"Ignorance is Blight"... Devlin Advogado's scrawled message across his desk left me with an unsettled feeling, similar to the one I had a long time ago while reading Robert Pirsig's 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'. Perhaps academic research will someday quote from Kent Osband's 'Iceberg Risk' (New York: Texere, 2002), much as Richard Roll, in his famous 1977 Critique of tests of the CAPM, quoted from Pirsig. Osband endeavors to help us avoid blight in this enlightening and entertaining story as we follow supersharp risk analyst Devlin and his pragmatic manager, Conway Wisdon, on a wild ride through the world of investment banking risk management.

But Iceberg Risk is more than a novel; indeed, it is really two books in one: each chapter covers the intuition of its subtopic first, through the clever device of Devlin and Conway's saga within Megabucks Investment Bank; and then delves more directly into the mathematics. Of the math, the reader is encouraged to explore "about as much or as little as you want", a feature I especially appreciated given my low-calorie mathematical diet. And, just as the novel part is an entertaining read, the quantitative part is a useful summary of the mechanics of portfolio management theory.

Part I of Iceberg Risk covers the statistics of probability, covariance and correlation, Pascal's triangles and Bernoulli variables, IID versus non-IID estimates of tail risk, Tchebyshev's inequality, the Kuhn-Tucker conditions for the solution to a Lagrangean optimization, mixtures of discrete and continuous probability measures, De Finetti's theorem, the problems with VaR and the ubiquitous (in finance) normality assumption, and even computer sex (read the book!). Osband gives us a quick introduction to matrix math (though it is even more sparse than the helpful section in Markowitz' 1959 book) before concluding the first half of the book with conditional multivariate normality.

Part II of Iceberg Risk offers a unique and thoughtful approach to overcoming the deficiencies of standard risk assumptions for portfolio management. In this part of the book Osband covers convex and nonconvex utility, regret aversion, choice theory, the appraisal ratio of Treynor-Black and even delves into the Bayesian approach to statistics. Partition functions are introduced as a method of combining conditional return distributions with multi-regime risk aversion. Without resorting to Monte Carlo simulation techniques, Osband proposes a numerical approach to generating risk estimates, since there is no closed-form equation available to solve the issue. He even shows how to account for options and other nonlinear payoff assets.

Osband's approach to risk management is fresh and appealing. It would be worthwhile reading for risk managers and portfolio managers. One aspect I liked very much about his writing style is that the characters represent very distinct human traits, much like those of another of my favorite authors, Ayn Rand. For example, we are introduced to the concept of regret aversion when Conway meets Regretta:

"He spun around to see a raven-haired woman dressed in black. She was beautiful, but with the saddest eyes Conway had ever seen. 'Pardon me for eavesdropping,' she said, 'But if Dr. Know-nothing can't help you, maybe I can.' 'Go away, Misery Girl,' snapped Devlin. 'We don't need you.' 'Oh, I think you do,' she said... 'Now here's what I think you need to do. First measure every outcome in terms of its gross percentage return... Second, square that return and take the negative inverse. Third, form the probability-weighted average of the various negative inverses. Fourth, pick the portfolio that generates the highest probability-weighted average. Am I being clear?' Devlin and Conway were blown away. 'She does math,' mumbled Devlin to himself."

Osband makes the observation that "The mainstream seems less interested in managing risk than the appearance of risk." Readers of Osband's Iceberg Risk might just become a bit less mainstream for the reading.

Financial professionals of all stripes will enjoy this entertaining book. Value-at-Risk (VAR), the most common risk management technique misses hidden risks.

If we use the model for a normal distribution, a five-standard deviation credit loss event should only happen once in every 7,000 years, but in the market place, we see this happen once or twice in a decade. A book that talks about hidden risk and the deficienies of VAR in capturing credit risk is another very entertaining read by Tavakoli called "Credit Derivatives" (Second Edition).

one of the few truly original works i've seen in my yrs as a risk manager! this work goes well beyond the standard re-hashing of the much hackneyed debate surrounding Var & deficiencies of existing measures.
novel format does a great job of conveying intuition & bridging chasm b/n ivory tower musings & the industry politics of accepting good ideas. There are key practical insights on many aspects of risk & portfolio mgt. Treatment of ExpUtility framework & Cond normality is good.

Its the only book I remember reading page for page repeatedly as a kid. Being John I felt it was written for me. Other than my first teddy bear (which I still have) its the only thing I miss about my childhood. Definitly one of lifes lessons taught here.
Good for children of all ages.

My parents bought this book for me when I was a child - I am now 25 years old, and I still have it! One of my favorite memories, it is so worn that I am purchasing a new copy to share with my own children someday. I highly recommend this cute story about just being yourself!

This is a splendid story of a little boy who wants to be anthing but himself. John learns a valuable lesson about appreciating the wonderful thing about being just who you are and that being something or someone else is not always what it seems. I grew up with this story and think it is timeless in its message to children of all ages. There is also a message in this book for parents and other adults who influence children. Listen to children and hear their concerns. Delightful, entertaining and a treasure. This book should be back in print!

