Nonlinear Pricing : Theory & Applications
Author: Christopher T. May
List Price: $69.95
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ISBN: 0471245518
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (08 February, 1999)
Sales Rank: 167,527
Average Customer Rating: 2.95 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 3 out of 5
Interesting Read, but Needs More Focus on Implementation
I found this book to be an interesting read but was ultimately left disappointed because the book does not provide much useful information about implementing non-linear pricing models, particularly for use pricing securities, options, or derivatives. The author is absolutely on the mark in his discussions of the flaws underlying the majority of financial economics theory. He also clearly has applied these approaches because the book includes numerous insightful comments and observations. I recognize that nonlinear math can be very difficult and that many valuable insights can be obtained without a detailed understanding of the math. However, the author could (and should) have provided greater coverage of the math. I would have liked to have seen coverage of the math necessary to implement fractal brownian motion into simulations or pricing models.
Rating: 1 out of 5
Completely Useless
Optimistically I bought this book expecting an insight into non-linear models of price behvaiour, maybe some thoughts I could use to flesh out my own experience - a peek into other approaches to managing price volatility perhaps. What I got was a rehash of technical analysis with a glaze of chaos theory. Don't bother.
Rating: 1 out of 5
Not worthy to present itself as a serious work
I expect that I am not the only reader to conclude that Christopher May has only a cursory grasp of nonlinearity. As a reader of philosophy and religion and a mathematician with research experience in nonlinear dynamics, I kept wondering when the "hand waving" and "name dropping" were going to yield to some cold, hard analysis or practical application. I might even have settled on a few unproved practical pricing applications!To add insult to injury, this book was poorly edited: papers were discussed as if well-known, then introduced five paragraphs later; whole paragraphs were repeated several times, as if the book had been a series of independent pamphlets stapled together; anecdotal musings ran on for pages with no purpose apparent other than to impress the reader with the author's erudition; typographical errors peppered the few mathematical expressions.
I have similar complaints with Edgar Peters' books, but at least Peters understands nonlinearity sufficiently to have applied some famous techniques to problems in financial valuation. One can hardly escape the suspicion that Christopher May is a long-winded "poseur."
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