The Strategy-Led Business: Step-By-Step Planning for Your Company's Future

Book Description

"What is at stake is not some obscure academic point, but lies at the very heart of option pricing, and will inform the users' decisions insofar as their choice of pricing model is concerned." From the Introduction In his new book, Riccardo Rebonato introduces financial professionals to the practical and subtle use of the concepts of volatility (the degree of randomness in a price movement) and correlation (the relationship between the changes in value of two financial assets) in the pricing of complex options. By explaining this approach in clear and accessible terms, the author provides traders, risk managers, financial professionals and students with the tools to undertake an effective investigation of option pricing models both at the qualitative and the quantitative level. "In this book Dr Rebonato brings his penetrating eye to bear on option pricing and hedging. In his usual intuitive style he critically examines a variety of approaches to equity, currency and interest-rate options. The book is full of practical insights that reflect a wealth of experience in applying these models. The book is a `must read' for those who already know the basics of options and are looking for an edge in applying the more sophisticated approaches that have recently been developed." Professor Ian Cooper, London Business School "This book is a blend of the theoretical, the practical, and the abstract, but always staying in contact with reality. I don't agree with everything in it, but it taught me a thing or two. Read it carefully and thoroughly." Paul Wilmott, author of Derivatives "Volatility and correlation are at the very core of all option pricing and hedging. In this book, Riccardo Rebonato presents the subject in his characteristically elegant and simple fashion. He rightly emphasises the financial and economic assumptions which underpin the models, and gives salutary warnings against models which overfit the current structure of prices but which perform poorly in predicting future behaviour. A rare combination of intellectual insight and practical common sense." Anthony Neuberger, Associate Professor, Institute of Finance and Accounting, London Business School

Customer Reviews:

A useful book with lots of examples........2000-07-18

Overall, I found this book interesting. There is nothing really new or unknown to quants or researchers working in this field but much of the material has actually not been written down in any other book, which makes this book useful.

There are some important points about hedging and pricing derivatives in a non Black Scholes world which are important but are nowhere to be seen in any textbook on options and/or mathematical finance. The author correctly stresses the distinction between real-world and implied statistical quantities.

Also, he gives a lot of common sense comments on questions like hedging with smiles, which are very helpful. Topics like changes of numeraire which are exposed in notoriously obscure ways in many mathematical finance textbooks are explained in simple terms with EXAMPLES. Examples illustrate eveyr point and this is perhaps what is lacking in other textbooks. I appreciated this a lot. Mathematical rigor is not the strong point of this book but I think it is an advantage rather than a drawback: it allows the reader to focus on important points which are not the mathematical ones in fact. However, there are some mistakes in the text from time to time.

However, there is something I feel very unconfortable with: the author does not mention/cite other peoples work in this field and seems to attribute to himself most of the results explained in the book. Anybody who has been working in the field in the last decade can easily associate lots of names with each of the points raised in the book but these names are nowhere to be seen. Does the author have a very limited view of the literature or is he deliberately not mentioning other peoples work? Perhaps a mixture of both.

Fine, but nothing particularly new or conclusive........2000-03-15

This book brings together many of the recent publications concerning the volatility surface. The work is interesting and points out many of the well known problems with pricing options in a non Black Scholes world. As is often the case with financial literature, it is more interesting from an academic perspective than from a practical one.

a must read for anyone involved in derivative pricing.......2000-01-04

The Black-Scholes model for pricing FX and equity options has become ubiquitous. However, it is always used with a pinch of salt. In particular, traders typically use different volatilities when pricing options with different strikes, a practice which makes no sense in the context of the model, but is a very effective way of compensating for its deficiencies. This is known as the smile effect from the shape of the volatility graph.

Rebonato's new book sets out to examine these deficiencies and presents various alternative models. For each model, he examines the validity of its assumptions and predictions, convincingly demonstrating that fear of jumps is a major cause of smiles.

The other major theme of the book is that volatility and correlation are quite different objects for interest rate derivatives than for FX and equity options. In the context of BGM models, he shows that the shape of the volatility function of forward rates is the major cause of decorrelation, rather than actual instantaneously uncorrelated movements.

This book is not a first book on mathematical finance but it is accessible and is a must read for anyone involved in the pricing of derivative products.

