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Rating: 
Summary: Boston Security Analysts Society Book Review
Review: Boston Security Analysts Society Book Review Column"Investing by the Numbers" Jarrod W. Wilcox, Ph.D., CFAPublished by Frank J. Fabozzi Associates © 1999 Jarrod Wilcox, Director of Currency and Overseas Products at PanAgora Asset Management, wrote this guide to quantitative investing over a 14 month period, using most of his evenings and weekends to complete this illuminating work. The underlying theme throughout is "Be scientific, but don't believe in science for the purpose of investing." He warns quantitative investors against making easily avoidable mistakes, which he describes through witty narration and an assemblage of easy to follow charts and tables. Formulas are included for those who wish to delve into the mathematics, but in general these are easy to follow and the reader does not have to be a mathematician to understand the author's train of thought. This book manages to show the humorous side of quantitative investing and I suspect the more investment experience the reader has, the more he or she will laugh. He explains the ins and outs of indexing, comparing the practice to betting on past winners, which is a form of momentum investing that is destabilizing to markets. The fascinating issue of "learning taking place in the markets" is covered in detail, an important concept to fundamental analysts as well as those who are quantitatively oriented. Of course this leads to the interesting question of "What is the half-life of private science?" And the observation that successful active management can never be accepted science because destructive imitation by others will soon take away whatever performance advantages one initially had. The author challenges so much of what is current investment thought, subjecting commonly accepted ideas to his rigorous analysis and leaving the reader a more knowledgeable investor for having read this excellent book. I highly recommend this book to professional investors, it will, in the author's words, "change your life. END
Rating:
Summary: Boston Security Analysts Society Book Review
Review: Boston Security Analysts Society Book Review Column "Investing by the Numbers" Jarrod W. Wilcox, Ph.D., CFAPublished by Frank J. Fabozzi Associates © 1999 Jarrod Wilcox, Director of Currency and Overseas Products at PanAgora Asset Management, wrote this guide to quantitative investing over a 14 month period, using most of his evenings and weekends to complete this illuminating work. The underlying theme throughout is "Be scientific, but don't believe in science for the purpose of investing." He warns quantitative investors against making easily avoidable mistakes, which he describes through witty narration and an assemblage of easy to follow charts and tables. Formulas are included for those who wish to delve into the mathematics, but in general these are easy to follow and the reader does not have to be a mathematician to understand the author's train of thought. This book manages to show the humorous side of quantitative investing and I suspect the more investment experience the reader has, the more he or she will laugh. He explains the ins and outs of indexing, comparing the practice to betting on past winners, which is a form of momentum investing that is destabilizing to markets. The fascinating issue of "learning taking place in the markets" is covered in detail, an important concept to fundamental analysts as well as those who are quantitatively oriented. Of course this leads to the interesting question of "What is the half-life of private science?" And the observation that successful active management can never be accepted science because destructive imitation by others will soon take away whatever performance advantages one initially had. The author challenges so much of what is current investment thought, subjecting commonly accepted ideas to his rigorous analysis and leaving the reader a more knowledgeable investor for having read this excellent book. I highly recommend this book to professional investors, it will, in the author's words, "change your life. END
Rating:
Summary: Superb blend of theory and practice
Review: This book is hard work. I had to read it twice, quite slowly. It will suit people who are comfortable with some math. It is dense and requires concentration to read and understand. Overall the approach is quantitive, although he follows wherever that leads, e.g. into some technical things. What I like is the combination of theory and practical experience and the way both add value to the other. The book is worth it for the discussions about market structures and dynamics alone. Full of insight and ideas.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but hard work and technical
Review: This is a very densely packed and fairly technical book. It is a terrific explanation of the realities of managing investments using quantitative technicques in a professional manner. It exposes all the complexities and real life issues. It is full of insights and ideas. Very hard work but worth it.
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