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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “This was an outstanding and fun journey. I learned a tremendous amount about both mathematicians from history and the struggle that people have endured to understand and control risk. This is an excellent book.” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“A good history of risk, risk analysis, and the science behind economics.”
Brian Reitz wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Since the beginning of time, mankind has stared into the often cold hard face of risk and thrown its fate to the gods. This is a very well written book, and given its heavy subject matter Bernstein manages to be clear and even entertaining. He explains how over centuries many of the worlds greatest thinkers have contributed to our understanding of what risk is, how risk can be measured, and how to analyze and quantify the likelihood of a certain outcome. This is a fascinating book, but it is not for the faint of heart.”
Stan W wrote this review Friday, October 9 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Really insightfull, deep research, wonderful book”
jfaerman wrote this review Friday, September 11 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“An absorbing historical account of how mankind has grappled with uncertainty. Just as uncertainty is a fact of life so is the human effort to make sense of uncertainties an varied ways in which we have tried to cope with it for millenia.
Welcome to Devendra Kodwani's Bookshelf wrote this review Wednesday, August 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
”“spellbinding and humbling”
Crane T wrote this review Sunday, June 21 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Interesting”
Jason B wrote this review Monday, June 15 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“There are a great number of financial sages to be found in print and one of those with an extremely long track record of solid investment wisdom is Peter Bernstein, author of "Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk" among other books.
Dave S wrote this review Wednesday, June 3 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I first came across Bernstein in a 2004 Money Magazine interview which led me to read the aforementioned title.
The book itself is an interesting look at the concept of risk through the years and the Money Magainze interview had some fascinating nuggets from Bernstein about his approach to investing. Some highlights from the interview are listed below:
“Diversification is both recognition of ignorance and an aggressive strategy because it puts you in position to profit from wherever the next big hit might come.”
‘You can never be sure that today’s market is going to be a replay of the past.”
“Maximizing returns is an investment strategy that makes sense only in very specific circumstances. In general, survival is the only road to riches. You should try to maximize returns only if losses would not threaten your survival and if you have a compelling future need for the extra gains you might earn.”
This last concept around not simply attempting to "maximize returns" struck me the most in that it means you never will know the absolute highest point an investment will reach, so you never attempt to simply maximize, you always balance against risk.
this review also posted at:
http://liketowritestuff.blogspot.com/2008/08/against-gods-by-peter-bernstein.html
”“Superb history of risk management down the ages: starts with its (obvious) application in gambling down to modern day portfolio managament. Goes into the quirks of the characters along the way and thus is not just a dry, boring, factual book ! The author is also very well read & it shows in the way he phrases things through the book...and that adds to the fun of reading the book.”
Viswanathan K wrote this review Wednesday, May 20 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This work is a minor classic of financial literature. Business historian Peter L. Bernstein wrote it during the early 1990s, when faith in the power of quantitative models and financial engineering was at its apex, and he tells a heroic story. Beginning with Greek mythology, Bernstein shows how cultural ideas about risk and probability evolved through Arab mathematics, the European Enlightenment and Chicago School economics. He writes in a spare, straightforward style, and manages to convey the essentials of financial theory and the essences of great economists without losing the reader in a maze of equations. Of course, the 2008 financial crisis cast probabilistic models and financial engineering as global market villains. In retrospect, that makes Bernstein’s evident admiration for those models seem rather touchingly ingenuous. Nonetheless, getAbstract finds that this is still one of the best popular introductions to the development of financial science.”
getAbstract wrote this review Tuesday, May 19 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A wonderful review of risk and probability theory.
ross l, gilbert, arizona wrote this review Tuesday, May 5 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
History and development of the people and the math ”
