Engineering-risk

Managing Bank Risk, An Introduction to Broad-Base Credit Engineering, takes on a Herculean task of capturing an extraordinarily extensive array of risk management subjects. Having spent several years in my prior career as a Corporate Banker to Fortune 500 Companies, I was familiar with some of the material within the book. However, I found that the most critical tools that I accumulated and have come to rely on have by and large been aggregated and explained clearly through both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Going beyond definitions and methodology, Managing Bank Risk lends focused perspective and context through the use of case studies. Having built various articulating sensitivity models over the course of my career, I appreciated the book's foundation of credit metrics, financial statement analysis with focus on cash flow analysis, proper asset-based lending approaches and detailed explanations of several forecasting techniques. From a pure banking perspective, Mr. Glantz commits significant time to portfolio management, hedging techniques, and understanding derivatives. Having seen only a small fraction of the statistical forecasting tools from business school that Mr. Glantz covers in the book, I found both the theory and practical software-based tools fascinating. Managing Bank Risk also evaluates and lucidly explains many corporate finance concepts and valuation tools such as Real Options and Pricing Models, which I have found important to have a controlling knowledge of in my career as an Investment Banker. Finally, but certainly not in summation, Managing Bank Risk reviews and identifies important Accounting and Corporate Structure insights and lessons that can be taken from recent corporate scandals. Given the sheer volume and quality of topics covered from the most fundamental to some of the most sophisticated, cutting-edge models available today, I would suggest this well-written and comprehensive book as a must-read for business school students or as a reference guide for finance professionals.

Glantz provides an astonishing and comprehensive overview of current banking practices. The book provides the necessary approaches for managing risk and uncovering discrepancies in today's environment of corporate shenanigans. The chapters on credit derivatives and pricing models are the most impressive of all writings on these subjects and are presented in a very clear and concise manner. Finally, the resources and risk rating system included on the CD is worth the price of the book alone.

This book is simply brilliant! Not only did I learn about new techniques for managing bank risk but found it similar to a novel that I never wanted to put down. I never take the time to write critiques but this book definitely warranted it.

Professor James Reason of Manchester University, is a giant in dealing with the human error. His famous book "HUMAN ERROR", first published in 1990, was an instant hit with the safety professionals and until today, remains an authoritative reference for anyone who wants to know more about human errors and human failings.

In 1997, Reason published yet another hit - "MANAGING THE RISKS OF ORGANIZATIONAL ACCIDENTS". This book, as Reason puts it, ... aimed at the "real people" and especially those whose daily business is to think about, and manage or regulate, the risk of hazardous technologies - like commercial aviation - our business.

Yes, this book is meant for the bosses, the Chairman, the CEO, all the Presidents, Executive Vice Presidents, Senior Vice Presidents and last but not least --- (if you are in the air transport business) --- the pilots in the flight deck - as the "Sharp End Operators" and the "Last Line Defenders" to fight against of all the possible latent errors and threats made long before we step into the flightdeck, but expect us to put a stop to any possible mishap from happening when the situation arises!

Professor Reason uses his now popular "Swiss Cheese" Model of Defence to explain the nature of those "latent threats" or "latent errors" lurking in our air transport organization (and others), waiting to spring on us when the time and opportunity present themselves.

Reason argues that highly hazardous technological industry like the air transport industry, (nuclear and chemical plants as well etc.) are usually protected with layers of strong defences..

Let me try to illustrate; let's say we have a lot of hazards to contain on the left hand side of this page, and the losses (if the hazards are not contained and causing accidents) are on the right hand side of this same page. Our defences are like layers of steel plates erected between the hazards and losses to protect them from meeting (liken to be like a light beam shining through).

In real life, these steel plates are both "hardware" and "software". Hardware are, for example better designed modern airplanes with many safety features incorporated from experiences gained over the last few decades of air transport operations, better human-engineering to prevent human factor related errors from being committed. Having better equipment to forecast weather better, better equipment to detect and forewarn the pilots of impending collision with other traffic or terrain etc.

Software, on the other hand, are people themselves, plus philosophy, policy and enforcing procedures to promote safety, implementing safety rules and regulations and practices to guard against accidents from happening.

