Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: When Genius Failed : The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein ISBN: 0-375-75825-9 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: 09 October, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.17 (109 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: High human drama, engagingly described
Comment: This book is an excellent account of the LTCM debacle. It is especially good in describing the human side of the players involved. Given the obsession to privacy by most of the central characters of LTCM, this book gives a lucid portrayal on how events evolved, and the persons behind those decisions. One couldn't help but wonder, if we were in the same position as the LTCM partners, having achieved their successes, would we do things differently?
On the other hand, this book does have its limitations. For people who are not familiar with the modern financial derivatives and "risk management" techniques, Lowenstein gave a comprehensible, but rather incomplete explanation. This won't hurt the book's readability, but readers certainly won't understand any better about options and swaps after reading this book, either. The "leverage" used by LTCM, central to both its success and downfall, is mainly due to the use these derivatives than simply saving the "haircut" as described in the book. There are also some incorrect statements, though relatively minor, such as Merton's insistence of "continuous time" model without any sudden price jumps. Just for the record, it was exactly Merton himself who first proposed a "jump" model for pricing financial assets in 1976. You can find this in most derivatives textbooks.
Derivatives regularly get a bad rap for causing financial disasters, and LTCM is just the latest in a string of headline news over the years. This is quite unfortunate. Americans probably don't realize that many, many mutual funds and pensions funds use derivatives to "reduce" their investment risks. Lowenstein's book shows that it's really the human factor lying at the root of these fiascos. If only it could give the public a better understanding of the true nature of these modern financial instruments......
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent To Know LTCM
Comment: Roger Lowenstein (RL) gives a lucid account of a complex thing called LTCM fiasco. For someone who isnt into derivatives, black scholes, volatility, RL makes it very easy to understand. And here in lies the beauty of the book. While lot of people have heard about the risks in investing in hedge funds and the LTCM collapse only a few people understand how and why the fund lost $ 4 billion in a few weeks.
RL starts with the background of the founders and gives a nice warm up. He starts off with John Meriwether and his rise to fame at Solomon Brothers. The book then continues to account for the rise of LTCM covering such things as how it got Robert Merton and Myron Scholes on board, the traders Hillibrand and Haghani etc. Its a fascinating account. The second part deals with the fall of LTCM. How the Fed got involved to get LTCM out of the mess it got itself into, the perils of over-leverage and equity vol trading etc. Its very clear and the flow is excellent. You dont want to put the book down.
For any reader interested in hedge funds, derivatives etc, he/she must get this book. LTCM is a remarkable event in the history of modern finance. Its perhaps the only fund that got finance academics (all the professors in the fund) putting their money where their mouth is. It made more money than ever imagined and lost all of it too. It got together all of Wall Street for the first time to solve a major debacle. It teaches quite a few lessons. And they are worth learning.
Rating: 4
Summary: Perspective over time
Comment: It's now six years after the story, and still a lot of people, probably most people, don't understand LTCM. If anything, the memory is fading. I bought a copy of 'Genius' for my business collection, because it is now a classic. Andrew Tobias' and 'Adam Smith's' tails of speculation in the '60s/70s saved me from the bubble, and for that reason, it's important to have a copy of this book and read it. Because, have no doubt, we will go through this whole thing again. In your lifetime, probably sooner than later.
Genius does fail, pretty regularly, especially in the investment arena. Index funds still out-perform most of the managed funds. And yet this week the managed funds were once again reporting net inflows. I see and hear lots of praise for Black-Scholes. Surf the he web and you'll find it loaded with training courses on how to use it. Never do they come with any examination of it's potential problems.
Our Caveat Emptor society comes with an obligation to be educated on this stuff. Read Genius Failed, read Random Walk, read Popular Delusions, read Liar's Poker, read The Money Game, read, read, read. Otherwise, well, Wall Street's an expensive place to get an education, and with the coming problems in Medicare, and Social Security, we're all going to be faced with managing our retirements. The uneducated will be as lambs led to slaughter.
 |
Title: Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street by Michael Lewis ISBN: 0140143459 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 1990 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: The Predators' Ball: The Inside Story of Drexel Burnham and the Rise of the Junk Bond Raiders by Connie Bruck ISBN: 0140120904 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1989 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Monkey Business : Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle by John Rolfe, Peter Troob ISBN: 0446676950 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
 |
Title: DEN OF THIEVES by James B. Stewart ISBN: 067179227X Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 01 September, 1992 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter L. Bernstein ISBN: 0471295639 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 31 August, 1998 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
