Book Description
"An excellent and comprehensive source of information on hedge funds! From a quantitative view Lhabitant has done it once again by meticulously looking at the important topics in the hedge fund industry. This book has a tremendous wealth of information and is a valuable addition to the hedge fund literature. In addition, it will benefit institutional investors, high net worth individuals, academics and anyone interested in learning more about this fascinating and often mysterious world of privately managed money. Written by one of the most respected practitioners and academics in the area of hedge funds." -
Greg N. Gregoriou, Professor of finance and research coordinator in the School of Business and Economics at Plattsburgh State University of New York.
"This is a landmark book on quantitative approaches to hedge funds. All those with a stake in building hedge fund portfolios will highly profit from this exhaustive guide. A must read for all those involved in hedge fund investing."
-Pascal Botteron, Ph.D., Head of Hedge Fund Product Development, Pictet Asset Management
"François-Serge Lhabitant's second book will prove to be a bestseller too - just like Hedge Funds: Myths and Limits. He actually manages to make quantitative analysis 'approachable'- even for those less gifted with numbers. This book, like its predecessor, includes an unprecedented mix of common sense and sophisticated technique. A fantastic guide to the 'nuts and bolts' of hedge fund analysis and a 'must' for every serious investor." -
Barbara Rupf Bee, Head of Alternative Fund Investment Group, HSBC Private Bank, Switzerland
"An excellent book, providing deep insights into the complex quantitative analysis of hedge funds in the most lucid and intuitive manner. A must-have supplement to Lhabitant's first book dealing with the mystical and fascinating world of hedge funds. Highly recommended!"
-Vikas Agarwal, Assistant Professor of Finance, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University
"Lhabitant has done it again! Whereas most books on hedge funds are nothing more than glorified marketing brochures, Lhabitant's new book tells it how it is in reality. Accessible and understandable but at the same time thorough and critical."
-Harry M. Kat, Ph.D., Professor of Risk Management and Director Alternative Investment Research Centre, Cass Business School, City University
"Lhabitant's latest work on hedge funds yet again delivers on some ambitious promises. Successfully bridging theory and practice in a highly accessible manner, those searching for a thorough yet unintimidating introduction to the quantitative methods of hedge fund analysis will not be disappointed."
-Christopher L. Culp, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor of Finance, Graduate School of Business, The University of Chicago and Principal, Chicago Partners LLC
Download Description
"An excellent and comprehensive source of information on hedge funds! From a quantitative view Lhabitant has done it once again by meticulously looking at the important topics in the hedge fund industry. This book has a tremendous wealth of information and is a valuable addition to the hedge fund literature. In addition, it will benefit institutional investors, high net worth individuals, academics and anyone interested in learning more about this fascinating and often mysterious world of privately managed money. Written by one of the most respected practitioners and academics in the area of hedge funds." -
Greg N. Gregoriou, Professor of finance and research coordinator in the School of Business and Economics at Plattsburgh State University of New York.
"This is a landmark book on quantitative approaches to hedge funds. All those with a stake in building hedge fund portfolios will highly profit from this exhaustive guide. A must read for all those involved in hedge fund investing."
-Pascal Botteron, Ph.D., Head of Hedge Fund Product Development, Pictet Asset Management
Customer Reviews:
A bit disappointing.......2006-10-16
Honestly I was surprised to see the book is founded on the mainstream economic theory when the hedge fund industry itself is an idealization of alternative thesis. There is no quantitative insight whatsoever into the hedge fund strategies there, even though the author does provide useful information for anyone interested in understanding the bits of this secretive industry. In my humble opinion, the book should have moved beyond those generic topics to how the quantitative models are derived and which fields of knowledge are assisting in that endeavour, ie quantum mechanics, chaos theory, etc. Instead of those interesting insights, I got a recap of what a MBA student learns in her first semester in finance class, coupled with some considerations about how to put upon the microsope the hedge fund historical data.
Notwithstanding all this, I am still confortable with 3 stars here because the area is still a black box and certainly is not easy to write a book on the topic without falling into the trap of vagueness since eventually all successful funds have tight non disclosure agreements with their R&D staff to prevent leaks. At the end, the public is only informed of those strategies and insights have lead to disaster in hedge fund collapse, ie LTCM in 98 while the sucessful quantitivative insights are kept secret at least until they prove unsuccessful.
Somewhat misleading title, but good book.......2005-04-02
I bought this book with the hope that finally I would learn how hedge fund strategies should be implemented in a quantitative and practical way. What a delusion I was under! Suffice to say that I regretted this purchase. You will not learn about investment strategies here, so if this is your motivation, look somewhere else (Lhabitant's first book "Hedge Funds: Myths and Limits" is better on investment strategies, but only in a qualitative way). All the same, I have found some use for this book. If you want a review of finance/investment theory like asset pricing models (CAPM, APT), risk and return measurement, regression analysis, etc. the book will do just fine. I recommend looking at the table of contents to see if this book suits your purpose. I have found chapter 5 on hedge fund indices, and the problems with these, very useful. Also, chapter 9 on style analysis is good, as well as chapter 8.5 on hedge funds as option portfolios which summarizes the scientific papers by Fung, Agrawal and those guys. However, you will find most of the book's topics in finance textbooks used in graduate schools, but if you haven't read those, I guess this book will be very useful for you.