Book Description

For many nations, a key challenge is how to achieve sustainable development without a return to centralized planning. Using case studies from Greenland, Hawaii and Northern Norway, this book examines whether 'bottom-up' systems such as customary law can play a critical role in achieving viable systems for managing natural resources. While the use of customary law does not always produce sustainability, the study of customary methods of resource management can give valuable insights into methods of managing resources in a sustainable way.

Customer Reviews:

A Poet's View of a Dying Way of Life.......2001-07-28

NIGHT FALLS ON ARDNAMURCHAN is hard to categorize--part musing, part straight biography, but with a sizable (and enjoyable) amount of autobiography thrown in as well. Publishing companies usually shy away from manuscripts that are hard for them to pigeonhole, but I guess Penguin just HAD to publish this one. It's that good.

Maclean, a poet by trade, brings his formidable powers of observation to bear on the scenery and lifestyle of the crofting community of Sanna on the Ardnamurchan Penninsula is the Western Highlands, the home of his crofter parents. Through inference and empathy, he delineates a hard way of life that was not without its own built-in rewards. He contrasts it with the easier life of those in suburb and city, never sentimentalizing the earlier way of living, but leaving us to draw the conclusion of which was the more satisfying way to spend one's days.

Book Description

This book probes the deep-rooted links between the land, the people and the religious culture of the Scottish Highlands and Islands in the nineteenth century. The responses of the clergy to the social crisis which enveloped the region have often been characterised as a mixture of indifference, deference or fatalistic passivity. Seeking to lay bare the existing myths by a wide-ranging analysis of all the denominational, theological and social factors at play, this study boldly overturns the received scholarly and popular interpretations. Here, in the first comprehensive study of this important subject, we see more clearly the centrality of religion in the experiences of Highlanders during the upheavals of the clearances and the crofters' war.

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The Making of the Crofting Community
James Hunter
Manufacturer: John Donald Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Scotland | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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Excellent Read.

Crofts And Crofting
Katherine Stewart
Manufacturer: Interlink Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Scotland | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

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21st Century | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

In this new, greatly expanded edition of her bestselling Crofts and Crofting, Katherine Stewart updates the crofting story for the 21st century. Crofting, a particularly Scottish way of managing the land, has evolved into a rich tradition, marked by community spirit, personal warmth, and toughness in the face of adversity. This book is a concise guide to the history, working methods, and future of this unique way of life.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Read........2005-10-11

Crofts and Crofting by Katherine Stewart is an excellent book which describes what life was, and still is like, living and working on an authentic highland croft. Drawing on her 92 years of experience, Katherine writes with great skill and passion, which makes this a must read book for anyone with an interest in the subject, or just simply an interest in very high quality writing. 5 Stars.

Agrarian change in the Scottish highlands: The role of the Highlands and Islands Development Board in the agricultural economy of the crofting counties (Glasgow social & economic research studies)

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Agrarian change in the Scottish highlands: The role of the Highlands and Islands Development Board in the agricultural economy of the crofting counties (Glasgow social & economic research studies)
J. M Bryden
Manufacturer: M. Robertson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Production & Operations | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0855201517

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The Claim of Crofting
James Hunter
Manufacturer: Mainstream Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Scotland | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

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General | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Natural Resources | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1851583297

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Crofting
Douglas Willis
Manufacturer: John Donald Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Sales | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

Crofting is one of the most famous and distinctive features of Highland life and landscape. This book gives a comprehensive account of the history and development of crofting from earliest times, of the Clearances and struggle for crofting rights, and of crofting in the twentieth century in times of economic difficulty and agricultural hardship.

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Crofting Law
Sir Crispin H. Agnew
Manufacturer: Tottel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Law | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1845925106

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Crofting People and Politics

Manufacturer: Argyll Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Melt inclusions provide a unique record of the physical and chemical processes operating in active magma chambers associated with volcanic systems. This book includes a summary of modern techniques used to study and interpret melt inclusions in volcanic rocks, as well as descriptive studies of specific volcanoes. These various studies document the enormous potential for melt inclusions to provide a window into the dynamics of active magma chambers.