Well and good, to be fair, all these work pretty well most of the time. That's why you don't get to see many air disasters, nuclear plant accidents, or offshore oil rig disasters very often. Reason, however, argues these "steel plates" are not hole-proof, there are in fact, full of "holes", caused by latent threats and errors, such as company pressure, tight schedules, awkward rules that are hard to follow, long working hours, inadequate rest, lack of on-going trainings, or lack of safety awareness practices, impractical fuel policy etc.

These "holes" in the steel plates expand or shrink depend on prevailing conditions. The holes are "latent threats and errors" built-in to the system, they alone will not cause accidents (not all the plates) but when coupled with some "active failures", (the remaining plates) such as human errors, lapses or slips in the system, in the right place and at the right time, the imaginary light from the left hand "hazards" side, will shine through these porous steel plates and light up the right hand "losses" side, an accident happens! But when it does happen, it is certainly a "Big Bang" headline news, which is usually coupled with heavy human death toll and colossal hardware losses.

Professor Reason deals specifically with the latent threats rather than the active failures, because, as in the Swiss Cheese Model, all you need to do is to make one of the steel plate hole-proof and the error chain is broken, thus preventing a disaster from occurring. Simple as that. Active failures will be dealt with elsewhere..

To sum up, this book covers hazards, defences and losses in all the hazardous high technology industries, it also points out reasons why sometimes these defences are penetrated and defeated. In fact Reason says some of these defences are themselves dangerous! He also talks of the human contribution to the breakdown in the defences, even maintenance, the very reason for maintenance is to ensure safety and reliability of the systems we built, itself can cause accidents if negligence seeps in. He offers practical guides to error management, and finally, how to engineer a safety culture to prevent "Big Bangs" from happening.

A highly recommended reference for those who take flight safety business seriously.

Eddie

This book is a must for anyone who is interested in understanding the organizational factors involved in accidents. It presents a clear picture of what the basic issue is with safety. It helps significantly in the understanding of what must be done in order to manage safety appropriatley. It presents principles that are applicable to all type of industries. I think the fact that an effective book on safety can be written by a psychologist emphasises the role people play in the safety process.

A novice in this area, I found this book easy to read and very enlightening. The challenge for automation engineers, designers and safety professionals is not what needs to be done, but how to translate these concepts into your company's culture.

Well written, well researched book that is a must-read for practitioners and policy-makers. Useful not only for Seattle, but findings are applicable to other water systems.

Although the technical matter may seem dry, the writing style is extremely nuanced making this a fascinating and useful book. The author advocates a dynamic analysis of lifeline systems using leading edge mathematical models and seismic risk methods.

Excellent analysis of seismic risk for a given water system with important applications to other sites. The writing style will appeal to a broad range of audiences.

I own pretty much all of the books on quantitative finance
and this one holds a cherished place on my bookshelf.
Anybody either working as a quant or with aspirations to become one should dust off some space on their bookshelf as well.
Anybody who does serious research in finance in either academia or industry already knows that it is somewhat rare for top researchers to pen books of any length. Time is at a premium and the payoff to publishing journal articles or to finishing off code is typically much greater than it is for writing books.

This is what distinguishes this book from its competitors.
The author is well known in financial circles as one of a handful of quants who is capable of meaningfully contributing new results to this fascinating field. The book contains many results which cannot be found elsewhere in the public domain.
Although the book title suggests that the results apply only to
foreign exchange, it is straightforward to adapt the results to

equities, commodities, and many other underlyings.

Wall Street is a very secretive place and it is not easy to get a glimpse of the kind of things that consume a quant's time.
I suspect that the only reason that this book was able to come to light is due to the acquisition of Banker's Trust, the author's former employer. Banker's was well known to be a fertile training ground for the best derivative minds and this book should prove to be a lasting legacy to that view.

Alexander Lipton Lifschitz has brought his extensive
experience and years of research in the most diverse areas
of applied mathematics as well as his experience
in the financial industry to bear in authoring this
very interesting book.

The range of this book is impressive.
Although the author chose to focus on currency
options, his book really is a treatise on
a wide spectrum of problems and methodologies
which any quant wishing to tackle the
sophisticated world of option pricing at a high level
must master.