Book Description
Twenty-five years ago, when Pat Robertson and other radio and televangelists first spoke of the United States becoming a Christian nation that would build a global Christian empire, it was hard to take such hyperbolic rhetoric seriously. Today, such language no longer sounds like hyperbole but poses, instead, a very real threat to our freedom and our way of life. In American Fascists, Chris Hedges, veteran journalist and author of the National Book Award finalist War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, challenges the Christian Right's religious legitimacy and argues that at its core it is a mass movement fueled by unbridled nationalism and a hatred for the open society.
Hedges, who grew up in rural parishes in upstate New York where his father was a Presbyterian pastor, attacks the movement as someone steeped in the Bible and Christian tradition. He points to the hundreds of senators and members of Congress who have earned between 80 and 100 percent approval ratings from the three most influential Christian Right advocacy groups as one of many signs that the movement is burrowing deep inside the American government to subvert it. The movement's call to dismantle the wall between church and state and the intolerance it preaches against all who do not conform to its warped vision of a Christian America are pumped into tens of millions of American homes through Christian television and radio stations, as well as reinforced through the curriculum in Christian schools. The movement's yearning for apocalyptic violence and its assault on dispassionate, intellectual inquiry are laying the foundation for a new, frightening America.
American Fascists, which includes interviews and coverage of events such as pro-life rallies and weeklong classes on conversion techniques, examines the movement's origins, its driving motivations and its dark ideological underpinnings. Hedges argues that the movement currently resembles the young fascist movements in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and '30s, movements that often masked the full extent of their drive for totalitarianism and were willing to make concessions until they achieved unrivaled power. The Christian Right, like these early fascist movements, does not openly call for dictatorship, nor does it use
physical violence to suppress opposition. In short, the movement is not yet revolutionary. But the ideological architecture of a Christian fascism is being cemented in place. The movement has roused its followers to a fever pitch of despair and fury. All it will take, Hedges writes, is one more national crisis on the order of September 11 for the Christian Right to make a concerted drive to destroy American democracy. The movement awaits a crisis. At that moment they will reveal themselves for what they truly are -- the American heirs to fascism. Hedges issues a potent, impassioned warning. We face an imminent threat. His book reminds us of the dangers liberal, democratic societies face when they tolerate the intolerant.
Book Description
Inside markets, innovation, and risk
Why do markets keep crashing and why are financial crises greater than ever before? As the risk manager to some of the leading firms on Wall Street–from Morgan Stanley to Salomon and Citigroup–and a member of some of the world’s largest hedge funds, from Moore Capital to Ziff Brothers and FrontPoint Partners, Rick Bookstaber has seen the ghost inside the machine and vividly shows us a world that is even riskier than we think. The very things done to make markets safer, have, in fact, created a world that is far more dangerous. From the 1987 crash to Citigroup closing the Salomon Arb unit, from staggering losses at UBS to the demise of Long-Term Capital Management, Bookstaber gives readers a front row seat to the management decisions made by some of the most powerful financial figures in the world that led to catastrophe, and describes the impact of his own activities on markets and market crashes. Much of the innovation of the last 30 years has wreaked havoc on the markets and cost trillions of dollars. A Demon of Our Own Design tells the story of man’s attempt to manage market risk and what it has wrought. In the process of showing what we have done, Bookstaber shines a light on what the future holds for a world where capital and power have moved from Wall Street institutions to elite and highly leveraged hedge funds.
Customer Reviews:
Smart - insightful book.......2007-10-09
Book gives good insight into workings of major buldge bracket houses and hedge funs with similiar risk reducing strategies. Little dry but this book has nothing to do with Jenna Jameson so its to be expected.
Spectacular info... but ah what to do, what to do.......2007-09-22
This book is very well layed out and is an excellent primer on what is going on behind the scenes in the financial markets.
The end is a bit disappointing in that the issues are clearly explicated but the solution seems a bit murky and maybe impossible. The author does acknowledge the difficulty of implementing a truly workable solution.
Great risk insights, and lots of useful reminders on liquidity mechanics .......2007-09-21
A finance-related book like this one is always something I open with a fear of "deja vu". To Bookstaber's credit, his numerous insights quickly got me over this. It is a constant reminder to risk practitioners and traders that liquidity supply is a serious matter. It does indeed move mountains. For new comers into risk management and trading, it explains the sources of the LTCM debacle, and its learnings. By all standards, I recommend this book to any finance graduate, experienced trader, or risk manager. A very useful read.
The Wisdom of the Cockroach.......2007-09-14
In recounting his time as risk manager at a number of prominent houses (Morgan Stanley, Salomon Brothers, Citigroup etc.), Bookstaber completes the i-banking trifecta. First there was the Michael Lewis classic, Liar's Poker, detailing the juvenile bravado and macho antics of the trading floor. Then Jonathan Knee gave an intimate portrait of the i-banker deal making culture with The Accidental Investment Banker.
And now, in A Demon of Our Own Design, we get a glimpse at the risk management side of things... a sort of master plumber's walking tour through the bowels of the system, with technical descriptions of exactly what happens when pipes burst and boilers explode. (Some will find Bookstabers' level of detail intolerably dull; others will find it quite fascinating. I was in the fascinated camp.)
Nature of the beast
In describing the finer points of risk arbitrage, Bookstaber explains why it's normal -- expected even -- for trading desks to take a good whack every so often. The nature of the beast is to make relatively steady profits, month in and month out, and then give back a chunk of those profits when something goes haywire. (That's how you move huge sums on an arb desk; grind out small bets that are almost guaranteed to work, juice up the returns with leverage, and try not to be in the vicinity when the rare position goes kablooey.)
