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The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It Paperback – January 25, 2011

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 837 ratings

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With the immediacy of today’s NASDAQ close and the timeless power of a Greek tragedy, The Quants is at once a masterpiece of explanatory journalism, a gripping tale of ambition and hubris, and an ominous warning about Wall Street’s future. 

In March of 2006, four of the world’s richest men sipped champagne in an opulent New York hotel. They were preparing to compete in a poker tournament with million-dollar stakes, but those numbers meant nothing to them. They were accustomed to risking
billions.  
 
On that night, these four men and their cohorts were the new kings of Wall Street.  Muller, Griffin, Asness, and Weinstein were among the best and brightest of a new breed, the
quants. Over the prior twenty years, this species of math whiz--technocrats who make billions not with gut calls or fundamental analysis but with formulas and high-speed computers--had usurped the testosterone-fueled, kill-or-be-killed risk-takers who’d long been the alpha males the world’s largest casino. The quants helped create a digitized money-trading machine that could shift billions around the globe with the click of a mouse. Few realized, though, that in creating this unprecedented machine, men like Muller, Griffin, Asness and Weinstein had sowed the seeds for history’s greatest financial disaster.  
 
Drawing on unprecedented access to these four number-crunching titans,
The Quants tells the inside story of what they thought and felt in the days and weeks when they helplessly watched much of their net worth vaporize--and wondered just how their mind-bending formulas and genius-level IQ’s had led them so wrong, so fast. 
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Scott Patterson has the ability to see things you and I don’t notice. In The Quants he does an admirable job of debunking the myths of black box traders and provides a very entertaining narrative in the process.” --Nassim Nicholas Taleb, New York Times bestselling author of Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan

“Fascinating and deeply disturbing…Patterson gives faces and personalities to the quants, making their saga accessible and intriguing…[he’s] onto a big story that begs follow-up.” 
--New York Times

“Valuable…makes [the quants’] secretive world comprehensible…the story radiates with hubris, high stakes and expensive toys.” 
--Bloomberg.com
 
“A riveting account…there are many dramatic moments and a good dose of schadenfreude in Scott Patterson’s THE QUANTS.” 
--Financial Times

“Read this book if you want to understand how the collapse of the global financial system was at its core a failure of modern financial theory and its most ardent disciples. Patterson is able to gracefully explain the complex ideas underpinning our financial system through an extraordinarily engaging and insightful story.” 
--Mark Zandi, Chief Economist of Moody’s Economy.com and author of Financial Shock

"Enlightening and enjoyable...Patterson masterfully recounts how brilliant mathematicians and technologists ignored the human element...If you're serious about understanding the financial meltdown, you need to read this book." 
--David Vise, Pulitzer Prize Winner, author of The Google Story, and Senior Advisor, New Mountain Capital

"A  compelling tale of greed and conceit,
The Quants tells the inside story of the Wall Street rocket scientists who could couldn’t resist playing with numbers and nearly blew themselves up.” --Michael J. Panzner, author of Financial Armageddon and When Giants Fail

"
The Quants will keep hedge fund managers on the edge of their Aeron chairs, while the rest of us read in horror about their greed and their impact on the wider economy. A gripping tale right until the last page...but I fear this is perhaps not yet the end of the story." --Paul Wilmott, Oxford Ph.D., founding partner of Caissa Capital, and author of Paul Wilmott Introduces Quantitative Finance

“A character-rich tale of how quirky geniuses cut their teeth on gambling, then moved on to the biggest casino of all, Wall Street. From blackjack to black swans,
The Quants tells how we got where we are today.” --William Poundstone, author of Fortune’s Formula


About the Author

SCOTT PATTERSON is author of the New York Times bestselling book The Quants and Dark Pools and a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone and Mother Earth News. He has a masters of arts degree from James Madison University. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crown Currency; Reprint edition (January 25, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0307453383
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0307453389
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.21 x 0.78 x 7.91 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 837 ratings

