Option

Actually, I'd give it 3.5 stars. Excellent exposition and developement of material. However, there are quite a few typo's that would throw the reader with less math off the trail (and possibly some with good math). Good coverage of different types of cases, underlying math, real world appications and properties of solutions. Personally, I would have preferred all the rigorous material (including math proofs) in the one book rather than making statements and referring to seminal real options papers very often. Some credit is due here, however, as there are some proofs in appendices at the end of each chapter - I think these could have gone into a little more detail and depth - (I say this only because there isn't the vast library of books on this subject that exists for more mature disciplines - guess I was looking for a more comprehensive reference.) I have read Trigeorgis' other books so this was not an introduction. Liked the book, learnt a lot and am applying it to real life projects, however had to learn a fair bit on my own too.

This book gives you the latest update on what's going on in real options theory. Brilliant throughout, but its really too hard mathematically to be of much value for someone who's not a math-person. I found the chapter on the Antamina mine to be immensely interesting. It was originally used as a case study on options theory at Harvard and shows you how these academics went about valuing a peruvian mine. It's a very valuable chapter because it is focused on the practical side of real options theory. The chapter on "Rules of thumb for capital budgeting" didn't make much sense at all to me. The rest of the chapters are no easy read, but if you feel up to it mathematically, you're going to find this a very interesting book. If your not that much into mathematics, I think it's going to leave you rather frustrated. This book cannot have been meant as a guide for practitioners, it's more of a field day for academics, that's my impression at least.

OK, I admit the year has not ended yet, but that doesn't mean you mus not read this: now! This book is co-edited by Trigeorgis, one of the most proeminent author in the area. It deals with all the new developements on real options. It's objective is to give the researcher or student a key to enter the world of real options. Contributions are worldwide, mainly by people with a strong mathematical background. This makes it sometime difficult to understand for more management focused readers. However the book by the quality of the writting and the new ideas it brings, keeps you awake like a thriller. To be own by any person who want's to know about the future (nearly present) of corporate finance.

For the average newcomer to investing this is an OK book, but it does focus alot on subjects you probably do not need to know unless you plan on working for a brokerage firm. It does give good descriptions and examples of all the security instruments (stocks, bonds, options, futures, etc.) but it accounts for only about 50% of the book. The rest is in my opinion redundant to the lay-person and is in places woefully out of date (especially the taxation section). If updated, I would rate this a 4, but given the age of the text, I would recommend looking elsewhere for an introduction to financial markets.

Are you getting NASD series 7 registered? For quick references and review this book will make a wonderful addition to your study materials. It's definitely a keeper.

If you're new to the financial world and want to understand the lingo, terrain, and equipment of pure capitalism, this book is for you. Don't let the 1991 publication date fool you. Aside from some out-of-date tax information in a later chapter, this book packs an amazing amount of useful financial clues and explanations. One of the strongest features of this text is its use of examples. Whether it's options, futures, or IPOs, the authors provide number-based scenarios to guide the reader towards understanding. This book will not excite you or show how to make $2 million in the stock market. It will help you understand many of the financial instruments which comprise capitalism.

I won't waste time with this.....

See my review of his book "Point and Figure Charting: The Essential Application for Forecasting and Tracking Market Prices"

This is one of four books by Tommy and his team. Thay have a logical, organized method for investing that does indeed work.
The best money you can spend is to either learn this method yourself or find an investment consultant who uses this method.

Honestly, there are not too many books in the personal investing genre that we'd recommend for serious investment advice. But if you're a serious investor considering a venture into short-term trading (formerly known as day-trading), you'll benefit from the wisdom, mind-boggling detail and dizzying array of charts presented here. Tom Dorsey likens good investment advice to a sports playbook that a coach can follow through the twists and turns of the game. The plays and strategies that they outline will be valuable for novices, but we [...] figure that they will challenge trading veterans as well. You need to do some homework (like following the indices and making charts) to work with this book. Dorsey and crew urge you to learn stock-market basics, govern your emotions, understand the psychology that drives investors and avoid common mistakes, like investing based on trends and hot tips. And, don't mind their sports jargon; it's just a framework to make the uninitiated feel comfortable.

The author does a fine job of presenting his system, however, he forgets to explain how he goes about his analysis. A comprehensive book would inform the reader how the author conducts analysis. Besides, one would expect for the price of the publication, a print date of Jan 2001 may offer an updated version of the original print: no luck. Much of the print dedicated to computer application uses old Lotus language - it is clear this edition could care less about users in Jan 2001 - it also seems to pass over the 90s as well. In all, it seems the author presents his notes on a system of looking for cycles, but the path is not clear and the guide not up to date. I am a commodity hedger and I find little use with book.