In light of this general modus operandi, perhaps it isn't surprising that the "quant" funds recently took a major hit (as of September 2007). They had been minting money for an extraordinarily long period, had the leverage to show for it, and now, after the recent "oops," seem to be generally back in business.
In fact it appears natural for much of Wall Street to work in this "make a little, lose a lot" fashion... the key idea being that all the little updrafts make up for the once-in-a-blue-moon downdrafts. (Such calculus works better for the fee collectors than the fee payers, but that's a different kettle of fish.)
Bookstaber's detail-rich description of the various trades that investment houses put on, many of them lasting years, is also enlightening. The details seem to confirm that, by and large, Wall Street is a gigantic, slow moving, conventional-returns type machine. (And what else could it be, really, with such an ocean of capital to allocate and so many jobs to fill? There is only so much creativity and contrarianism to go round.)
A dangerous combination
Risk manager war stories aside, Bookstaber's goal is to hammer home a key philosophical point regarding risk. He wants readers to understand that financial markets are inherently unstable, and this reality places limits on how far we (or anyone) should go in pursuit of outsized returns.
To make his point, Bookstaber uses various analogies to describe how the market is a highly complex, tightly coupled system... and to explain why the combination of high complexity and tight coupling is particularly dangerous.
The counterexample Bookstaber gives of a highly complex, loosely coupled system is the US Postal Service. The USPS has countless potential points of failure and myriad moving parts, but there are no catastrophic linkages involved. A lost package does not set off a disastrous daisy chain of events in which millions of packages are lost.
In contrast, the classic example of a highly complex, tightly coupled system is a nuclear reactor. The reactor is tightly coupled because any point of failure can lead to a knock-on chain reaction; one small thing going wrong can set the entire mechanism on a path to disaster. Being a highly complex, tightly coupled system, the market is less like the postal service and more like the nuclear reactor, in that the combination of aggressive leverage, complex methodologies and heavily interlocking parts leads to significant potential for catastrophe.
Exquisitely adapted
Another serious problem is Wall Street's deeply ingrained tendency to push the envelope. (Richard Lowenstein put it exceptionally well in his book Origins of the Crash: "Finance has its own Peter Principle, by which a successful model will be adapted to progressively riskier causes until it fails.")
In this habit of fighting for every inch of profit, Wall Street is like a self-evolving animal overquick to embrace the particulars of its immediate environment. The more precisely an animal is attuned to a particular "fitness landscape," the better that animal can thrive... in the short term at least, as long as everything stays just so. To be exquisitely adapted (as opposed to robustly adapted) is to be vulnerable to the slightest change.
Thus when the fitness landscape DOES change -- as it inevitably will -- the heavily specialized competitors tend to get crushed (if not go extinct). If a strategy-gone-sour broadsides a large enough group of market participants, the entire financial ecosystem can be thrown into turmoil. When the turmoil from this upheaval spills into the broader economy, wreaking havoc in its wake, the "demon" spoken of in the book's title is unleashed. (As this reviewer interprets it anyway.)
Wisdom of the cockroach
So the problem, in sum, is Wall Street's tendency to `overadapt' to every appealing landscape it encounters, building up complexity and leverage to dangerous levels in doing so.
Bookstaber's suggestion is to heed the wisdom of the cockroach.
The cockroach has survived a longer time span, and a wider variety of harsh environments, than humans could ever match. It is one of the creatures man cannot wipe out no matter how hard he tries. And yet, the cockroach's key risk management strategy is embarrassingly simple... simpler, even, than putting in a stop loss. The deeper point is that simple equals robust; by refusing to get fancy, and sticking with the tried-and-true, the cockroach ensures its reign as champion survivor.
Bookstaber uses the cockroach (and other examples from nature) to argue that we, too, should consider cutting back on our excessively specialized ways. The cost of a rough-edged strategy is forgoing excess profits in accomodative environments... but the benefit is increased likelihood of survival in a much wider range of environments, including the truly harsh ones. (As Jim Grant likes to joke, if so many of these credit-driven vehicles can barely handle prosperity, how are they supposed to fare when adversity hits?)
Harrumphs all round
Bookstaber's finger-wagging solution (be less fancy; take less risk) has the ring of common sense to it, especially in the way it frustrates all those market participants determined to have their cake and eat it too.
For those who seek to wring every last nickel out of the market (as LTCM used to brag of doing), Bookstaber argues persuasively that flying too close to the sun will always be perilous. The commitment to leveraging every edge on a broad scale inevitably leads to disaster-prone configurations, no matter how smart the players.
For those who think the answer is greater regulation of markets, i.e. more rules, Bookstaber shows how extra layers of bureaucracy can actually bring about the exact opposite of the intended affect. Perversely, layers of red tape can (and often do) make a situation more risky, by increasing confusion and complacency simultaneously.
Nor is greater information disclosure the answer. If the market's traditional liquidity providers (traders, market makers, speculators etc.) are forced to disclose their positions to the world in real time, they will react in the manner of poker players forced to play their hands face-up. To the extent that disclosure resolves uncertainty, it also drives market participants from the game. And because "liquidity is a coward" as the old saying goes, always running away when you need it most, strict disclosure rules would likely make bad market conditions worse at the least opportune times.
Some left smiling
Two groups in particular may be left smiling at the end of this book -- value investors and trend followers. In both the theory and practice of their normal operations, value investors and trend followers intuitively embraced Bookstaber's message a long long time ago, favoring longevity and robusticity over the temptations of adjusting to the moment.
