appears. Through it all, Steve’s story teaches us that no matter how broken our past, no matter how great our misfortunes, we have it in us to create a new beginning and to build a place where love awaits.

Although financial markets often try to distance themselves from gambling, the two factors have far more in common than usually thought. When, historically there were no financial institutions such as banks, lotteries constituted the ways by which expensive items were disposed of, and governments raised money quickly. Gambling tables fulfilled roles that venture capital and banking do today. "Gamblers" created clearinghouses and sustained liquidity. When those gamblers bet on price distributions in futures markets, they were redefined as "speculators." Today they are called "hedge fund managers" or "bankers." Though the names have changed, the actions undertaken have essentially stayed the same. This book shows how discussion on "chance," "risk," "gambling," "insurance," and "speculation" illuminates where societies stood, where we are today, and where we may be heading.

Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.

"Dr. Eldon Chance is a man primed for spectacular ruin. His wife has left him for a dyslexic fitness instructor, his teenaged daughter is disappearing into drugs; he owes the IRS untold sums; his neuro-psychiatry practice has been reduced to analyzing people with brain injuries on behalf of insurance companies. He drinks too much. His work is repetitive, disturbing, and devoid of emotional satisfaction. And things are about to get worse. Into Dr. Chance's blighted life walks Jaclyn Blackstone, the abused, attractive wife of an Oakland homicide detective, a violent and jealous man. To say that Chance is smitten is one thing, to say that he has no idea who he is really dealing with is quite another. Jaclyn appears to be suffering from an apparent dissociative identity disorder. In time, he will fall into bed with her--or it is with her alter ego, the voracious and volatile Jackie Black? The not-so-good doctor, despite his professional training, isn't quite sure--and thereby hangs his fascination with her. She unnerves him. He likes being unnerved. But when you get Jaclyn, you get her husband Raymond, a formidable and dangerous adversary. Meanwhile, Chance also meets a young man named "D," a self-styled Samurai and street-wise philosopher skilled in the art of the blade. It is around this trio of unique and dangerous individuals that long guarded secrets begin to unravel, obsessions grow in intensity, and the doctor's carefully arranged life comes to the brink of implosion. Amid San Francisco's fluid, ever-shifting fog, in the cool, gray city of love, Dr. Chance will at last be forced to live up to his name"--

Whether something happens randomly, by chance; or from a series of events.

Hired to work for Quizmaster Verrick, the man in charge of the strange game in which the ruler of the Universe is selected, Ted Bentley is unaware that Leon Cartwright, the man destined to take over Verrick's job, is targeted for assassination or that Verrick is plotting to resume control of a not-so-random universe. Reprint. 10,000 first printing.

Chance is a black-and-white thinker until she realises that sometimes there are shades of grey. Chance is in Year 7 and thinks she has it all - a loving mother, dog Tiges, best friend and almost-sister next door. But when a reality TV team makes over her house, she discovers newspaper cuttings from the past that cause her to question the world as she knows it and everyone in it. Then she finds herself caught between two realities, identities and worlds. Face-to-face with the truth, Chance has a very difficult decision to make, which almost splits her in two. This powerful story explores what is true and what is fake in today’s world. And while Chance is all about the truth, she ponders whether "Maybe being truthful was really just a big lie." The Book of Chance by Sue Whiting, Highly Commended, 2021 Davitt Awards Best Children’s Crime Book