Aaron Brown is now out with a new non-technical book Red-Blooded Risk: The Secret History of Wall Street on the history of risk and quantitative analysis. He draws a timeline of how quants entered diverse fields from black jack to finance and transformed them by their actions.
Aaron is not just another Bachelor of Journalism writing intellectually lazy pamphlets filled with headline collections, anecdotes and catchphrases. He is one of the most respected risk professionals who has worked at top places, doing top work, for a long time. He is an avid forum participator on nuclearphynance and is not scared of putting his name and photo under his statements.
Man who has it all and is not afraid to lose it is the best possible writer, thus you should read the first chapter for free on Amazon, buy the book and probably check out his previous book, The Poker Face of Wall Street as well.
Commentaries from professionals on nuclearphynance.com:
"I read the first six chapters after my daughter fell asleep today...just couldn't put it down. I have questions for Aaron already but I will hold off posting until I finish the book." - dgn2, 1822 posts
"I have to admit it sounded good." - Nonius, 10594 posts
"Aaron was kind enough to let me read through an early version. It is a book of guiding principles rather than specific quantitative recipes. it is almost about meta-risk. i read it cover to cover and have found myself dipping back into it every week or so. there have been a lot of "ah, now i get it" moments. some of these have been helping me clarify what i was trying to think while others were completely new. The style is very conversational. it really is like sitting down with the author for a chat. If anyone is disappointed with this book it says more about them than it. - filthy, 1111 posts
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"I read an advanced copy and have pre-ordered the real deal. I'd recommend it to anyone on this forum. Partly historical, partly organic, partly yarn, with a pinch of sensationalism. Most of what Aaron says on these subjects, either in person, from a lectern, or on-line, falls into two camps with me: highly thoughtful or unconventionally insightful. Re the latter, it is not uncommon for Aaron to says things such that my initial gut reaction is to disagree, then I go through my phases of acceptance: I can't think of anything to refute his logic, I start thinking of examples to corroborate, and, finally, I tend to agree. The parallels with gambling and organized crime will intrigue some, infuriate others, and entertain many. Aaron is an original thinker and this book is another example of this fact." - chiral3, 4412 posts
"I read the galleys . . . like it enough so that I'm buying copies for myself and a couple of the young whippersnappers in the office. Though I have had a policy of trying to buy books on Kindle (when available) in order to reduce the ''way out of control book footprint'' in my apartment I am making an exception in this case. The comics make the physical copy worth having . . . and I have yet to figure out a way to get an author to sign my Kindle. Can't think of a better way to inculcate folks with insight into risk and risk trade-offs." - TonyC, 1087 posts