It is perhaps not surprising, then, that value investors and trend followers are arguably the most profitable market participants by far on an absolute-dollar basis, hauling in hundreds of billions in profit over the course of many decades. They are champion survivors too... with a touch more class than the cockroach.
A MUST READ for all financial markets professionals.......2007-09-13
This is an excellent book. I cannot say enough good things about it. Unquestionably one of the best books on financial markets of the hundreds that I have read. This book provides a ringside view of how the major banks and hedge funds work and why financial risks have become more magnified than before.
Derivatives, trading and hedge funds are here to stay. They perform a valuable service to the financial markets, though Warren Buffet will disagree with me. Nevertheless, it is the mis-use of derivatives and the excessive use of leverage that leads to financial disasters. This book provides an excellent insight into why we witness financial turmoil in some of the most liquid markets.
I strongly recommend it to all MBA finance students as well as to financial markets professionals at hedge funds, prop trading desks, risk managers, quants, bankers, pension fund managers.
Book Description
Inside the House of Money lifts the veil on the typically opaque world of hedge funds, offering a rare glimpse at how today's highest paid money managers approach their craft. Author Steven Drobny demystifies how these star traders make billions for well-heeled investors, revealing their theories, strategies and approaches to markets. Drobny, cofounder of Drobny Global Advisors, an international macroeconomic research and advisory firm, has tapped into his network and beyond in order assemble this collection of thirteen interviews with the industry's best minds. Along the way, you'll get an inside look at firsthand trading experiences through some of the major world financial crises of the last few decades. Whether Russian bonds, Pakistani stocks, Southeast Asian currencies or stakes in African brewing companies, no market or instrument is out of bounds for these elite global macro hedge fund managers. Highly accessible and filled with in-depth expert opinion, Inside the House of Money is a must-read for financial professionals and anyone else interested in understanding the complexities at stake in world financial markets.
"The ruminations of supposedly hush-hush hedge fund operators are richly illuminating." --New York Times
Customer Reviews:
Insightful visit to the world of the global macro investor........2007-09-28
This fascinating book will take you into the world of current global macro investing. Steven Drobny interviews 13 successful traders, analysts and fund managers who participate in global macro investing in many different ways. Although some of the discussions are technical (but never mathematical), they are readable and easy to understand. Drobny also provides some information on the origins and early years of global macroeconomic investing, from John Keynes to George Soros. He talks to his interviewees about their backgrounds and asks their investment advice. His question-and-answer approach keeps things moving. We enjoyed Drobny's descriptions of the people he interviewed, though the interview-style format leads to somewhat choppy data. This book is surprisingly fun for what could have become a very dense, technical tome in less skilled hands.
Find out what the experts think about investing in the global marketplace .......2007-09-17
This is a terrific book about how 13 investors use global macroeconomics in their work. The shorthand term is global macro. Since the field is pretty much undefined and can include investments of any time anywhere in the world, it is hard to define what exactly it is. In fact, the book isn't about Steven Drobny telling you about what he thinks it is. Instead, the chapters are question and answers with each of these practitioners of this technique.
The first few chapters offer some context and history of global macro investing. The earliest people doing it were probably John Maynard Keynes and Alfred Winlow Jones. Drobny takes us through the key macroeconomic crises of the past several decades and offers a few thoughts about the future.
The people he interviews are Jim Leitner of Falcon Management, Siva-Jothy of SemperMacro, the author's partner, but no relation - Andres Droby, Dr. John Proter of Barclays Capital, Dr. Sushil Wadhwani of Wadhwani Asset Management, Peter Thiel of Clarium Capital, Yra Harris of Praxis Trading, Jim Rogers, Dwight Anderson of Ospraie Management, Scott Bessent Capital, Mark Dimitrijevic of Everest Capital, Rob Standing of London Diversified Fund Management, and an anonymous currency specialist.
All of these folks look for people who are motivated, and have a passion and talent for math, economics, history, and have a demonstrated aptitude for training. You will notice that many have doctorates, but not all. Some learned the trade by trading, all were captivated by the process soon after they first came in contact with it.
I found the range of investments and their thoughts about the global economy fascinating. This is a very interesting book, especially so if you are interested in markets and trading. Their generally gloomy view of the future of the American economy is quite disturbing, though.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI.
A Rare Opportunity that Leaves One Wanting More.......2007-08-21
I love to have extended conversations with experts. I feed off their enthusiasm and expertise. These conversations are even more exciting to me, when the person with whom I am speaking is an expert in a field I love.
With only one lowly exception, Steven Drobny has written a winner for me. By interviewing as assembling the edited transcripts of his conversations in his book, Inside the House of Money, Drobny opened a gateway into the thinking and experiences of 13 successful Global Macro investors.
Although many have the reputations as being secretive and reluctant to discuss their market approaches, the author gives the reader a glimpse of the thinking that goes into placing a multi-million trade on currencies, economies and securities.
Drobny is uniquely qualified to do these interviews. As a partner in an international macroeconomic research and advisory firm, he brings a seasoned professional's insight to the interviews. Key historical events that shaped the experiences of these traders are explored. Nuances of the current crowded markets are discussed intelligently. As a result, the reader gains precious insights into the subtleties of running a Global Macro Hedge Fund.
There is only one problem with the book. I found myself wanting more from the interviewees. Drobny gave me access to people with whom I would never have the opportunity to speak. What I read was great, but I wanted more. But then again, I trade like that.
Excellent book.......2007-08-20
I found very interesting and rich of insights.
It's very useful in understanding hedge fund manager's approach to the markets.
