Option

2lt George G. Crawford's B-24, on which he was the Bombardier, was blasted out of the sky over Germany and sent him on a journey as a prisoner of war which he tells very convincingly in this book. Not a highly researched historical reference, but rather an intensely personal story about the privations, dangers and stark realities of captivity, the author covers a part of the story of WWII POWs in Germany which is largely unknown or unappreciated. As the Russians approached the Third Reich in late 1944 and early 1945 the Germany military undertook to march tens of thousands of Allied POWs toward the West. Crawford's experience as he and his fellow "Kriegies" were forced to depart Stalag Luft III near Sagan and march through the brutal winter with virtually no food, inadequate clothing, rampant illness and injury to the prison camp at Moosburg, near Nuremberg, almost exceeds ones senses as to it horror. Heroes and scoundrels abound, both within the ranks of the POWs and the German guards. The author relates his treatment at the hands of a scornful enemy in a most credible fashion, leaving little to the imagination as to how he wound up weighing 65 pounds when finally liberated. The author completes his story with some quite humorous tales he and his fellow POWs enjoy once out of prison but not yet back in the control of US authorities. His narration of travails in France, particularly in Paris, and at the wheel of a stolen (liberated?) 6-wheel Mercedes Command Car, perhaps blurs the lines between fact and fancy but certainly makes entertaining reading. This is a book which will be of interest to those who want to know more about life as a POW and is an easy and enjoyable read.

In a matter of hours the war was over for the bombardier. The B-24 bomber caught flak over Klagenfurt, Germany; the crew bailed into enemy territory. Within 24-hours the plane's bombardier, Second Lieutenant George Crawford, unable to evade capture, wound up in the back of a German car, a giant SS officer leering at him, telling him, "For you, der var is ofver."

So begins the bombardier's When Surrender Was Not an Option, a memoir recounting Crawford's experience as a prisoner of war in the prison camp Stalag Luft III. Told as if Crawford were recalling his imprisonment and giving an oral account, and while not graphic or gory, the book displays a vivid portrait of life in a POW camp during the waning months of World War II.

Concrete details and repeated images supply readers with a sense of the miseries the POWs endured. Space was almost non-existent; the POWs were packed in barracks in which the "bunks were layered so close that one had to be approximately horizontal to sinuously slither into the bunk." Food, or its lack, became almost an obsession. Hunger was rarely lifted. Rations usually consisted of dry black bread or Red Cross chocolate bars, and maybe cabbage in the summer. When liberated by General Patton, Crawford weighed 65-pounds.

One of the most vivid scenes is a long march in freezing weather when the Stalag is vacated and the POWs moved further into Germany as the Allies close in.

While the details and images make the war and the POW experience vivid, the book's strength lays in its depiction of the POWs' courage and character not only to endure and survive their imprisonment, but also their willingness to keep their capture from becoming surrender. Crawford details his and his fellow "Kriegie's" attempts, sometimes funny, to harass the German soldiers guarding them. The POWs dug tunnels and made escape attempts, but their most effective means of harassment was psychological.

After constructing a makeshift radio receiver, the POWs could monitor war news and had better information than the Germans. Such information shook the Germans; war maps showed that an Allied victory was at hand. For the Germans, more than the POWs, the war would soon be over.

Though sketchy in parts, Crawford's memoir is a realistic portrait of war. It lends perhaps just enough detail to allow imagination to fill in any gaps. It portrays courage and fear, tears and laughter, and perhaps a better understanding of what war is like.

It would be hard to describe this story without using words like 'gritty,' 'horrifying,' and 'engrossing.' George Crawford of the 456th Bomb group (Heavy), along with James Lee, tells his first-person story of flying the giant American bombers over enemy targets, surviving being shot down, and more importantly, surviving being a prisoner of war in the most dismal conditions one can imagine. Told in a no-nonsense, straight-forward approach to the facts, you will find yourself turning the pages rapidly, not able to put this fascinating account of one man's challenges in wartime down until every word soaks in. Should be required reading for every high school student in the US, along with the classics of the genre like "Those Who Fall" by John Muirhead.
Roy J. Firestone ...

This book covers so much in the derivatives marketplace. After being involved in the business for 12 years and writing three books on futures and commodity derivatives I was definitely refreshed and enlightened by Mr.DeRosa's book.

DeRosa has picked excellent papers. If one reads the papers in detail, the currency derivatives literature, as well as related derivatives literature, becomes very easy to understand.

