FREE THE QUANTS: HOW A NEW BREED OF MATH WHIZZES CONQUERED WALL STREET AND NEARLY DESTROYED IT PDF Scott Patterson | 337 pages | 02 Feb 2011 | Random House USA Inc | 9780307453389 | English | New York, United States NPR Choice page Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — The Quants by Scott Patterson. They were preparing to compete in a poker tournament with million-dollar stakes, but those numbers meant nothing to them. They were accustomed to risking billions. With him was Ken Griffin, who as an undergraduate trading convertible bonds out of his Harvard dorm room had outsmarted the Wall Street pros and made money in one of the worst bear markets of all time. Now he was the The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It head of Citadel Investment Group, one of the most powerful money machines on earth. On that night inthese four men and their cohorts were the new kings of The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It Street. The quants believed that a dizzying, indecipherable- to-mere-mortals cocktail of differential calculus, quantum physics, and advanced geometry held the key to reaping riches from the financial markets. And they helped create a digitized money-trading machine that could shift billions around the globe with the click of a mouse. Get A Copy. Hardcoverpages. More Details Original Title. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Quantsplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. May 12, Andy rated The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It it was ok Shelves: nonfictioneconomics-and-financemath. Disclaimer: I worked in derivatives on Wall Street for several years, though this book is more focused on stat arb, not my area. This book reminded me of When Genius Failednot only in content matter but in style. This isn't a great thing, as I thought both books were hampered by some corny dramatics. In both cases the authors picked an inherently exciting topic; let the excitement tell itself and spend your energy telling us things we don't know rather than trying to inject more adrenaline i Disclaimer: I worked in derivatives on Wall Street for several years, though this book is more focused on stat arb, not my area. In both cases the authors picked an inherently exciting topic; let the excitement tell itself and spend your energy telling us things we don't know rather than trying to inject more adrenaline into it. I'd rather the author kill every silly poker anecdote, every reference to the megalomania of Griffin and Asness, and instead talk some more about the basic principles of stat arb or convert arb, basic quant formulas and relative pricing approaches, I'm not expecting a textbook but when I read something I want it to walk away with as many new insights as possible. The weirdest thing is the author's insistence on returning to the contrived theme of "The Truth," which far as I can tell simply refers to the ability to consistently beat the market, making it sound like Street quants were strange acolytes who thought of their work in reverent, near-religious terms. I've never met anyone who actually thinks like this; most quants or quantitative thinkers tended to think about their work with some scientific dispassion. Arguably that was actually the problem, because they were either too inflexible about violations of their assumptions or failed to communicate the importance of flexibility to othersbut I guess that didn't make as exciting of a story? Style over substance, occasional insights clumsily wiped out by an unnecessary compulsion towards excitement. Mar 10, David rated it liked it Shelves: economicsaudiobooknonfictionbusiness. The author of this book makes a big deal of the fact that the major players in his story treated stock price time series like Gaussian random variables. And they lost big time in They treat stock prices as distributions with The author of this book makes a big deal of the fact that the major players in his story treated stock price time series like Gaussian random variables. They treat stock prices as distributions with very large tails. They did alright in Well, duh!! Why didn't any of the "genius" quants understand this very basic concept? They all adopted a super-simplistic mathematical model that was in vogue, and got themselves and their companies into a heap of trouble. Were they geniuses? Well, in a sense they were, since they were able to get incredibly high-paying jobs. But on the other hand, they seem to have been mathematical lemmings. View all 4 comments. The pervasive Poker Theory forces Patterson into a straightjacket as regards his casting decisions—colourful though these depicted characters prove to be—and he assigns the label Quant to those who do not seem to merit it and blame for the economic crisis of to these same Quants in what, in my humble opinion, is a mostly erroneous and misplaced determination of guilt. The background story itself is quite intriguing, as is the proliferation of mathematical modeling in financial markets, Meh. The background story itself is quite intriguing, as is The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It proliferation of mathematical modeling in financial markets, but the entire affair contained too much sizzle and too little steak. This book is an absolute Five Star. Most books which detailed the Great Recession of has basically restated the same thing, in almost the same refrain that its author knew that the world was running blindfolded towards a speeding train. In my view, this was, well, bullshit. Nobody but only a select few sensed what was happening and dared to out their money where Brilliant! Nobody but only a select few sensed what was happening and dared to out their money where their mouths were. However, this is the brilliance of Patterson that he had dug out details hitherto unknown. The book is pacy and even though you know how it will all end, you felt the thrill of the ride. Mar 04, Joy rated it really liked it. I'm a bit naive when it comes to the Wall Street world of statistical arbitrage and collateralized debt obligations, so I learned something new on every page of this book. I'm not sure I followed all of the different players and why exactly my mortgage is more expensive than my house, but this was definitely an interesting and mostly accessible read about how our economy ended up in the dumps and whet my appetite for more. Also, perhaps the stock market wasn't really a good idea in the first p I'm a bit naive when it comes to the Wall Street world of statistical arbitrage and collateralized debt obligations, so I learned something new on every page of this book. Also, perhaps the stock market wasn't really a good idea in the first place and neither was computers, statistics, or poker. I think my rating would really be a 3. And milliseconds. View 2 comments. Comforting to know that I can lose money with the best of them. Aug 11, Taty K rated it liked it Shelves: economics-finance. The The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It half is a page-turner, the second half reads like a drag. It probably really depends on what you enjoy reading: I did like the background storytelling of Ed Thorp, Beat the Dealer, and the very early beginning of mathematics on Wall Street. I enjoyed reading about the mathematics of Brownian Motions, fractals, or about Mandelbrot and how they impacted the new financial modeling on top of statistics. At some point though into the book, I am lost in the narrative. The author cramps in loo The first half is a page-turner, the second half reads like a drag. The author cramps in loose stories about quants that are relevant for the umbrella topic of quantitative trading, but not concise anymore with the overall story. Sometimes less is more. Towards the end, I am not even sure what the overall narrative was supposed to be. The end is abrupt and does not lead anywhere. I will probably read the book again at some point. But for now, I am semi-disappointed. Dec 31, Dev Scott Flores rated it really liked it. Some of these concepts could have been explained more easily - others, more thoroughly - but I felt the author's choice in most instances was appropriate within the parameters of providing narrative flow. Sure, the individual characterizations run the gamut from Tom Wolfe to Nicholas Nassim Taleb "lite" but, overall, I thought it was fairly balanced, pleasurable, informative, and quick read. I'm glad I didn't bother reading any of these reviews Mar 01, Stefan Bruun rated it really liked it Shelves: businessfinance. A good historical account of the development of quantitative finance. The book doesn't go far in depth with the strategies but describes the players in the industry and their influence on the development.