Table of Contents
1 The Power of If 7
The First If: If Only
2 The Most Terrifying Fact 21
3 Can't Forget 28
4 Double Jeopardy 36
5 A $100 Million Fast 43
6 Muscle Memory 51
7 Factory Reset 62
The Second If: As If
8 Reaction Time 75
9 The Anchoring Effect 84
10 The Power of Suggestion 95
11 Cross-Eyed 103
12 The Scenic Route 112
13 The Reckoning 121
14 Eternal Optimist 130
The Third If: What If?
15 Who If 139
16 The Third Wheel 149
17 And It Came to Pass 156
18 Narrow Framing 166
19 Out of Your League 175
20 The Kingdom of Unintended Consequences 183
21 The Rosetta Stone 194
22 Bold Predictions 203
23 The Pavlovian Effect 210
24 Change Agents 218
25 I Dwell in Possibility 226
26 Monograramed Blessings 235
The Fourth If: No If, Ands, on Buts about It
27 The Cornerman 247
28 The Event Horizon 253
29 More than Conquerors 262
30 Keep Calm and Carry On 271
Epilogue: Forty Years Hence 281
Acknowledgments 283
Notes 285