About the author

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Scott Patterson
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Scott Patterson is author of the New York Times best-selling book The Quants and Dark Pools and a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal, where has written about hedge funds, high-speed trading, Warren Buffett, the global mining industry, the Jan. 6, 2021 investigation, and climate change. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone and Mother Earth News. He has a masters of arts degree from James Madison University. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
837 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book engaging and informative. They appreciate the well-written, high-level explanations of the quant world. The book provides useful insights into key players' lives and motivations. Readers describe the writing style as coherent and well-documented. The information provided is interesting and informative about key players in the finance industry. Opinions differ on the historical context - some find it useful and comprehensive, while others feel it lacks historical perspective.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

70 customers mention "Readability"68 positive2 negative

Customers find the book engaging and interesting. They say it's a good follow-up to The Man Who Solved the Market and a must-read for intelligent investors.

"...This was a nice follow on to that book as well as The Man Who Solved The Market by Gregory Zuckerman which dives deep into the life of legendary..." Read more

"...Patterson's perspective on this historical epoch is essential reading for those interested in economics, culture and human behavior...." Read more

"As a history of quantitative trading, this book is a lot of fun, and despite what some of the reviewers might say, the author appears to understand..." Read more

"...background in probability theory and statistics and I found the book worth reading, although often I had to use my own understanding of statistics..." Read more

59 customers mention "Insight"57 positive2 negative

Customers find the book useful and interesting. They say it provides good insights into the lives and motivations of key players in the financial industry. The book covers the origins of quantitative investing and lessons that remain relevant even after the financial crisis. Readers appreciate the insightful biographies of various quants included throughout the book.

"This is an interesting read for financial economists, financial engineers, and other quants working in high finance who want to learn more of the..." Read more

"...that book over this one for anyone looking for a deeper understand of how financial markets work and how they have radically changed over the past..." Read more

"...Certainly, not a great book but interesting and fun to read. So I was surprised to see some very negative reviews of the book on Amazon...." Read more

"...The historical anecdotes in the book are somewhat entertaining, as are the brief biographies of some of the managers and employees of a few of the..." Read more

50 customers mention "Writing style"35 positive15 negative

Customers appreciate the book's writing style. They find it well-written and engaging, with a high-level explanation of how the financial world works. The author does a great job describing working conditions, personalities, and emotions in a coherent and entertaining way. The details are fantastic, and the narrative is clear. Overall, readers appreciate the author's ability to translate complex concepts into plain English.

"...The book does an excellent job in providing us with a deep knowledge of the inner profile of a quant and what makes him or her tick...." Read more

"Good description of the success (and excesses) of the quant movement, as well as the catastrophic downfall...." Read more

"...A lot of this book therefore is just plain silly, and the writing incredibly sophomoric when discussing some of the mathematics used in financial..." Read more

"...The reading and pace is very good for a book about financial matters and the author tells a very entertaining narrative...." Read more

25 customers mention "Information quality"19 positive6 negative

Customers find the book informative and entertaining. They appreciate the interesting stories about finance and key players in the Quant market. The author has great access to fascinating people and reveals plenty of fresh information about behind-the-scene actions.

"This is an interesting read for financial economists, financial engineers, and other quants working in high finance who want to learn more of the..." Read more

"...All in all, it was a good introduction to who quants are and how they arose, so I would recommend it for readers seeking material covering this." Read more

"The enjoyable portions of the book were those detailing objective history in the finance field...." Read more

"...It also guides us through the mayhem of the financial madness that overtook The Street during the global financial madness three years ago...." Read more

8 customers mention "Historical context"3 positive5 negative

Customers have different views on the historical context. Some find it a useful narrative history of key threads in the development of quantative finance, especially the final chapters about Renaissance. Others feel the narrative lacks historical perspective and is unconvincing, with a timeline that jumps back and forth over several financial crises. The book seems more like a biographical history of a few so-called "quants" than an engaging historical account of the development of quantitative finance.

