Futures-market

The cover and page quality make this book a joy to read compared to other derivatives texts on the market.

Even more important, Dr. McDonald's writing is clear and logical. His theory is current and well laid-out. Compared to Hull it has more PDE's and sound theory. Compared to still other derivatives texts, Dr. McDonald gives more applications to supplement the theory.

If I could only recommend one derivatives texts to students and practitioners needing a thorough overview of the market, this would be the one.

Far too many books on derivatives are written by academics who claim to be writing for intelligent professionals but are in fact really trying to impress their colleagues. This book is a wonderful exception to that general rule. It is written by a master teacher who understands the importance of knowing several different ways to solve problems, and who provides numerous examples so that the reader can check his/her own answer. The book also provides software in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) so that the reader can experiment with the results explained in the text and apply them to his/her own problems.

McDonald is very concerned to explain the intuition behind the numerous formulas presented in the text, and presents the various chapters in an expertly-designed sequence so that new results nearly always become understandable as more general ways of seeing results presented in earlier chapters. The material progresses gradually from basic to complex, so that the dedicated reader becomes thoroughly acquainted with results that have only recently been discovered. As a consequence, this textbook becomes a handy reference work to be kept at one's desk for daily use.

I came across this book more or less by accident, and as I was browsing through it I noted with particular interest several substantial discussions of how derivative pricing can be done with real probabilities so as to arrive at the same results as pricing done with the pseudo-probabilities (or risk-neutral probabilities) discussed in most texts. These sections provided an extremely important clarification of an issue that undoubtedly occurs to nearly all students of derivative pricing but is nonetheless ignored in nearly all of the relevant textbooks and literature. I knew right then that the author understood what questions were occurring in the minds of his students and how to deal with them.

This book is a bit more expensive than some rival texts, but it is entirely worth it because of its tremendous clarity and because of the software that accompanies it. In reality, this book is a bargain.

I had the privilege of using the manuscript of this book for two advanced finance courses I did at Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University---the Author's home) and just got a chance to read the final published book. This is an excellent book on derivatives markets which should appeal to three types of readers: 1) MBA students doing their first finance course on derivatives; 2) Non-finance professionals who can easily grasp quantitative aspects of derivatives pricing schemes but lack an an intuitive understanding of why, where and how derivatives are used (I was in this category until I attended Kellogg); and, 3) Corporate finance professionals trying to understand different risk management tools. Bob McDonald did a great job in maintaining a good balance between mathematics of derivatives pricing schemes and logical explanations of several economic concepts one would encounter in derivatives. This book is going to be a popular MBA text book very soon.

In the first four chapters of the book, the author assumes that the prices of different derivative securities are known and discusses how these securities can be used for insurance and speculation (Chapter 4 has a nice introduction to risk management). Chapters 5-8 explain pricing methods for futures, forwards and swaps using simple discounting models. Chapter 6 has a lucid discussion on how would "futures contract price vs. time" curves for different commodities differ based on the seasonality, transportation costs and storability aspects specific to each commodity.

Starting in Chapter 9, the author discusses different option pricing models. The material presented in Chapters 10-13, where in the author discusses binomial option pricing models, Black-Scholes formula and delta hedging, is clearly the highlight of this book. I did not find such a crystal clear discussion of binomial pricing models and the rationale behind delta hedging in any other text book. In Chapters 15-17, the author discusses financial engineering (how to create a required payoff from basic building blocks) and corporate applications of derivatives (including real options). In the remaining chapters (Chapters 18-24), I would recommend Chapters 18, 19 and 24 to all the readers. The other chapters are not really necessary unless you plan to work on developing derivatives pricing schemes.

In summary, I strongly recommend this book to every serious student of finance.

Wow, wow and more wow! This book totally rocks the house! Talk about some solid partial differential equations... this one really socks it to ya! I couldn't put it down. I wouldn't put it down. I couldn't believe that anyone would write a book as wickedly clever, funny, witty and engrossing as this.

I've read all of Feeney's works... and I mean ALL of them. This one is clearly the best... no question. No question at all. If you want to read some great finance... if you're really ready to enjoy the best there is... then you're ready to read Feeney.

Great ready for the read of your life. Get ready to see the world a different way. Get ready to go really, really deep into the financial corners of your mind. Travel to your limits and push past them to where you thought it was impossible to go. Learn about yourself, learn about the world, learn about what it takes to be a financial guru.

Feeney - the great mind of finance bringing us insights to share with the next generation. Bravo!

Perhaps the most interesting and compelling finance book I've read in decades. Feeney takes even the most complicated ideas and brings them down to levels that even I could understand. Very well written, insightful and full of telling comments on the markets from one of its true masters. I highly, highly reccomend this book to anyone even remotely interested in the world of finance. I, and all of my colleagues who have read the book, can hardly wait for the sequel... sure to be as fabulous as this version. Two Thumbs Up!

This book is useful for someone looking to either learn about or brush up on the financial derivatives markets

As a parent of two teenagers, I came to realize that I had nurtured every aspect of their development, except in the area of employability. YOUR KIDS-THEIR FUTURE guides parents in working with their children to pursue the best matched career for their financial future. Easy-to-follow steps and humour add to the enjoyment of this valuable book. I am sure that you will find going through this process with your teenager a very rewarding experience indeed!

