MixedThe New York Times Book ReviewAllison Schrager has clearly written a book of the complex kind ... Unfortunately, she falls short in the important news-you-can-use category. And that’s too bad, because, as her title suggests, she has a provocative approach, and she has an interesting take on investing as well ... All of this is worth thinking about, but if you want to know what you should do, there is no answer here. The problem, in this case, is that Ms. Schrager doesn’t make a recommendation to buy annuities, nor does she come out against them. That kind of fuzziness, when it comes to practical recommendations, is a flaw in the book ... Still, Ms. Schrager tells many entertaining stories about how people in various professions as diverse as horse breeding and the military go about trying to reduce risk ... Is investing like prostitution? Other than the risk involved in both cases, I’m not sure. But her discussion did make the risk reduction in investing seem prudent, as well as minimal and inexpensive.