Decent overview of global macro traders.......2007-08-15
The book kept my interest and was very informative. Some of the interviews were excellent. I say some, because those that trade closer to my style are obviously more interesting for me. but theres plenty here for everyone.
I liked the interviews of so many different styles because it just proves my personal theory that anyone can make money. Every trader in the book trades differently and they still all make money.
I also like the comments from many of these traders that said that we were heading for a sub-prime meltdown and that the banks would be having problems. This was written more than a year ago, and thats exactly whats happening today. Dow is now down 8.6% off the high it made last month. The volatility is crazy. And these guys predicted it long ago. Lots of good insight from their interviews.
Book Description
The standard in emergency procedures for both children and adults is back...completely revised and updated in a new 4th Edition. Detailed, step-by-step instructions and illustrations help to ensure that every technique is performed correctly. Each chapter explores the full range of issues surrounding a clinical procedure, including indications and contraindications, equipment, technique, interpretation, complications, and more.
Customer Reviews:
Not only for the ED.......2007-02-25
I've purchased every edition of this invaluable resource. I do work in a busy, high-acuity ED, but also consider this if you're a family doc in a rural area where you might be called upon to perform a life saving procedure that you haven't seen since residency. Now if they'd just publish a pocket PC edition.......
Complete but somewhat dated.......2007-01-11
As an ER PA I find this large text full of many procedures useful in emergency medicine. However, by todays standards the B&W pictures and drawings are very dated. An alternative worth considering; with better pictures and detailed descriptions would be: Emergency Medicine Procedures by Eric Reichman and Robert Simon.
An amazing reference guide........2005-01-23
This book lays out everything you need to know in a concise, easy to follow format. If only it wasnt so friggin gigantic. So whether you need to run to the office to brush up on a procedure you havent attempted since your second year of residency or you need something heavy to bash the hell out of a Ganglion cyst (please dont actually do that), this is a great tool.
Great Book for anyone interested in emergency medicine.......1999-12-21
I am an EMT working toward a degree in nursing or PA. I saw this book being used in the ER at UVA Medical Center and had to have it. It has been a great learning tool for me. I would recomend anyone practicing emergency medicine to add this book to your library.
A must-have book for practicing emergency physicians.......1998-07-22
This new edition of a classic text is essential for the busy emergency physician. Not only does it give clear instructions for performing procedures, it also provides relevant information about pathophysiology. Indication and contraindications are explained. Numerous helpful tables assist in the interpretation of test results. This book is much more than a how-to manual, and no emergency department should be without it.
Book Description
Praise for HedgeHogging
"Barton Biggs writes about markets with greater style, clarity, and insight than any other observer of the Wall Street scene. His new book, Hedgehogging, entertains immensely even as it provides countless valuable lessons regarding hedge funds and the investment world they inhabit."
—David F. Swensen, Chief Investment Officer, Yale University
"Since the glory days of the tech bubble, investing has become a perilous enterprise. Not the least for those running money in the proliferating hedge fund business. In Hedgehogging, Biggs offers a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes at the personalities and egos making decisions about the enormous sums being dumped en masse into these funds. This book is great. It's full of personal anecdotes and critical insights from an insider's insider. You should not even consider giving money to anyone on Wall Street ever again until you've read this book."
—Addison Wiggin, Agora Financial LLC, author of the New York Times bestseller, The Demise of the Dollar and coauthor of Empire of Debt
Rare is the opportunity to chat with a legendary figure and hear the unvarnished truth about what really goes on behind the scenes. Hedgehogging represents just such an opportunity, allowing you to step inside the world of Wall Street with Barton Biggs as he discusses investing in general, hedge funds in particular, and how he has learned to find and profit from the best moneymaking opportunities in an eat-what-you-kill, cutthroat investment world.
Download Description
Praise for HedgeHogging ""Barton Biggs writes about markets with greater style, clarity, and insight than any other observer of the Wall Street scene. His new book, Hedgehogging, entertains immensely even as it provides countless valuable lessons regarding hedge funds and the investment world they inhabit."" David F. Swensen, Chief Investment Officer, Yale University ""Since the glory days of the tech bubble, investing has become a perilous enterprise. Not the least for those running money in the proliferating hedge fund business. In Hedgehogging, Biggs offers a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes at the personalities and egos making decisions about the enormous sums being dumped en masse into these funds. This book is great. It's full of personal anecdotes and critical insights from an insider's insider. You should not even consider giving money to anyone on Wall Street ever again until you've read this book."" Addison Wiggin, Agora Financial LLC, author of the New York Times bestseller, The Demise of the Dollar and coauthor of Empire of Debt Rare is the opportunity to chat with a legendary figure and hear the unvarnished truth about what really goes on behind the scenes. Hedgehogging represents just such an opportunity, allowing you to step inside the world of Wall Street with Barton Biggs as he discusses investing in general, hedge funds in particular, and how he has learned to find and profit from the best moneymaking opportunities in an eat-what-you-kill, cutthroat investment world.
Customer Reviews:
Publicity Stunt.......2007-08-18
Three or 4 interesting things, but written for Grandpa Simpson. Utterly disappointing for financial types. Mostly it is a publicity stunt for his Hedge Fund.
An Excellent Read - informative and entertaining.......2007-07-19
With the Bear Stearns hedge funds going from 20 billion to zero in a matter of months this is a great book to understand what the hedge fund world is all about. What the book lacks in structure it makes up for in substance and I found it an enlightening read. Part memoir, part investment smarts, it really is a good buy if you enjoy popular finance books. It possibly also may be dissected by historians in decades to come as an insight into the excesses and hubris of early 21st century capitalism if many more triple 'AAA' rated CDOs suddenly becomes worthless and the whole financial system starts falling apart.