YOUR KIDS - THEIR FUTURE should be at the top of the "Required Reading List" for parents. Written in a down-to-earth, easy-to-understand language, this witty little treasure covers everything from financial aid for college, hot careers, military training, apprenticeships, salaries, and job requirements to vital questions for the college tour, employer, or military recruiter. The book provides an outline and employment data which make the overwhelming task of choosing a career as easy and simple as 1, 2, 3. If you have a teenager or if you work with young people, this book is a MUST!

This book is a practical and easy to use resource for parents of students beginning in grade nine. Parents wishing to became acively involved in helping their children make wise decisions regarding career choices will be able to positively affect this process. I plan to use this book when dealing with parents and students in career planning.

This is an excellent book for someone just learning about commodities. It is a step by step process that leads the reader down the road to reality about speculating in commodities. There are no promises of rewards or failures but explains in detail the potential of what can be gained by astute studying.

Having looked at many other books since reading Huff I can say this is the best beginners book. It lays out a simple story version of one person's introduction to futures. It provides resource and recipe. The book though dated by time is not lessened in the lesson. I recommend this book as an excellent doorway to understanding the mechincs, mindset and playing field that all beginning traders need to be successful. The book provides insight into the psyche and emotional type that will be successful.

One of the definitive reads for a person willing to give up old paradigms of human society and become more in rhythm with nature. Joan Ocean again provides an in-depth look at the numerous aspects of the multi-dimensional lifestyle, with the dolphins and whales as her loving and playful guides. Her journal entries (put in at times during a chapter to help explain the current concept) help bring the experience of swimming with a dolphin closer to home for those who might not yet be able to get out there on the open sea; I can personally attest to that. This book is definitely NOT a 'repeat' of Joan Ocean's first book, Dolphin Connection, and well worth reading in tandem with each other (they go great together!). Dolphins Into the Future seems to build somewhat on what was discussed in Dolphin Connection; I would highly recommend reading Dolphin Connection first. Overall, these books herald a new era in peacefully coexisting with the planet's environments...creating the stage for a world filled with Love.

This fabulous and deeply satisfying book is about exploring dolphins on an energetic level, rather than from a distant scientific standpoint. She did not do controlled scientific studies of such things as social behaviors and sounds. Instead she has become a dolphin. Her own wonderful sensitivities to energy, wordless communication, and connections with all "peoples," human and non-human, have enabled her to make a huge contribution to the answers many of us are seeking: Who are the dolphins? Why are they here? Why do we like them and why do they like us? And what can they teach us? Joan Ocean's dolphin friends are thirsty to share with us levels of awareness that most people don't know exist, yet experiences of these levels will help us move joyfully into the energetic changes that are occuring on earth.

Clearly the best book on Eurodollar futures and options. The book is a must for anyone involved in fixed income securities.

Having just finished reading the author's treatment of bond futures in the 'Treasury Bond Basis,' I was happy to see that Burghardt was updating some of his material from the early 1990s on Eurodollar futures. The 'Bond Basis' was an excellent and thorough analysis, and 'The Eurodollar Futures and Options Handbook' follows the same trend.

He provides an excellent overview of the institutional details of Eurodollars and their uses. The book is at its strongest when dealing with issues of the convexity bias and also scores high by not neglecting important issues like the stub period. Perhaps my favorite chapter was on callable bonds and the extension/compression risk, which, while a little misplaced in a book on Eurodollars, still provided a very lucid explanation of the relevant issues.

With regard to options, the author touches upon some of the interest strategic combinations using serial and mid-curve options, but I feel that he could've delved a bit deeper in this part of the book. It's the only area in which I felt the book was somewhat lacking.

Having said all that, if you're looking to learn about Eurodollar futures, I can't imagine there's a better book out there. This is an excellent compilation of a number of Burghardt's research from the 1990s together with more recent updates. Even if Eurodollars are not your main area of expertise, this book will still help you to gain a more solid understanding of many of the pertinent topics in fixed income.

I'm an earth science teacher and initially shied away from the mass market nature of this text, but I looked over a couple of pages at the pharmacy one afternoon and was hooked. A thorough and thoroughly engaging book about El Nino - everything you need to know. And believe me. YOU NEED TO KNOW.

Porter like Bob Dylan crafts a superb detailed synopsis of one of the strangest inexplicable events in recent history. Is the government behind this weather phenemenon? Chapter 4 is very well written, detailing all of the catastrphies in California. Check this out!!!

If you are a student just taken up a course in derivatives or risk management you should have this book. if you find john hull more technical, you have Don Chance who covers options and other derivatives in a greater detail and in more words. everything you want to know about how banks etc have risk mangaement systems in place and market risk instruments is here.

in case you want a greater coverage of options and pricing options, you should definatly take a look at Black Scholes and Beyond by Neil Chriss, a work of art.