The Book has detailed explanations and examples of futures trading techniques and a lot technical analysis. One of the few forecasting books that is not lost in mathematics . The spread sheet examples purred like a kitten in excel. This in turn can be used to judge the significance of cycles or trends. The spread sheet are a great help to sort and mange data to see what you are really looking at. Easy to follow real world examples. It's the kind of book you wish for in MBA classes but never seem to see

If you are just starting, if you have no idea of how to even remotely begin construction on your library's web site, than this book might be of some help to you. Maybe.

However, if you've got a basic plan or if you are going to be working on an existing site for the first time you may want to look elsewhere for guidance. *Building the Service-Based Library Web Site* starts off by assuming that you have little to no understanding of how the web works. Which is fine. But it shifts gears fairly quickly and starts liberally using HTML terms and techniques that aren't adequately explained in the text, and that could prove to be confusing for those with no HTML experience. It also assumes that your library does not already have a web site and proceeds to give the most advice on how to put your catalog online. Few libraries in my region do not have a web site to their credit so this hardly seems necessary. Other advice, such as "avoid cluttering it with too much detail about your library", is just absurd. Besides the catalog, basic information about the library is what brings our patrons to our page.

I recently took on the task of redesigning a section of my library's web site--I started with very little knowledge of just how it would be done. Ideas weren't the problem, but implementing them proved to be. I've been working on it for some months now and I picked up this book, hoping that I would be able to strengthen what I've already put in place. It wasn't much help.

My suggestion would be to write out a basic plan for what you have in mind for your site(for this you might want to visit other library sites, and the book does actually provide you with the means to do this effectively and simply); find out as much about the program(Dreamweaver, etc.)you will be using as you can; and have a book that outlines the basics of coding close to hand. You'll learn on your own what works and how you can make it work more quickly than you'll get help from this book.

Building the Service-Based Library Web Site shows how any type of library can make the most of its cyberspace presence

the first 3 chapters touch very briefly on psychology, fibonacci tools and candlesticks charting as an introduction. it is concise, just about sufficient to give uninformed readers a basic understanding in these topics. for a deeper understanding of these subjects; steve nison's 'japanese candlestick charting' and fischer's 'new fibonacci trader' are excellent. these chapters were easy for me as i had already read those 2 books.

chapter 4 is what seems to be a pretty useless chapter where the author states statistical tests done on the profitability of each method described in the previous 2 chapters (ie the various candlesticks and fibonacci tools). he would repeat the description of each method and show their profitability tests over certain periods.

chapter 5 details a very useful method of using fibonacci trading, the PHI-ellipse. however, this chapter only repeats and expand what you'd have read in the previous chapters. note: PHI ellipses was already covered briefly in chapter 2. PHI ellipse is also found in 'new fibonacci trader'.

chapter 6 teaches you how to combine the various methods discussed. the author would repeat some of the methods as he reintroduce them. an illustration of how repetitive the book is, the chapter is 50 pages long, half of which are graphics and there are summaries after each topic/method; yet there is a further summary to this chapter of 2.5 pages. obviously, the summary is a repetition!

there would be a last chapter of summary for the entire book...

a software for using the proprietory PHI-ellipse is provided with this book. i find that i cannot use it so far. but this may be due to my own inadequacies with the computer... or a conflict as the software has some very strict requirements for the charting data.

a good book with good theories but the author need to organise it better. the end product is disorganised and repetitive. readers could just read 'japanese candlestick charting' and 'new fibonacci trader', apply some common sense to combine these 2 methods and skip this book. the same CD-ROM software for the PHI ellipse come with 'new fibo trader'.

This book is a combination of Candlestick, Fibonacci and some basic chart patterns, Three quarters of the books discussed the basic principles and applications of these three tools, only the last chapter show you how to apply these tools together. The explanation of candlestick and chart pattern seem to be too brief, and the fibonacci part overlays a lot with the author's previous book. I would suggest you to buy this author's previous book "The New Fibonacci trader" together with Steve Nison's "Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques¡¨, and it would be sufficient for you.

This book provides a basic description of various option strategies. Might be a good primer for newbies, but most of the strategies can be found on the web or in other books with more meat. Good starter book ... don't expect much more.

The book was short,simple and to the point. Excelent starter book.

As of this writing (July 1998) this book is "out of print". That is too bad. With so much garbage being churned out in the name of prophecy nowadays, someone searching for a real study of historical, biblical positions is out of luck. So if you CAN get this book, DO SO.

Erickson is a prolific author and impressive scholar. He is currently a professor at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon and Baylor University. His credentials are apparently unimpeachable. And his work in this book reflects that, with a couple of minor exceptions if one is a beginning student.