This book presents highly technical papers on diverse topics from variuous academics. It would be very helpful to anyone looking to understand theoretical aspects of FX derivatives. Since most papers are written by different authors, notation is not consistent. In addition, academics do not always write like Hemingway. Nevertheless, the book covers everyhting from vanillas to exotics very well.

The book is a good book IF you know your math. It has been a while since I have done calculus and finance classes and needed to review other books in order to understand all the math. I laughed at the introduction when the author stated math is not needed. While this is partially true, it is because the author expects the reader to memorize his formulas and so omitts some of the steps of how the formulas come about. Do not try to do this book without help or even better yet, without the solution manual. It was a grueling class with more than 1/2 the class dropping it because the book was so hard to understand.

This book is a great introduction to options and futures, I do not have any university experience in mathematics and was able to follow nearly all that I have read so far. However, if you are not comfortable with substituting into equations and following equation derivations, maybe option/futures trading is not for you.

I needed to understand everything I could about Futures and Options in a short time and this book was perfect for that purpose. The introduction about futures and options is great and the content in general is very easy to understand and follow. I really liked the examples and the way the author explained each topic. However, I have to confess that maybe my engineering background helped me to understand the math behind, but I believe that even if you don't have much mathematical knowledge you can follow the book.

A big plus of this book is that it contains a chapter about Value at Risk and one focused more on more recent types of derivatives contracts (e.g., energy, weather, etc.).

In general, I think that with this book you could cover more ground more quickly than with other books.

Mr De Rosa has written a well structured
introduction into the forex option market.
The clear examples and the pleasant writing
style make it an easy read (two nights, tops!).
Starting by showing the reader an EBS
dealing screen, he explains the price setting using the Black-Scholes model.
A bit more explanation might have been
in order on how the interbank market
really works in practice (volatility runs for ATMS Straddles, market making, etc...).
The section on exchange traded options and
futures is interesting for readers unaware
of the important differences with the OTC market.
The formulas for the Greeks contain almost
no typo's thus making the book useful as
a reference for a programmer.
The section on barrier options is a bit
disappointing. The relationship between
higher order derivatives and the volatility
smile might not have been out of place
(I am referring to the celebrated "three option
method" to quickly price exotics without
having to use MC-simulation).
Also, when introducing alternatives to the
BS-model, the formulae appear as by Deus
ex Machina. Nothing is said about calibration
difficulties. And when introducing alternative
models, why not going into long term fx
options ?
All in all, I would recommend the book to
any beginning forex option trader or salesperson,
but as those people generally do not earn the
largest of salaries, it is even better if they
borrow it from their institution's library.

This book is a nice introduction to the subject. A trader would benefit from reading the text more than a financial engineer would. It may be a good idea to read the author's "Currency Derivatives," as well. People who have read any text at the level of Hull or higher are advised to move on to "Currency Derivatives" directly.

This second edition has been greatly expanded with materials on the mechanics of the foreign exchange and options markets. The sections on the international monetary system have been updated, especially with respect to the European monetary system. New sections have been added on exotic currency options, specifically on barriers, average rate, basket and quantos options. There are two new chapters, one on currency option applications and another on currency overlay management.

This (work)book reminds me of those self-help books. "You can do better if you remember to try harder and don't give up." "Be proactive." etc.

However, there are some interesting suggestions for getting groups and teams to think together. Most of them are really cheesy (like the color of the paper its printed on), but if you can overcome your fears of being laughed at after the meeting or of any awkwardness during the meeting, then they can be good ice breaking techniques.

Stimulating groups isn't as easy as it sounds, so browse the yellow pages in the middle of the book. The rest of it you can skip.

This book is great! It is extremely well organized, easy to read-and fun! Provides a whole new outlook on how to build a work environment that stimulates brain power and team thinking. It gives thought provoking fodder for why it's important to enhance thinking in the workplace, outlines the components of effective performance (in terms of human characteristics and qualities), and then tells you HOW to do it. I highly recommend this book if you are trying to build a more positive and creative environment.

This book is full of useful information that focuses on strengthening the FOUNDATIONS of teams and individuals, rather than changing the WINDOW DRESSINGS. The author believes, as I do, that developing the individual's inner strengths is the only way to achieve consistently strong results in business. This is not a new idea, but the book provides the motivation and a step-by-step process to harness its power. Use the book as a guide for transforming your team or as an occasional reference when you need an idea to give a jolt to a mundane process. I especially appreciated the section on "Thunderbolt Spirit." The idea that managers can develop the flexibility, courage, humor, awareness and spirit of action in team members has been instructive for me, and I am achieving real results through it. --T. Farrell, president & CEO, Webster Properties

The good news: This book is, by far, the best coaching resource
available for the midline option.