The author demonstrates his mastery of
the arsenal of the classic applied mathematician,
asymptotic analysis, self-similarity, Laplace
and Fourier transform, and uses these to give an
incisive analysis of both standard topics
such as American options and more exotic topics
such as options on one currency with
barriers on the other currency, passport
options (for which he was a pioneer in developping
pricing tools) , asian options and much much more.

No, this is not as easy a read as Willmott's
books. Willmott's books were and remain
an important contribution with their
quick and intuitive explanation of a variety
of instruments. Lipton- Lifschitz's
book is more challenging and the reader will
have to pull up his sleeves on
occasions where the author, while dealing
with a case analogous to one just treated
says " the details are left to the reader".
But let's face it, if you work on Wall Street
or nearby, you'll have to tackle those details
alone at some point and Lipton-Lifschitz
gives you all you need to know to do
pull this off.

And. last but not least, let's not forget the price. At less than 50$ thisbook is a real bargain and for a first
printing, unusually free of typos or others
errors.

I highly recommend you buy this book now before the publisher
doubles the price.

Most of the books on mathematical finance fall in one of the two domains. Some books are written for people who are new to the field and, as such, do not go deeply into the mathematical details that are crucial for implementing these methods in practice. The more advanced books are usually written by academic mathematicians and sometimes suffer from poor readability and lack of awareness of relevant problems. What many people are looking for is a detailed and readable description of how to apply the latest mathematical methods to solving the problems appearing in day-to-day work of derivatives desks. Such books are few and far between: that is why Alex Lipton's manuscript was so welcome.

As a quant in one of the Wall Street investment banks, I found this book a very valuable resource. Though written on a fairly high level, this book remains a readable and consistent exposition of latest methods of foreign exchange modeling. I particularly appreciated that the author does not skip steps in his derivations and gives out all those little practical details that are so important to people planning to use these methods in their work. The range of topics covered is fairly wide, with main emphasis on derivative pricing. I found the two chapters on path-dependent options to be particularly interesting and extensive. Some of the results included in the book came out of author's original work at Deutsche Bank. I also had an impression that some of his latest work was not included in the book, which is a pity.

All in all, an excellent book. Well worth the price.

As a safety officer myself, I found this book truly captivating. I couldn't put it down. If you ever had a difficult time starting a safety program, I recommend you read "Risk Management in the Fire Service". This book is a recipe for an effective safety/risk management program. Mr. Wilder's five-step risk management process is so simple, I will use it for all future safety programs. I can't think of any incident too complex for this process. I used to think budget determined how effective a safety program could be, but this book gives step-by-step advice on things you can do within any budget. It's nice to know there's a reference and an authority I can turn to when I need help. Thank you Mr. Wilder.

While the concept of risk management is new to fire and EMS services, it is obviously not new to the author. His fire science background combined with his risk management background make him the logical choice to train the industry. Having sat in on lectures given by the author, I purchased the book with the hopes that it would be as easy to follow as are his classes. I was not disappointed. This book is written in a such a way that it takes a complex topic and makes it easy to follow and understand. As a fire department captain and EMT, I have already taken some of the ideas gained from this book and brought them into our department. I strongly recommend this book for fire department administrators, training officers, safety officers, and anyone interested in learning the basics of risk management.

Having spent nearly 28 years in the risk management business it is refreshing to find a book that deals with timely issues in a clear, concise manner. The exposures unique to fire fighters/medics are unique and Mr. Wilder has unique approaches to today's risks. This book is a must read for any fire department in the United States and City Managers, Fire Chiefs, firemen and women would be remiss if it wasn't mandatory reading. One thing for sure. . . as soon as we are finished posting this review an invitation will be extended to Mr. Wilder to come address our departments and key personnel. I would encourage anyone in the business, who has not read this masterful work, to pick it up. I am certain based upon years of defense related consulting work that this book will become a standard in the industry and will be guide lines for conduct observed by both the plaintfiff and defense bars across the country. An "Excellent" job Mr. Wilder. Thank you . Mike Vines System Risk Manager

Provena Health Inc.