' Melt Inclusions in Volcanic Systems' gives the most up-to-date summary of research on the application of melt inclusions in studies of active and fossil volcanic systems, as well as suggestions for future research in this area.

Amazon.com

Like the comic books that animate and inspire it, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is both larger than life and of it too. Complete with golems and magic and miraculous escapes and evil nemeses and even hand-to-hand Antarctic battle, it pursues the most important questions of love and war, dreams and art, across pages brimming with longing and hope. Samuel Klayman--self-described little man, city boy, and Jew--first meets Josef Kavalier when his mother shoves him aside in his own bed, telling him to make room for their cousin, a refugee from Nazi-occupied Prague. It's the beginning, however unlikely, of a beautiful friendship. In short order, Sam's talent for pulp plotting meets Joe's faultless, academy-trained line, and a comic-book superhero is born. A sort of lantern-jawed equalizer clad in dark blue long underwear, the Escapist "roams the globe, performing amazing feats and coming to the aid of those who languish in tyranny's chains!" Before they know it, Kavalier and Clay (as Sam Klayman has come to be known) find themselves at the epicenter of comics' golden age.

But Joe Kavalier is driven by motives far more complex than your average hack. In fact, his first act as a comic-book artist is to deal Hitler a very literal blow. (The cover of the first issue shows the Escapist delivering "an immortal haymaker" onto the Führer's realistically bloody jaw.) In subsequent years, the Escapist and his superhero allies take on the evil Iron Chain and their leader Attila Haxoff--their battles drawn with an intensity that grows more disturbing as Joe's efforts to rescue his family fail. He's fighting their war with brush and ink, Joe thinks, and the idea sustains him long enough to meet the beautiful Rosa Saks, a surrealist artist and surprisingly retrograde muse. But when even that fiction fails him, Joe performs an escape of his own, leaving Rosa and Sammy to pick up the pieces in some increasingly wrong-headed ways.

More amazing adventures follow--but reader, why spoil the fun? Suffice to say, Michael Chabon writes novels like the Escapist busts locks. Previous books such as The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys have prose of equal shimmer and wit, and yet here he seems to have finally found a canvas big enough for his gifts. The whole enterprise seems animated by love: for his alternately deluded, damaged, and painfully sincere characters; for the quirks and curious innocence of tough-talking wartime New York; and, above all, for comics themselves, "the inspirations and lucubrations of five hundred aging boys dreaming as hard as they could." Far from negating such pleasures, the Holocaust's presence in the novel only makes them more pressing. Art, if not capable of actually fighting evil, can at least offer a gesture of defiance and hope--a way out, in other words, of a world gone completely mad. Comic-book critics, Joe notices, dwell on "the pernicious effect, on young minds, of satisfying the desire to escape. As if there could be any more noble or necessary service in life." Indeed. --Mary Park

Book Description

Winner of the Bay Area Book Reviewers' Award, New York Library Book Award Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, PEN/Faulkner Award, Los Angeles Times Book AwardJoe Kavalier, a young Jewish artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdiniesque escape, has just smuggled himself out of Nazi-invaded Prague and landed in New York City.His Brooklyn cousin Sammy Clay is looking for a partner to create heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit America - the comic book.Drawing on their own fears and dreams, Kavalier and Clay create the Escapist, the Monitor, and Luna Moth, inspired by the beautiful Rosa Saks, who will become linked by powerful ties to both men.With exhilarating style and grace, Michael Chabon tells an unforgettable story about American romance and possibility.

Customer Reviews:

Entertaining.......2007-10-10

Well written, enjoyable read. I was interested in the characters, even though I was sometimes confused if this was truly based on someone or just pulp fiction. If you are interested in the evolution of comics and their influence, you will enjoy this book.

The book title says it all.......2007-10-03

It helps if you were born in New York and identify with people who can draw or have other creative skills. It also helps if you care about the struggles, successes and heartbreaks of the first and second generation of immigrants in the thirties and forties. Even if none of the above applies to you, you'll find Kavalier and Clay fascinating and sympathetic characters who you'll be rooting for until the end of their story.