The bad news: The book fails to adequately discuss complimentary
gameplanning; namely, coaching points for the midline
belly, and QB technique on playaction passes from
the midline fake.

Great book to read for all coaches interisted in the Midline.

1. Excellent book to recommend to people who want to learn more on exotic options, but... 2. Two many mistakes in numerical examples, formulas, and even theorems !!, actually damaging the quality of the book. Since this is the second edition, the reader was prepared to get a cleaner version. I suggest the author creates a Web site for all these errors. 3. All these errors, typos, etc... make this book out of reach for those who want to use the formulas but have no idea on how to correct them... 4. Many very usefull ideas for structured derivatives desks

I have just gradueted in Economic and Bussiness two months ago. The topic of my degree thesis was the barriers options, so I bought this Peter Zhang book. I think that it is a quite good book: easy to read, clear for its explanations but I found some mistakes in mathematical formulas. Here is the list: formula 10.25 page 212; formula 10.26b; formula 10.37 page 222; the example in page 232-233 is wrong because when the up-and-out call is valued the square symbol over the parameter v is missing; in page 236 the rebate growth rate is eta instead of gamma; formula 10.49b page 236; in formula 11.2 page 259 the correct parameter is gamma isnstead of f; in formula 11.27 page 277 UCDP is missing; formula 11.30 page 280; formula 11.34 page 281; formula 11.51 page 294. For more details about errata I found please e-mail elenaz@tin.it.

The book is aimed at university students with many worked examples, graphs and end of chapter questions. Redhead's previous works follow this structure. This is useful when you are entering fresh into the area and do not want to be overwhelmed with models or more cutting edge "state of the market" diatribes.

I find the book to be logical, well laid out and progressive. Not the most sophisticated work out there but for the non-trader, non-CFO, it works its charms.

This is a great handbook for a non specialized audience who want to go further with derivatives instruments. Enter the magic world of swaps, options and even swaptions !

Books which teach trade-methodology never give you any real result. They will show you some successful examples but never tell you what is the real chance of their systems. So you can learn different kinds of trading systems from those books but you can not do any real comparison for them. I have bought the Sherry's book with the hope that I can learn some analysis for real results. I was dissapointed. It is not difficult to understand the math in the book if you have college degree. However, there is not sufficient discussion on connecting probability/statistic theory to financial market.

Sherry's book provides a series of screening tools that you should apply to your historical data, such as prices, price changes, or volume. If your data passes these tests, then it is much more likely that your technical tools will work effectively and lead to profitable trades. Get an autographed copy of this book and an opportunity to discuss the tools with the author for up to 1 hour as listed on Ebay.

Two years ago, after two clots while only 32-33 years old, I was diagnosed with APS. I've really searched and struggled to find information on this topic, even reading and re-reading through medical journals my doctor gave me when she couldn't find patient information to answer my questions. There exists no adequate information on this topic online. This book's content is limited but clear and concise and far exceeded my expectations. The case studies are extremely helpful. One story even clarified some critical misinformation I've carried that could have led me to my third clot! I found some parts opened my eyes (and were emotionally painful) but most were hopeful and optimistic. Most importantly, it did for me what I think the writer intended... it revived my motivation to be my own advocate, to not surrender responsibility for my medical condition to anyone (including doctors) and never stop educating myself. The only improvement to content that I could suggest is the addition of practical suggestions on prevention of symptoms and dealing with it.

When I was diagnosed with antiphospholipid antibodies earlier this year, I was unable to find much more information on the syndrome than a page or two on an outdated website, or the same blahbittyblah medical terminology. When I tripped over this book, I ordered it, figuring it would be little more than a glorified pamphlet.

I was pleasantly surprised! While it is by no means a textbook on APA and the ramifications of living with the syndrome, it had more information on the condition than I have found ANYWHERE, including what I learned from my doctors. I initially turned straight to the recurrent miscarriages section of the book (the book is divided into chapters on the different manifestations of APA: migraines, heart conditions, recurrent miscarriages, strokes, etc.) as that is how APA affects me, but I later found the other chapters to be just as informative, even though I hadn't thought they applied to my situation.

All in all, I was very pleased with this book. It exceeded my expectations!