This is the cutest book I have come across in a long time. I checked this book out at our local library to read to my three-year-old son, and we liked it so much that I bought a copy. Minnie the monkey is bananas over spaghetti! The storyline is simple and interesting---and funny. My son wants me to read this to him every day, sometimes several times a day. I still find the thing amusing, even after having read it more times than I can count. There are a few additional benefits to owning this book. It opens up wonderful opportunities for discussion with your children on such topics as understanding the likes and dislikes of others, being a good playmate, the perils of overindulgience, and being considerate of other people's feelings. Not only that, but a little boy who wouldn't touch spaghetti before, now gladly eats a double portion! :)

I needed a children's book to read to my college literature class to practice speaking in public. I chose this book because it was a fun read and a good story. My children absolutely loved the book. My class also loved the story.

This is one of the best books I have read for young children who like stories. This book is also wonderful for children just learning to read. I highly recommend this fabulous book!

please get in touch with me, I have a book that I have had for twenty some odd years I know that after researching Rockwell Kent that someone can give me a historical and monetary value, it was edited by Rockell Kent in 1939, it has the most beutiful paintings from world famous painters. Hence the title World famous Paintings.

North by East is truly one of the greatest sailing books I have ever read. High adventure through the eyes of a true poet and artist.

A glorious story of adventure when Kent and two friends sailed on a private schooner from Labrador and Newfoundland to Greenland. We are carried along through deep fogs, icebergs, storms and calms until the men are shipwrecked in a violent storm on Greenland's rocky shore. The story also presents an absorbing and tender tale of the relationships of Kent with the people of Newfoundland, his two shipmates and the Stone Age Eskimos of Greenland -- who threw him a highly successful party in spite of the language barrier. Kent illustrated the text with over 100 magnificent sketches and woodblock drawings that in themselves are worth the price.

Project managers/Team Leaders/Leads...: if you're about to start an Oracle Designer project, get yourself a copy (and everyone on your team one) of this book. The authors have done an outstanding job in covering most if not all standards and naming conventions for Designer objects. And boy, do we have objects in Designer. May be the best part of about this book is that you (the leader) won't have to spend months and months of fighting and trying to come up with standards that everyone can agree upon. It simply IS there- take it and use it. End of discussions. Kudos to Mark and Ken.

If your organization is just getting started with Designer, you need this book. It provides really valuable guidance based on intimate knowledge of how the tool works. If you use the standards they suggest your life will be much easier! In my work at a large metropolitan Transit agency I am trying to get almost 40 people to standardize on Designer. I just hand them the book and say "Do it this way." The end result is the naming conventions match, the different projects synch up and everyone can concentrate on being productive.

I had just finished a short Oracle Designer Naming standards for our Database and Data Architecture group, when I bought this book. It is clear, concise, helpful, and for me, incredibly timely! The Naming standard I created was a pretty bare bones document, created to help our Logical Modelers as well as our DBAs. I incorporated this short Naming standard into the MS Word template (provided on the invaluable CD included with the book), to live on our intranet site. I was able to create this new well formatted, larger, and more thorough document, in less than a week. It saved me at least a month of work, partially by accepting some of the standards that the authors propose, and then seeking editorial reviews from in-house topic experts (rather than the more traditional method of seeking input, writing the standard, then sending it out for review). Of course, I only used the sections that were appropriate for our company.

I actually read the book (as in sit down and read, not just browse), and found the style very readable and the content consistently on target. If you need to write an Oracle Designer Standard, it would be most inefficient and foolish not to start with this book.

This book was originally conceived and written as an Advent Devotional by the authors but can be used, as I have used it, as a devotional for any period when you need to know that God cares about you and your problems or issues. Written in a personable, practical style, Salt and Light brings a common sense approach to two men's walk with God, and how they are sharing their unique vision with their family and friends. From "the grass is always greener over the septic tank" and the often quoted but never improved on "Pray, read your bible and love Jesus" both men show that you can use this practical guide on many levels, and enjoy growing closer to God with each one.

This book of devotions is a creative mix of theology, humor, life lessons and real examples of living faith. I recommend this to anyone who wants a book that can make you laugh, make you cry and always make you connect faith with daily living. A good read for the seeker or mature in faith.

This is such a great devotional. It was very hard to stop at just one devotional. I found myself continuing to read on and I realized that I had gone into another days devotion. But this is ok because I just kept re-reading which is a good thing to do! I have recommended the book and have given copies to others. Their reaction is Thank You so much for such a great inspirational book. It is not like other devotionals, which may not hold your attention, and cause you to reflect on each devotion. Everyone I have talked to that has read the book simply loves the book.

You sit sometimes and think for hours about how to do something in Visual Basic that is so darn easy to do in the pure Win32 API. It still does not come. More Jolt. Nope still nothing. Then you read this book and holy moly there it is!