"Contemporary Options..." is a wonderful study that delineates the varying modern understandings about the last days: Pre-Millennialism, Post-Millennialism, and A-Millennialism. A chapter is spent describing each of these positions: Overview, History, Tenets, and Evaluation. A chapter is also devoted to each view of when the so-called "rapture" of the church will occur (! Pre- and Post- Tribulationalism)! Though he has his OWN view about which of these is the proper view, Erickson shows himself capable of allowing the reader to decide...he does not dogmatize OR indoctrinate. Only in his "p.s." at the end of the book does he mention his personal position.

A predominate view of the past 150 years, dispensationalism (a premillennial view) is given a good treatment as well. Erickson devotes a chapter to this widely held view of biblical interpretation. Also worthy of note is how the book begins: with a quick couple of chapters of how some others have interpreted eschatological material: to wit, Albert Schweitzer (so-called "Consistent" Eschatology), Charles Dodd (so-called "Realized"), Rudolf Bultmann ("Existential") and Jurgen Moltmann ("Hope").

The primary problem with the book (or perhaps with this reader!) is the challenge of understanding all that Erickson is saying in regard to the int! erpretation of some particular Greek phrases and tenses. P! ortions of the book seem to assume familiarity with the ancient language that most of us probably don't have. Despite this, however, the "gist" of the idea is understandable.

Also a minor disappointment was that Erickson does not touch too much upon the preterist or historical interpretation of prophecy, though they ARE mentioned. A complete study of prophecy or eschatology should involve a review of these positions. But again, don't let this keep you from reading the text. The book is outstanding in reviewing the modern positions described above.

All in all, Erickson does a TREMENDOUS job explaining for the layman or student these competing ideas. And he ends with the reminder that as fascinating as eschatology is, we need not allow it to divide Christianity!

With the reputation of a man like Dr. Erickson, one comes to expect good scholarship. Erickson does a masterful job a FAIRLY and OBJECTIVELY examinig each viewpoint. He lists the pros and cons of each position (he even critiques his own!) without name calling and mud-slinging, which we see enough of in today's echatology. One might wonder what the first chapters have to do with eschatology, but hang in there because he describes not only the echatology, but the theology of prominent, however somewhat neo-orthodox theologians. With a firm grip on this,one may confidently enter the book. Overall, it is a great handbook on introductory eschatology. Its flaws are not enough discussion on a prominent position such as preterism, however it is mentioned. If you are a student in New Testament or Systematic Theology, this book is an essential.

This book contains the most of the relevant topics regarding futures, options and derivatives. However, it lacks a discussion of interest rate swaps.

The most glaring flaw of the book is its technical depth without accompanying examples that are clear and explanatory. Furthermore, the index in the back of the book is not cross-referenced well to the topics you would expect (and are contained) in the book.

I would highly suggest purchasing an alternative book on the same topic by John C. Hull, Options, Futures and Derivatives. Hull's book contains much clearer examples without losing the technical theory necessary to obtain a complete understanding of the topic.

This book is truly one of the best of its kind. It introduces all the basics of futures and options that you need to know and also presents the mathematical details in a reasonable way. The text is extremely clear and easy to read and allows you to really understand the technical details of difficult subjects like option pricing. I was surprised to find step by step calculations and derivations of all necessary mathematical results. This is very essential when you want to obtain a solid understanding of derivatives. Derivatives books like that of John C. Hull are full of real world examples. This is something you won't find in this book. Nevertheless it is a great book for the beginner as well as the advanced. It is a must buy!

"The Gamma Option" is Jon Land's third novel featuring his semi-recurring hero Blaine McCracken. Like all his other technothrillers, this one involves someone trying to take over the world and only one man, Blaine McCracken, can stop them. Everything you've come to expect from Land is present here, however, unlike his other works, this one starts slowly and doesn't really accelerate rapidly until about the book's midpoint.

In this one, a dictator has learned of a submarine that was sunk during World War II. The dictator learns of the secret cargo and stops at nothing to get it in order to destroy most of the world's population. However, Blaine McCracken and his trusty sidekick Johnny Wareagle are joined by a mysterious woman named Evira to prevent the destruction. Caught in the middle of this is Blaine's newly discovered son who has been kidnapped. Blaine must try to rescue his son while also preventing the dictator from achieving his goal.

While still an entertaining read, this one seemed to develop more slowly than previous Land novels. Also, there were a large number of typographical errors in the edition I read -- the first paperback printing. The conclusion is satisfying, but if you've read other Land novels, the surprise twist(s) at the end are probably not very surprising. Overall, it's still better than many other technothrillers out there, but if you're a first time reader of Jon Land, pick up one of his earlier titles as they are better reads than this one.

I think that the situation described in the book is so close to reality that it frightens. even that the book is rated fiction it is based on a true situation here in Israel that may happen any time. This is a very fascinating book , filled with lots of action scenes that I believe would fit perfectly in an action movie.