Synopses & Reviews
Can a renowned mathematician successfully outwit the stock market? Not when his biggest investment is WorldCom. In
A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market, best-selling author John Allen Paulos employs his trademark stories, vignettes, paradoxes, and puzzles to address every thinking reader's curiosity about the marketIs it efficient? Is it random? Is there anything to technical analysis, fundamental analysis, and other supposedly time-tested methods of picking stocks? How can one quantify risk? What are the most common scams? Are there any approaches to investing that truly outperform the major indexes?
But Paulos's tour through the irrational exuberance of market mathematics doesn't end there. An unrequited (and financially disastrous) love affair with WorldCom leads Paulos to question some cherished ideas of personal finance. He explains why "data mining" is a self-fulfilling belief, why "momentum investing" is nothing more than herd behavior with a lot of mathematical jargon added, why the ever-popular Elliot Wave Theory cannot be correct, and why you should take Warren Buffet's "fundamental analysis" with a grain of salt.
Like Burton Malkiel's A Random Walk Down Wall Street, this clever and illuminating book is for anyone, investor or not, who follows the marketsor knows someone who does.
Review
"The world's wittiest mathematician has done it again! Paulos' hilarious account of getting trampled while running with the bulls will leave you laughing-and more than a little wiser." Sylvia Nasar, John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Business Journalism at Columbia University, author of A Beautiful Mind
Review
"For the average investor it's hard to know what to make of the stock market after the dizzying roller coaster ride of the past decade. John Allen Paulos is well-known for explaining hard concepts in an easy-to-understand way, and A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market offers an engaging overview of everything from "betas" to the efficient market hypothesis. You may not put down the book knowing how to make a killing, you'll have a better understanding of the underlying logic of the stock market. And you'll have been entertained in the bargain." Max Boot, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, and former Features Editor, Wall Street Journal
Review
"The math he introduces is easily understood, however, and Paulos gives copious examples; his book would be interesting to those who enjoy popular works on mathematics." Library Journal
Review
"A severe investment miscalculation leads to valuable lessons about the tricky psychology and thorny arithmetic of the market...Investors would do well to heed his entertaining, frequently counterintuitive, always useful bean-counting methodology. A first-rate exploration into the math of the market: heuristic numeracy at its best...[Paulos'] uncommonly cogent text does not promote a secret investment method for attaining riches. Rather it lucidly clarifies many of the mathematical and statistical influences of the stock market. With accustomed humor and apt examples, Paulos tackles complex computations that are vaguely understood and frequently misapplied by Wall Street pros." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"[F]unny, insightful little volume...Playful and informative, Paulos's book will be appreciated by investors with a sense of humor." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Well, Mr. Paulos lost his mad money and more, but he deserves to recoup some of it with A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market. . .Mr. Paulos, who teaches mathematics at Temple, has a knack for making technical concepts clear and entertaining, as he has shown in earlier books like Innumeracy. Here, with his usual light touch, he lays out the mathematical ideas behind the market, cutting back and forth between the lessons of theory and his own misadventures inpractice." Wall Street Journal
Review
"Throughout this wide-ranging survey, the writing is spirited, funny and clear. Mr. Paulos is continually imaginative in finding apt metaphors and anecdotes for the mechanics he dissects...The liveliest parts of his book are the most fanciful-the extended comparison of stock-market strategies to the modern infatuation with diets, for example-and the text is enlivened throughout by his good humor." The New York Observer
Review
"With rueful humor, Paulos tries to explain how a smart guy could be so stupid. . . As in his previous books, Innumeracy and A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper, the math is mostly accessible, infused with amusing stories and self-deprecation." Boston Herald
Review
"Most books whose titles include the word "mathematician" end up leveling a lawn chair. This one won't. . . Odds are good it will stay on your bookshelf, and not under your lawn furniture." USA Today
Review
"John Allen Paulos is a genius at translating the arcane and complex for the rest of us in ways that go down as easily, and enjoyably, as vanilla ice cream." Washington Post Book World
Review
"In A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market, Paulos provides an amusing entry into the mathematical concepts of investing and gauging stocks' performance. In a chatty style offering stories and vignettes, he examines how investors can quantify risk, what options are, and what the efficient market hypothesis is really all about." Science News
Synopsis
Bestselling author Paulos employs his trademark stories, vignettes, paradoxes, and puzzles to address every thinking reader's curiosity about the marketIs it efficient? Like Burton Malkiel's A Random Walk Down Wall Street, this clever and illuminating book is for anyone, investor or not, who follows the marketsor knows someone who does.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-204) and index.
About the Author
John Allen Paulos 's previous books include Innumeracy, Beyond Numeracy, A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper, and Once Upon a Number. He is a professor of mathematics at Temple University, a columnist on ABCNews.com, a member of the editorial board of the Philadelphia Daily News, and a frequent commentator on the intersection of mathematics, psychology, and everyday life. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.