Fun Read!.......2007-09-24

Chabon is truly a wordsmith. His novel is visually (through his narrative) rich, historic and engaging. If you are from NYC, you'd especially love this novel. Highly recommended.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon.......2007-09-19

Michael Chabon, author of Wonder Boys, brings us the Pulitzer Prize winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. A riveting novel of the comic book world set against the backdrop of the Second World War. Its two heroes, Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay, fight through the world of color, ink and writing, to compete with the likes of Superman and Batman - the result is an amazing story that has never been told.

This is a coming-of-age story for two very distinct characters. One is Sammy Klayman, an aspiring writer trying to make it in New York. Working for Empire Inc., the best he can do, in his diminished capacity, is come up with catchy ad slogans. Though he hopes for so much more, he seems stuck in this rut. During his spare time he draws pictures; though not excellent in skill and look, they are good enough for comics, one of his great loves.

Then there is Josef Kavalier: a boy born in the impoverished ghettoes of Prague, where every day is a fight for survival. Taken under the wing of a mentor, Bernard Kornblum, he is taught in the ways of the magician and illusionists - the immortal Houdini. As months pass, he is soon able to break out of any chains, and undo any luck with the help of his small tools (secretly stashed amongst his teeth and gums). Then he performs a might illusion: breaking free of a chained sack that has been hurled into an icy river; he survives barely, but his brother suffers a debilitating accident, and from then on Kavalier will have no more to do with this trickery.

His only hope of coming to true fruition is to get to America, where there is insurmountable opportunity. Having failed to get a visa, with the advent of the Germans seizing further control of Eastern Europe, h hides himself in the coffin of a golem and makes it to Lithuania, where he catches a ship bound for New York. There he meets up with none other than Samuel Klayman.

The two get together and propose their idea for the first comic book to the head men of Empire Inc. They are given the weekend to come up with the entire comic, and come Monday morning they deliver the first episode of the superhero known as the Escapist - his job: to disperse all evil; there is no lock he cannot pick, no bond he cannot break. And so begins the fulfilling career for these two young mean, covering many years and riches.

Chabon is a certified master of the language, taking the reader on sweeps and bounds through imagery set at a new level: "Thunder harried the building like a hound, brushing its crackling coat against the spandrels and mullions, snuffling all the windowpanes."

Once the reader finishes this book, they are left with the happy complacency that Amazing Adventure received one of the highest prizes possible. The story is of a quality that is a rarity in the literature of today's world. In short: everyone needs to read this book, be they reader or writer.

For more book reviews, and other writings, go to www.alexctelander.com

Excellent, well worth the read........2007-09-18

This is a good novel - it got a little long for me, even though I love a long book. The characters are interesting and the plot is great, it's definitely worth reading. Very interesting depiction of these two comic book guys though it's really not about that at all. Kavalier's character is particularly interesting to watch, as he's trying to save his family from the Nazi's, so his day to day take on that was well done.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0965007030

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Large Print

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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Large Print

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 1419339591

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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Michael Chabon
Manufacturer: RD House New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 184115492X

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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Michael Chabon
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SRKSC0

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Michael Chabon
Manufacturer: Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000URGF84

Las asombrosas aventuras de Kavalier Y Clay/ The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Debolsillo 21)

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Las asombrosas aventuras de Kavalier Y Clay/ The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Debolsillo 21)
Michael Chabon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Comic | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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United States | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Michael Chabon's "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay": A Study Guide from Gale's "Novels for Students" (Volume 25, Chapter 1)

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Michael Chabon's "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay": A Study Guide from Gale's "Novels for Students" (Volume 25, Chapter 1)

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

ASIN: B000PM8DZC
Release Date: 2007-04-20

Book Description

Term paper due tomorrow? Need to cram for a test? Or just looking for the best information about a favorite literary work?

Turn to "Novels for Students" to get your research done in record time. Brought to you by Thomson Gale--the world's leading source of literary criticism and analysis--this e-doc contains: author biography; plot summary; character analysis; an overview of the novel's themes, style, and historical context; a compendium of in-depth critical material; study questions; suggestions for further reading; and much more.

Why choose "Novels for Students"? Because no other source offers so much in such a compact package. Trust the experts: Thomson Gale--and "Novels for Students."

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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Michael CHABON
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OPAQEQ

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Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay 1st Edition Inscribed
Michael Chabon
Manufacturer: RANDOM HOUSE @ TRADE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000TMYEVK

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