You also get a sense from the writing of wall street's disconnect from the 'real' world of business that actually makes things and employs the rest of us. The likes of Buffett and Peter Lynch seem to have a relationship with what companies do. Mr Biggs seems to be in a much more abstract, rarified world where the worshipped idol is the Market wihout a thought for what it represents. Financial voyeurism at it's extreme.
For the ordinary wage earner (of which I am one) it would also be interesting to know what motivates someone like Mr. Biggs who has always been wealthy (and presumably has continued to get wealthier) to want to make more and not instead devote themselves to something else. In other words, what's the point? But maybe wealth is the point.
There's a gentle a swipe at George Soros for creating his foundation so he can leave a better legacy but whatever the motives, many would applaud the spirit of someone who says 'I have enough, I'll do something useful'.
Whatever my criticism, I'll buy his next book - and make him wealthier.
A Look Behind the Hedge.......2007-06-06
Hedgehogging is a collection of anecdotes from the famous international investor, Barton Biggs. Through a series of short stories about other traders and money managers, he depicts many different styles and philosophies for investing. As he tells each story, he gives his opinions on just about every major topic in today's capital markets.
Though covering a hodgepodge of ideas, many of the anecdotes are about the pressure to perform and how it affects the psyche and personal lives of the money manager. Some of the stories are about speculative bets turned bad, such as one of Barton's own oil valuations gone awry. Every story has a different moral - maybe the trader unfairly got short squeezed, or a firm lost sight of the big picture when staring at a quantitative model.
Reading Hedgehogging puts you in the shoes of a Wall Street money manager. The stories tend to revolve around lifestyle and not investment strategy. It's easy to read, entertaining, but does not get too technical. I recommend it if you enjoy the field, but consider it more of an entertaining than informative read.
Boring and Uninsightful.......2007-05-20
I was hoping that this book would be the Liar's Poker of the Hedge Fund world. Instead, it was a big disappointment. Here's why:
1) By and large, the book was a random hodgepodge of anecdotes thrown together. It wasn't one cohesive story. Each chapter was it's own mini-story, or series of dinner conversations. It wasn't a page-turner in the least.
2) I didn't find it all that insightful. Through much of it, I'm thinking, "Gee, I could have made up a story like that"
3)I found the tidbits of advice to be trite and annoying. All of them seemed to come from the "Hindsight is 20-20" point of view. At times, the message was contradictory, pointing out the foibles of people who held on to losers too long, while later extolling the virtues of people who stuck to their guns on unpopular stocks and hit the jackpot. If anything, reading his words made me believe that much more in the virtues of Random Walk Theorists, and weak Efficient Market Theories.
4) While I can't say that it was poorly written, it certainly wasn't that well written either.
To sum up, a rather boring book that didn't teach and didn't entertain.
wrapped in mystery.......2007-05-14
Great book to uncover common mystery... Written with simple language and full of examples
Book Description
The tools and techniques needed to successfully launch and maintain a hedge fund
In The Fundamentals of Hedge Fund Management, both budding and established hedge fund managers will learn the fundamentals of building and maintaining a successful hedge fund business. Strachman presents the facts in an accessible and easy-to-use format that will empower readers to create a lasting fund that provides significant income for years to come. The Fundamentals of Hedge Fund Management provides information on everything from picking a lawyer to creating a fund's documents to determining what markets attract investors. Readers will glean valuable information from real-life experiences (both negative and positive) that have shaped and continue to guide many of today's leading and most respected funds.
Customer Reviews:
The Fundamentals of Hedge Fund Management: How to Successfully Launch and Operate a Hedge Fund .......2007-10-11
Great Book...Must read if your starting a Hedge Fund. Got a Library copy and then bought my own as an ongoing resource. Provides check list for what needs to be done and who to contact.
NY Hedge Fund.......2007-10-01
This book is fantastic for anyone thinking about launching a hedge fund. It provides a comprehensive blueprint of the formation and launch process; if you read it before meeting with service providers the process will be easier and you'll have a clearer understanding about where everyone fits into the larger picture.
What is more, DAS's comments on capital raising are spot on and should be read (multiple times) by every aspiring hedge fund manager so as to avoid being romanced by the "whiskey talk" of every prime broker's cap into team -- who will INcorrectly tell you that all you need is performance...hmmm, don't think so.
Incredible read. Succint and Informative.......2007-09-26
Dan Strachman has written THE blueprint for getting started in hedge funds. The guy who gave it one star doesn't know what he's missing. No one can TEACH running money. But if you know how, and you have drive, this book will lay the groundwork for getting started. Specifically, back office operations and how to garner assets are explained in detail, but not to the point where it bores the reader. Mr. Strachman specifically tells the readers that this is NOT a book on how to manage money. Or a book on strategy. He does however, give a look into the psyche of the people you want to grab for assets. Who they are, and more importantly, how they think. Once again, excellent read! Hats off. Two thumbs up, etc.
GREAT OVERVIEW.......2007-09-08
This book provides for an excellent overview of hedge fund industry. Does not cover specifics, but provides great list of sources where to find certain information.
Excellent Primer for Starting a Fund........2007-08-27
Daniel Strachman takes a difficult subject and makes it accessible. It is very clear his writing stems from real world experience and is not just an exercise in academics. If you want to have a fundamental understanding of the business side of the hedge fund industry, this is an excellent place to start. The asking price of the book is far offset by the value gained in the insights that Strachman shares. I believe Mr. Strachman's advice has helped to save me from some serious mistakes that would have doomed my fund.
