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Against the Gods
Book

Against the Gods

The Remarkable Story of Risk

Wiley, 1996
First Edition: 1996 更多详情


Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

This work is a minor classic of financial literature. Business historian Peter L. Bernstein wrote it during the early 1990s, when faith in the power of quantitative models and financial engineering was at its apex, and he tells a heroic story. Beginning with Greek mythology, Bernstein shows how cultural ideas about risk and probability evolved through Arab mathematics, the European Enlightenment and Chicago School economics. He writes in a spare, straightforward style, and manages to convey the essentials of financial theory and the essences of great economists without losing the reader in a maze of equations. Of course, the 2008 financial crisis cast probabilistic models and financial engineering as global market villains. In retrospect, that makes Bernstein’s evident admiration for those models seem rather touchingly ingenuous. Nonetheless, getAbstract finds that this is still one of the best popular introductions to the development of financial science.

Take-Aways

  • Greek mythology described the rolling of dice as part of creation, but Grecian scientists and philosophers did not form a theory of probability.
  • Europe’s adoption of Arabic numerals was an important step toward the development of probability theory during the Renaissance.
  • Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat invented the mathematics of probability.

About the Author

Peter L. Bernstein heads Peter L. Bernstein, Inc., an economic consultancy for institutional investors. Among other books, he wrote Economist on Wall Street and The Price of Prosperity.


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    J. L. 3 years ago
    Great summary! I was intrigued by this critique: "the 2008 financial crisis cast probabilistic models and financial engineering as global market villains." Does Bernstein explicitly address the risks of securitization and how to quantify them?
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    T. T. 7 years ago
    The verification link email does not come through to my email, despite having requested resend several times.
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      7 years ago
      Hello Tim, we apologize for any inconvenience. While looking into your inquiry, I can see that your Free Trial was successfully activated. You can login to continue with our trial. If I can assist you further you can contact me at Info@getabstract.com