A first-rate exploration into the math of the market: heuristic numeracy at its best.
A severe investment miscalculation leads to valuable lessons about the tricky psychology and thorny arithmetic of the market.
Bestselling mathematician Paulos (Innumeracy, 1988, etc.; Mathematics/Temple Univ.) invested in WorldCom, he averaged down and bought more WorldCom, he bought WorldCom calls, and he bought WorldCom on margin. He lost a lot on WorldCom, but since that loss gave rise to this account, it’s a gain for investing readers. His uncommonly cogent text does not promote a secret investment method for attaining riches. Rather, it lucidly clarifies many of the mathematical and statistical influences on the stock market. With accustomed humor and apt examples, Paulos tackles complex computations that are vaguely understood and frequently misapplied by Wall Street pros. He explores the deficiencies of both technical and fundamental analyses. Diversification, covariance, beta factors, and various portfolio selection models utilized by brokerage theoreticians all have mathematical perils unseen by the most sophisticated players, the author argues. He introduces the wave theory of market movements, based on Fibonacci numbers, to the golden ratio. He warns that scams like pump and dump, short and distort, e-mail chat-room diversions, or plain old book-cooking will surely affect an investment; so may arcana like moving averages, regression to the mean, standard deviation, availability error, Benford’s Law, and the Nash equilibrium, not to mention psychological, logical, and belief-system influences. In his generally accessible explanations, Paulos walks the reader through basic formulae and eschews tables and charts—even where they might help. Investors would do well to heed his entertaining, frequently counterintuitive, always useful bean-counting methodology.
A first-rate exploration into the math of the market: heuristic numeracy at its best.Pub Date: June 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-465-05480-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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