Book Description
A comprehensive guide to the burgeoning hedge fund industry
Intended as a comprehensive reference for investors and fund and portfolio managers, Handbook of Hedge Funds combines new material with updated information from Francois-Serge L’habitant’s two other successful hedge fund books. This book features up-to-date regulatory and historical information, new case studies and trade examples, detailed analyses of investment strategies, discussions of hedge fund indices and databases, and tips on portfolio construction.
Francois-Serge L’habitant (Geneva, Switzerland) is the Head of Investment Research at Kedge Capital. He is Professor of Finance at the University of Lausanne and at EDHEC Business School, as well as the author of five books, including Hedge Funds: Quantitative Insights (0-470-85667-X) and Hedge Funds: Myths & Limits (0-470-84477-9), both from Wiley.
Amazon.com
Ugly Americans documents the "Wild East" of the mid-1990s, where young, brilliant, and hypercompetitive traders became "hedge fund cowboys," manipulating loopholes in an outdated and inefficient Asian financial system to rake in millions. Using a concept called arbitrage, they made their fortunes mainly on minute shifts in stocks being sold on the Nikkei, the Japanese stock market, collapsing banks and nearly bankrupting the Japanese economy in the process. Other schemes were also concocted, most of which were technically legal, though certainly unethical. This true story revolves around "John Malcolm," who, in exchange for anonymity, agreed to give Ben Mezrich all the access and information he needed to write this book. As a recent Princeton graduate in the mid-1990s, Malcolm accepted an undefined job offer from an American expatriate in Japan to work in the investments field. Though he had no prior experience, he facilitated 25 million dollars worth of trades on his first day on the job, and it just got more exciting from there. He soon joined a small group of expatriates, all in their twenties and mostly Ivy League graduates, who lived like rock stars, thriving on the stress and excitement of their jobs to create their own steroid versions of the American Dream half a world away. Mezrich tells this riveting story well, incorporating elements of the culture into his narrative, including the infamous and pervasive Japanese "Water Trade," or sex business, romantic intrigue, and even run-ins with the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia. Though there is little real analysis of their financial dealings and how they ultimately changed the rules of finance in Asia, this entertaining page turner does offer a glimpse into a world little explored in print until now. --Shawn Carkonen
Book Description
Ben Mezrich, author of the
New York Times bestseller Bringing Down the House, returns with an astonishing story of Ivy League hedge-fund cowboys, high stakes, and the Asian underworld.
John Malcolm was the ultimate gunslinger in the Wild East, prepared to take on any level of risk in making mind-boggling sums of money. He and his friends were hedge-fund cowboys, living life on the adrenaline-, sex-, and drugs-fueled edge—kids running billion-dollar portfolios, trading information in the back rooms of high-class brothels and at VIP tables in nightclubs across the Far East.
Malcolm and his Ivy League-schooled twenty-something colleagues, with their warped sense of morality, created their own economic theory that would culminate in a single deal the likes of which had never been seen before—or since.
Ugly Americans is a story of extremes, charged with wealth, nerve, excess, and glamour. A real-life mixture of
Liar's Poker and
Wall Street, brimming with intense action, romance, underground sex, vivid locales, and exotic characters, Ugly Americans is the untold true story that rocked the financial community.
Customer Reviews:
An Exciting Read and Look into the Asian "Wall St".......2007-09-12
For those who enjoyed the movie "Boiler Room," this book is a must-read. Mezrich tells the tale of wannabe big-time US investors who use the opening of the Japanese stock market to weasel in and stretch the law and their own morality to make deals and steals. It's an honest, gritty portrayal of the Asian nightlife and the ex-pat's who work hard by day and play hard after the bell signals close. You don't need to be a swing-trader to enjoy it; this is a great book for those who either want to learn about big stock trading or just read an adventure about a ex-football player who got roped into a shady, billion-dollar enterprise.
The characters are as real as they can get on paper. The protagonist is trying to make the one big score and get out and the antagonists are just reprehensible enough to remind you of business folks you know in your life. Add in Yakuza (Japanese Mafia), black market plotlines, and the urban backdrops of Osaka and Tokyo and you have a real grabber. It was tough to put this one down and the ending does not dissappoint.
Not even that interesting.......2007-07-31
I really enjoyed the author's other two works, which I read quite quickly. Whether they were totally factual or not was immaterial...they were fun and interesting reads. This book disappoints. I didn't find the story interesting or fast moving. The "danger" element seemed forced, almost as if it was added in to "spice things up".
If you're looking for a fast reading "true" story of big money makers, try Mezrich's other books. Avoid this one, whether you're a Mezrich fan or not.
Much ado about not so much.......2007-07-21
This book had a very similar tone to the "Breaking Vegas" book, which is not unexpected given that the books were written by the same author-- however, too much stylistic overlap is still too much.
On the good side:
1. The writing was fast, light, and easy to follow. Not needing of too much concentration, and something that can be picked right up and settled into.
2. There was some explanation about the concept of arbitrage.
3. There was interesting insight into the sex-for-sale culture of Japan. This alone could have spun off and made a whole new book.
On the bad side:
1. The explanation of the nuts and bolts of trading was too thin. It might have only taken one extra chapter to give us the details that many of us who bought the book were looking for.
