Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- The stories -- Exceptional moments -- The girl from Petrovka and other benign coincidences -- Meaningful coincidences -- The mathematics -- What are the chances? -- Bernoulli's gift -- Long strings of heads -- Pascal's triangle -- The problem with monkeys -- The analysis -- Enormity of the world -- The stories of chapter 2 revisited -- The head-scratchers -- Evidence -- Discovery -- Risk -- Psychic power -- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight -- Epilogue.

Looks at coincidences and unlikely occurrences, delving into the mathematical concepts of probability and sharing stories of striking flukes and coincidences from around the world.