I think that pretty much covers what this book is about. For someone like me that started programming Windows with Windows 2.0 and am an old hand at the actual C level API this book brings some of the tricks of the trade to the Visual Basic programmer. Between this book and "Advanced Visual Basic 6" by Matthew Curland a programmer of VB will find plenty of ammunition to shut down those "VB is a whimpy language" attack chihuahuas.

If you are a better than average VB programmer and need some new tricks to keep interest up or if you are any level programmer that needs a little spice to go with your code get this book and play with the code inside.

This book also does something else all books should do. The authors included the source code for ALL the examples and annotated the code to the max. Thus the "Annotated Archives" title, eh. Other peoples' code is a valuable tool for programmers and there is plenty of it in this book.

This book is the best example book I've ever read! A lot of examples, all are explained and the Code is very useful: Create flat toolbars with the Toolbar Control, do floating or docking Toolbars, or display designer menus! Congrats!

When it comes to references and "secrets of" books, there are so many choices that it makes finding a decent book nearly impossible. I am delighted to have stumbled onto "Visual Basic Annotated Archives." Whether you need to learn how to write an ActiveX DLL or simply wish to look at snippets of clever code, this is the one to consider. I heard that one of the authors (Kent) is a teacher... it shows in his writing style, which is very easy to follow.

I found Book 6 of The Kent Family Chronicles-" The Warriors", to be the best so far.The Civil War is in its closing months and Jeremiah Kent, second son of Jephta, walks hundreds of miles to Georgia, following his promise to his dying commander,Captain Rose who is worried about the fates of his wife and daughter when the Union Army seizes his plantation.Serena Rose, the captains daughter, is an evil vindictive young woman who drives Jeremiah to such a state of madness that she virtually forces him to shoot her to save his life.Realising that this act has put him beyond the pale, he changes his name and joins forces with an Indian.The pair become buffalo hunters and eventually outlaws. Michael Boyle, former protege of Amanda Kent, joins the crew of a company building the Union Pacific railway, where he meets Hannah, the daughter of a whisky selling pedlar. They marry,move to her home state and proceed to build a successful business. Gideon, blinded in one eye, works in a railway yard but soon sees the injustices perpetrated on the workers who are frequently injured and is determined to begin a union. Loius Kent is heavily involved in fraudulent stockmarket manipulations and comes to his just desserts.

keep going, they get even better....

John Jakes continues the series with another great one. Rich characters, great dialogue, and an interesting history lesson. He is consistently excellent.

Woman of Color, Daughter of Privilege tells the story of Amanda Dickson, daughter of a wealthy plantation owner in rural Georgia and one of his slaves. Amanda was much loved by her father and amazingly went on to inherit most of his estate upon his death despite the strict racial segregation and discrimination of the era. Obviously, this situation was unique for its time. The book is very well-written,very informative and provides a good glimpse into the life of a privileged woman in a strictly segregated society. Highly recommended

I first saw the movie, A House Divided and searched out and found out that there was a book. I read the book and i recommend this book for everyone to read. It is a good book. If you haven't seen the movie. SEE IT! the author that wrote this book should be commended. He did a very good job. I am about to write a paper for my history class on this book. Linda D. Westman Mannsville, Oklahoma

Hi my name is Ashlee Dickson and I am a descendent of Amanda America Dickson. I am very appriciative to the people who have read the book and reviewed the website. I am also proud of my heritage and what she has done for the people of America. I am proud to be a Dickson.I am John R. Dickson's daughter's child. Thank you for your time.

Street Money is the most interesting mystery that I have read thus far this year. It is also my first brush with magic realism in the mystery genre. How else can one describe a plot fueled largely by coincidence and felicitous encounter? It starts with the death of Benny "Lunch" Cosicki, successful facilitator of labor problems in Philadelphia and unfolds like an intricate piece of Celtic embroidery.

This is not to suggest that there is any lack of violence or derring-do in Kent's book. Much of the latter is supplied by Benny's daughter, Andy, a fresh-minted Penn graduate who is determined to find out why her father died. Her mentor is an agoraphobic obituary writer name Shep Ladderback at the tabloid Philadelphia Press where Andy has just been hired. He helps her explore the web of Cosicki's relationships which began in an orphanage and stretch from the blue collar neighborhood of Redmonton where Benny tended bar and met Andy's mother to Philadelphia's Main Line.

I hope Kent gives us more Ladderback and Cosiski collaborations.

Bill Kent's tough-as-nails heroine, Andy Cosicki is just right for the 21st Century. She's feminine enough to be vulnerable and tough enough to fight her way out of any mess. And she's smart, which is also true of the writing. I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

Bill Kent takes artistic chances and succeeds with riveting intensity in the debut of his new mystery series. "Street Money" teams a gritty old tabloid obit writer, N.S. (Shep) Ladderback, with a tall, striking, but wet-behind-the-ears cub reportor, Andrea (Andy) Cosicki, to delve into the murky depths of political deals, an over-the-edge evangelist, and dark family secrets. Kent paints a vivid cast of powerful characters combining the sensitivity of a Michelangelo with the raw power of a Picasso. "Street Money" is a must for any serious mystery fan.