2. I wonder how much the author *really* knew, given that he used the word "farang" to describe foreigners-- even though that word is 100% Thai. Was he throwing in technical terms to make it *look* like he had done his homework? And if he made that mistake, how many others did he make that we might not have recognized?
3. It might also have been interesting to get a better idea of just how much the Japanese government and Yakuza were in bed together. Is this really the case? Or is this poetic license? There were more than a few topics in this book that just weren't covered as much as a reader might have liked-- though I can appreciate that this is done for the sake of brevity. (An extra bit here and an extra bit there, and the next thing you know you have a book that is as overwrought with detail and most of what Ayn Rand has written.)
A story of the people, not of the business.......2007-07-15
This book is clearly written to entertain rather than inform, as it orders the exposition of events to maximize suspense rather than efficiency of information presentation. Additionally, it is a very shallow read, revealing absolutely nothing about the mechanics of trading or the business operations of the financial world, focusing instead on the lavish and crazy lifestyles of the rich and tasteless who run this world. For example, the author constantly refers to Nikkei trades done by the people in this book but never explains what it is about the trades that these men made that makes them so special. As an entertaining read, this book gets 3 stars, but as an exposition on hedge funds or stock trading this book gets 0 stars.
Thoroughly enjoyable!.......2007-05-19
A quick, smooth, fun read. Has all the tension and plotting of a good movie. Although the details might be somewhat inaccurate and/or exagerated, it's worth it for the inherent drama of the story, and the basic story is a corker.
Book Description
Learn the successful strategies behind hedge fund investing
Hedge funds and hedge fund trading strategies have long been popular in the financial community because of their flexibility, aggressiveness, and creativity. Trade Like a Hedge Fund capitalizes on this phenomenon and builds on it by bringing fresh and practical ideas to the trading table. This book shares 20 uncorrelated trading strategies and techniques that will enable readers to trade and invest like never before. With detailed examples and up-to-the-minute trading advice, Trade Like a Hedge Fund is a unique book that will help readers increase the value of their portfolios, while decreasing risk.
James Altucher (New York, NY) is a partner at Subway Capital, a hedge fund focused on special arbitrage situations, and short-term statistically based strategies. Previously, he was a partner with technology venture capital firm 212 Ventures and was CEO and founder of Vaultus, a wireless and software company.
Download Description
Learn the successful strategies behind hedge fund investing
Hedge funds and hedge fund trading strategies have long been popular in the financial community because of their flexibility, aggressiveness, and creativity. Trade Like a Hedge Fund capitalizes on this phenomenon and builds on it by bringing fresh and practical ideas to the trading table. This book shares 20 uncorrelated trading strategies and techniques that will enable readers to trade and invest like never before. With detailed examples and up-to-the-minute trading advice, Trade Like a Hedge Fund is a unique book that will help readers increase the value of their portfolios, while decreasing risk.
James Altucher (New York, NY) is a partner at Subway Capital, a hedge fund focused on special arbitrage situations, and short-term statistically based strategies. Previously, he was a partner with technology venture capital firm 212 Ventures and was CEO and founder of Vaultus, a wireless and software company.
Customer Reviews:
Primer for You Creativity.......2007-08-03
I thought the trading examples and strategies were creative and well explained. It might not be completely appropriate to take these "trading systems" and use them as-is directly in your trading, but they certainly are a good primer to get you thinking of creative ways to find and exploit market inefficiecies and tendencies. The stock market is not completely random, which is why I think these "panic" and other stategies have merit. You've got to think up you're own trading stategies to fit your personality and strengths and I think this book is a good start towards that objective. I've used my own adaptation of the QQQQ crash system and it has worked well. The only thing I wished the book covered more was maybe a short rebuttal chapter to those who would suggest that this is all data mining, which I don't believe it is.
This is a unique book and one that is worth reading.
Simplistic like a Childs Toy = Trade Like a Hedge Fund.......2007-03-03
I should have known better, after buying and reading 50 or so books related to trading, the title should have given me pause for thought before purchase. No hedge fund trades like this (with the exception of trend following but certainly not with the proposed strategy) Give me a break. The worst $40 I've spent in a long time. Don't waste your time or money
Focused Strategies for Gaming Institutions and Retail.......2007-02-26
This is not a book about how to pick the next MSFT, or how to be a master of the Universe. It outlines several strategies by which traders can make money from
1. Panic
2. Slippage as the result of institutional biases
There is not a lot of detail about risk management, back testing crietria, optimized bet sizes etc. - the author dismisses a lot of The Street's "curve fitting" and over-rationalization through numbers. The basics of how to run your own book - that is for you to figure out. What this book does is demonstrate how one trader - who makes a living from it - thinks and tries to game his opponents.
As for the opinion that Mr. Altucher is not running a hugely successful fund (in AUM terms), that seems to be the case. But then again, he seems more intent on being an asset MANAGER, rather than an asset ACQUIRER, which is what most >$5bn HFs are now.
Give this book a read - it will give you IDEAS, not a roadmap.
Trade Like a Hedge Fund: 20 Successful Uncorrelated Strategies & Techniques to Winning Profits (Wiley Trading).......2007-02-19
Very well written. Clearly understandable systems. Not all would work for my style of trading but quite a few would work just fine. I've already recommended this book to several other traders. I especially like that the systems work without leverage or short selling which means they are suitable for deferred taxation type accounts (IRAs and 401ks).
Good book but missing some of Toby Crabel's meat.......2006-10-12
James Altucher comes closest to describing some good trading strategies.
However, you still need to know the fundamentals of trading taught by Toby Crabel or Linda Raschke. A good book.
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