Slots: Praying to the God of Chance

Placeholder author icon
By David V. Forrest ’60

Published Jan. 21, 2016

(Delphinium Books) In this book, Forrest looks at one of America’s favorite games, slots. He considers many different perspectives in evaluating the game — from treating it as entertainment to treating it as religion. Forrest uses insights from neuropsychiatry, sociology, and culture to show how slots have become as powerful as they are. Forrest is a clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Paw in print

Image
An inside look up the inside of a building, with four floors and a dinosaur skeleton visible.
The Latest Issue

April 2026

Inside the new ES and SEAS complex; kudos for austerity; jazz at Princeton.