Introduction: parachuters and ballroom dancers -- The competition machine -- What goes down when the stakes go up -- How the worriers can beat the warriors -- Even odds: why women need them and men don't -- The utter importance of pillow fights -- The difference between winning and not losing -- How one night of blackjack sped up the world economy -- The 'roid rage of chess -- The hierarchy of teams -- Michelangelo had an agent -- How the Black Sox cleaned up Wall Street

Studying competitive arenas from the workplace, the stock market, sport, politics, the military and schools and using the latest findings in genetics, neuroscience and behavioural psychology, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman unveil the astounding, often counter-intuitive truths about how we compete and the crucial ingredients that sometimes stand between winning and losing