Fischer Black and the Revolutionary Idea of Finance
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
praise for FISCHER BLACK AND THE REVOLUTIONARY IDEA OF FINANCE
"The story of Fischer Black. . . . is remarkable both because of the creativity of the man and because of the revolution he brought to Wall Street. . . . Mehrling's book is fascinating."
FINANCIAL TIMES
"A fascinating history of things we take for granted in our everyday financial lives."
THE NEW YORK TIMES
"Mehrling's book is essential reading for anyone interested in the development of modern finance or the life of an idiosyncratic creative genius."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Fischer Black was more than a vital force in the development of finance theory. He was also a character. Perry Mehrling has captured both sides of the picture: the evolution of thinking about the pricing of risk and time, as well as the thinkers, especially this fascinating eccentric, who worked it out."
ROBERT M. SOWLO, Nobel laureate and Institute Professor of Economics, Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"Although I worked closely with Fischer for nine years at Goldman Sachs and clearly recognized both his genius and the breadth and originality of his ideas, until I read this book, I had only the vaguest grasp of the source of his inspiration and no understanding at all of the source of his many idiosyncrasies."
BOB LITTERMAN, Partner, Kepos Capital
"Perry Mehrling has done a remarkable job of tracing the intellectual and personal development of one of the most original and complex thinkers of our generation. Fischer Black deserved it: a charming and brilliant book about a charming and brilliant man."
ROBERT E. LUCAS JR., Nobel laureate and Professor of Economics, The University of Chicago
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a 30-year career equally divided between academics (University of Chicago) and Wall Street, Black contributed seminal papers in almost every area of finance and many areas of economics, but few were published in major peer-reviewed journals and many were never published at all. He spent most of his time alone in a room thinking and writing, was uncomfortable in large groups, an undistinguished lecturer and famously eccentric in ways more irritating than amusing or dramatic. All of this gives Barnard economist Mehrling (The Money Interest and the Public Interest) his work cut out for him. He has responded with a book that, beyond providing the facts of Black's life, serves as the best currently available general history of the revolution in finance that took place between 1960 and 1990: the essential ideas and disputes are explained clearly, with a minimum of mathematics and jargon, and the relationships among the leading innovators are explored concisely but in depth. As far as Black goes, Mehrling gives a clear picture of his working life and reveals the strong family ties and close personal friendships of a man often thought to have been emotionless. On the whole, Mehrling's book is essential reading for anyone interested in the development of modern finance or the life of an idiosyncratic creative genius.