This is an excellent book for non finance majors who would like to grasp the physical concepts behind different derivatives products traded in the OTC markets. The book is ideal for a preperation read for all aspiring to take Financial Engineering / Derivatives as majors in graduate programs.

If you are interested in the basic concepts governing derivatives without getting into the mathematics of it then this is the ideal book. I recommend this book for any one who is contemplating taking Derivatives as an advanced level course. The book would give a solid foundation to the concepts of risk management.

If you are thinking that this is just a collection of stories from the Writers of the Future contest, then you are mistaken. As the cover indicates, there are 13 stories plus 4 essays that are included in this almost 500 page book. As we'd expect from a contest under Hubbard's name, one of the essays is by him. The 13 stories are quite varied and I won't repeat the brief introduction to the plots done by another reviewer. I liked 4 pieces enough to consider finding other writing by their authors. "Home Grown" by William Brown, "Like Iron Unicorns" by Paul D. Batteiger, "Guildmaster" by Dan Dysan, and "The Quality of Wetness" by Ilsa J. Bick. I thought these storylines were original but the characters were familiar enough to really hook me. "Atlantis Ohio" by Mark Siegel was a cool idea but the story just goes on and one far too long. So if you like hard science fiction, social fiction, or alternative pasts or presents, there is some story in here you may enjoy. So why only 4 stars? Frankly I think the essays could be left out, the price dropped a bit on the book, and it would be a much better buy overall. People who want insight into the craft or writing and direction toward publication can get a book geared toward that.

What I like best about this annual antho is the diversity of the stories. Many anthologies stick to only one genre, or even one sub-genre, like Hard SF or Historical Fantasy. The "WotF" books always run the gamut, and this year is no exception. Each story packs a wallop and sticks in the reader's mind for days to come.

My personal favorites were:

William Brown's "Home Grown" - a Bradbury-esque, near-future tale about a robotic butler who has the glimmer of emotion, especially for the beautiful Dryad in the garden outside.

Toby Buckell's "In Orbite Mediavil" - An alternate history/fantasy of Columbus' ships taking a crack at an earth that's not quite flat, but not exactly round, either.

Michael Jasper's "Mud and Salt" - A near-future story of three men hunting an alien, it deals unflinchingly with a young man's first contact with an alien. The changes that meeting brings about are subtle, yet well-done.

Melissa Yuan-Innes' "Skin Song" - A deft fantasy edging on horror about a med student who can hear "songs" from simply touching the skin of others. The story gets really interesting when the med student enters the cadaver lab...

Leslie Walker's "As the Crow Flies" - A lyrical ghost story that forces the reader to figure out the rules as he or she reads. Nicely done.

Jeff Rutherford's "Daimon! Daimon!" - A classic horror story of demons and blues music, made even better by its historical context and swamp setting.

Other highlights include Gary Murphy's hard SF tale "Pulling Up Roots," Dan Barlow's time travel/comedy "A Conversation with Schliegelman," and Paul Martens' darkly humorous science fiction story "Your Own Hope." The collection also contains three longer novellas, "Atlantis, Ohio" by Mark Siegel, "Guildmaster" by Dan Dysan, and "The Quality of Wetness" by Ilsa Bick.

Contest rules are also included at the end of the book. I recommend any new writer sending their stories to the contest -- the diversity and the range of the stories make this anthology one to watch for, and the writers in this year's collection will definitely be names we'll all hear from again!

The four first place stories alone were worth the price of the book. They were highly creative and fascinating. Easy to believe these authors will be well-known in the SF/F field soon enough.

Talk about a book that everyone should read, but no one will, this is it. A terrific, plain language explanation of the origins of money and how understanding money leads to political sophistication and concommitant societal benefits.

This book makes many cogent arguments that deal with war and external defense, interior political and civil stabilty, the societal need for a stable currency, the need for a rule of law to protect private property rights, and the implications of the velocity and movements of global currency trading. It does a great job of explaning financial derivitives, options, inflation, debasement of the currency via political corruption, and financial globalization of trade and currencies.

It contains a marvelous retelling of history thru the eyes of a currency sophisticate, one who incorporates a history of revolutions, and the subsequent rebuildings of the societies that gain prominence in their aftermath.

The backdrop for this fascinating tale is the rise of the micro-chip, the story of the digital revolution. This running-wild tale illustrates how technology has outstripped the ability of dictators to throttle it, and how society has commensurately reaped the benefits. It's a paradigm for the future and deserves to be more widely understood. It has shaken up the strangle hold of one political philosophy ruling the media, and in the future it will reform tort law and academia. It's all here for those willing to study it.

Read it!

Fantastic book, clearly written. A history of the systematic shift in power from governments to asset markets, especially in the Reagonomics era (which includes the 1990's). A 'must', along with "Inventing Money" and "Wall Street Capitalism", for those who want to understand the financial system and it's consequences.

I finally understand what Options and derivatives are. This is a wonderful, fun book which guides the reader through the history of monetary exchanges. Did I say fun? You have to read his description of Berkeley in the late 60s. Although I lived through it, I never understood the inflation or high interest rates of the 70s and how it related to taking the dollar off the gold standard. Oh yes I can see clearly now!