Product Description'A lot has happened in the financial markets since 1992, when Peter Bernstein wrote his seminal Capital Ideas. Happily, Peter has taken up his facile pen again to describe these changes, a virtual revolution in the practice of investing that relies heavily on complex mathematics, derivatives, hedging, and hyperactive trading. This fine and eminently readable book is unlikely to be surpassed as the definitive chronicle of a truly historic era.' - John C. Bogle, founder of The Vanguard Group and author, The Little Book of Common Sense Investing
'Just as Dante could not have understood or survived the perils of the Inferno without Virgil to guide him, investors today need Peter Bernstein to help find their way across dark and shifting ground. No one alive understands Wall Street's intellectual history better, and that makes Bernstein our best and wisest guide to the future. He is the only person who could have written this book; thank goodness he did.' - Jason Zweig, Investing Columnist, Money magazine
'Another must-read from Peter Bernstein! This well-written and thought-provoking book provides valuable insights on how key finance theories have evolved from their ivory tower formulation to profitable application by portfolio managers. This book will certainly be read with keen interest by, and undoubtedly influence, a wide range of participants in international finance.' - Dr. Mohamed A. El-Erian, President and CEO of Harvard Management Company, Deputy Treasurer of Harvard University, and member of the faculty of the Harvard Business School
'Reading Capital Ideas Evolving is an experience not to be missed. Peter Bernstein's knowledge of the principal characters-the giants in the development of investment theory and practice-brings this subject to life.' - Linda B. Strumpf, Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, The Ford Foundation
'With great clarity, Peter Bernstein introduces us to the insights of investment giants, and explains how they transformed financial theory into portfolio practice. This is not just a tale of money and models; it is a fascinating and contemporary story about people and the power of their ideas.' - Elroy Dimson, BGI Professor of Investment Management, London Business School
Rating: - The World Is Going Quant
I have a lot of respect for finance professors. To quote a felicitous expression, they perform "mathematics in flesh and blood". They are the surgeons of the modern economy, cutting through inefficiencies and making sure the blood of capital flows into the arteries of corporate accounts or personal savings. And like surgeons, society gratifies them with generous pay and social prestige: the time is over when finance specialists were snubbed by their economist colleagues and kept on the margins of ... Read More
Rating: - Capital Ideas Evolving
This was not an easy read, but it was worth it. I received my MBA in 1976. Much of this book was an explanation of the effects of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) on current investment practices. He assumes that the reader is well versed with the intricacies of CAPM. I had to go back to other sources to review CAPM, but once I did, the book was a great explanation of how CAPM and other academic innovations have had a practical effect on portfolio management. When I finished the book, I ... Read More
Rating: - Ludicrous
Maybe this is a great intro to classic theory, but then there is something wrong with classical thinking.
My one-star rating is for his "forgiveness" of the Long Term Capital Management gang, since no one could have predicted what actually happened.
LTCM managers (inducing Merton and Sholes, subjects of chapters) had excessive confidence in models based on theories that have not been even come close to being validated.
It is ironic that Amazon pairs this book ... Read More
Rating: - Accessible explanation of the foundations of finance
In the early 1950s, graduate student Harry Markowitz presented his Ph.D. dissertation to the University of Chicago economics department. The response was less than encouraging. "This isn't a dissertation in economics," Milton Friedman told Markowitz. "It's not math, it's not economics, it's not even business administration." Whatever it was, Markowitz's heterodox theory of portfolio selection changed finance forever and earned a Nobel Prize. Financial historian and investment manager Peter L. Bernstein ... Read More
Rating: - Unique and sunsurpassed.
I have recommended this and his previous book for finance graduate students at the University of Maryland.
- The World Is Going Quant
- Ludicrous
- Accessible explanation of the foundations of finance