A most excellent compilation. Thought provoking and sobering material. Should be requisite reading for any Engineer, Project Manager, Operations Director, etc. Would especially recommend it as required reading for Engineering Students. The work often chronicles how various failures were first attributed to the most apparent superficial causes (i.e., the easy fix), but then only after several more failures were the root causes finally investigated, often at great cost both financially and in terms of human cost. Makes you wonder the next time you rush a project, cut some corners, eat away some margin, take some risks, etc...

Very useful tools... packs with knowledge definitely a 5-stars materia

A truly riviting book about the many failures of modern time. I couldn't put it down! This book fills in the details of many of the major disasters and accidents that you have read about in the news but provides the reader with the reasons that the technology failed. It's technically accurate without being overly complex. It explains not only what happened in each of the failures, but provides information on why it happened. I found the section on environmental accidents to be thought provoking and insightful. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone working in a technical field.

This is a wonderful book. It is a must read if you are interested in science, technology, or history.

Copp and Zanella have written a marvelous text that conbines science, history, and technology in a master manner. They are just two of the marvelous professors at the Claremont Colleges.

The book provides a wide view of the topic, as useful background information and context for the subject, before focusing on the details needed by the reader for a variety of practical applications. Expert opinion is used by decision-makers, for example, in performing technology assessment to determine the direction of investment in costly research and development. Properly elicited, analyzed, and interpreted, expert opinion - subjectivity - can be as useful as objective data in decision-making for engineers and managers.

Professor Ayyub's book contributes to the literature on expert opinion in several unique ways. First, it is built on the philosophical and epistemological foundations of recognizing and categorizing what is not known. Some may consider this a foundation built on sand. I consider it a foundation based on understanding the weaknesses in knowledge before we build. Only from this perspective can we critically evaluate what we think we know. Second, with the recognition of the wide variety of types of ignorance, one can seek to find the most appropriate mathematical representation for the ignorance. This approach is contrary to the tradition in expert elicitation of seeing all ignorance as representable by traditional probability theory.

Excellent! Even if you fear probability and statistics, you can learn so much from this book. Dr. Serrano provides a crawl, walk, run approach to probability, statistics, and uncertainty. Any academic discipline could gain from this book, but the examples used tend toward engineering and its applications. Not only will the reader gain a firm foundation on the subject matter, the latter chapters take you to the upper level of stats, probability, and modeling of the unknown. As a bonus, Dr. Serrano inserts helpful hints and example programs to use in the very powerful C based Maple mathmatics software.

Excellent! I knew nothing of statistics or probability until this book. It takes you through a crawl, walk, run of these needlessly feared subjects. The practical applications are uncanny. Although focused on engineering applications, any academic discipline would gain from this book. Serrano also teaches you the basic ins and outs of the powerful C based Maple mathmatics software.

The book is an important contribution to the risk management of process facilities. It will be valuable to those seeking an accessible introduction to the field and also to practitioners seeking a comprehensive and thoughtful reference. The book's strength lies in the integration of descriptive material and quantitative techniques, supported by lessons learned and case studies. The balanced explanations of theory combined with worked numerical examples and practical guidance on applying risk management methods will assist process plant professionals to better manage risk. The breadth of detailed coverage is impressive. It is rare that a single work can provide good guidance on modelling dust explosions and provide valuable lessons on auditing process facilities.

This book by Mark Tweeddale is an excellent reference book on risk assessment of process plants. It provides a balanced review of many risk methods and processes. It also extends into risk reduction and management with many practical examples.
I have already used it on four different occasions for confirming risk assessment processes. A 'must have' for all practitioners.

Looking for an outstanding book on Process Safety? Don't look any further. Dr. Mark Tweeddale has written a practical and resource rich book on process safety that will knock your socks off. Are you looking for that plume release explosion formula? It's in there! Are you looking for risk calculations and methods? It is all compiled into this one text. Do you want to understand how safety climate sets the safety culture for an organization and how to improve that? What active steps should management take to improve safety? This book has that information also.

If you're new to the field of safety or you're an professional with years of experience, this text is for you. If you're a student, grab this book! You'll want to keep it right on your shelf for quick reference!