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