"...The connection between the quants and the 2008 financial crisis isn't shown convincingly...." Read more

"...The book is best when providing a narrative history of the rise of quantatative finance and the rejection of the prevailing Efficient Markets..." Read more

"...Just some rehashed stories from the financial press with a side order of industry gossip that may be titillating to some, but is simply a waste of..." Read more

"...narrative seemed clunky, dumbed down, and timeline jumped back and forth over several financial crises and several characters all doing the same..." Read more

Good for learning about the rise of Quant Finance, perhaps too strong on the cause-effect narrative
3 out of 5 stars
Good for learning about the rise of Quant Finance, perhaps too strong on the cause-effect narrative
The book offers one way of looking at the causes of the Great Recession, strongly pinning it on quantitative financial engineering and hedge funds, of course with a good bit of hindsight bias and the benefit of ex post narrative-fits-history.Nevertheless, it tells a good story of how the Finance industry came to appreciate and make use of quantitative methods and how professionals arrived from Academia to the back office and eventually dominated the front office, many of them becoming true leaders in the industry managing billions of dollars each.The book also offers a truly valuable reminder of how over leveraged trading strategies in combination with too much belief in models lead to disaster when the door gets too narrow and liquidity is gone, while also drawing nice parallels with the LTCM debacle in the late 90s as well as the Black Monday event of 1987.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2024
    This is an interesting read for financial economists, financial engineers, and other quants working in high finance who want to learn more of the history of hedge funds. However, the book would likely be over the heads for financial planners, local brokers, and others with no advanced statistical and econometric experience in the hedge fund industry.
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2021
    I read this book after thoroughly enjoying Scott Patterson's follow on book called Dark Pools which I read during the game stop and Reddit trade mania of early 2021. I'd recommend that book over this one for anyone looking for a deeper understand of how financial markets work and how they have radically changed over the past three decades. This was a nice follow on to that book as well as The Man Who Solved The Market by Gregory Zuckerman which dives deep into the life of legendary quant Jim Simons.

    We meet several legends in The Quants as well including Ken Griffin, Cliff Assess and Peter Mueller. The book is best when providing a narrative history of the rise of quantatative finance and the rejection of the prevailing Efficient Markets Hypothesis which I was taught in college. It also does a nice job comparing and contrasting these Wall Street icons and their hedge funds with traditional legendary investors such as Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch and Bill Gross. Ed Thorp makes a large appearance here as well and his influence cannot be understated on the multitudes of quants that followed.

    Towards the end of the book, Patterson flies through the 2007 and 2008 market meltdown and teases some of the correction in 2009 and 2010 but this part felt a bit rushed to me and felt like a superficial treatment of the perils, dangers, corrections and lessons that were made during this time. While the Hollywood ending might have been the comeuppance of the quantatative, that's not exactly what happened and a deeper exploration of this period is warranted.

    All in all, it was a good introduction to who quants are and how they arose, so I would recommend it for readers seeking material covering this.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2010
    The Catastrophe of Certainty

    In his fascinating book entitled "On Being Certain - Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not," neuroscientist Dr. Robert A. Burton concludes the work with this poignant phrase: "We do not need and cannot afford the catastrophes born out of a belief in certainty."(pp.223-224).

    Well, the Wall Street Journal's Scott Patterson chronicles the catastrophe that Dr. Burton's conclusion alludes to in this riveting volume entitled, THE QUANTS - How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It. Patterson states his case bluntly: "In other words, there is no single truth in the chaotic world of finance, where panics, manias, and chaotic crowd behavior can overwhelm all expectations of rationality. Models designed on the premise that the market is predictable and rational are doomed to fail. When hundreds of billions of highly leveraged dollars are riding on those models, catastrophe is looming." (P. 294).

    Human history appears to be replete with disasters wherein one group seems `certain' they have captured the `truth.' The ongoing U.S. and global economic crisis is no different. Listen to Patterson:
    The Truth was a universal secret about the way the market forked that could only be discovered through mathematics. Revealed through the study of obscure patterns in the market, the Truth was the key to unlocking billions in profits. The quants built giant machines - turbocharged computers linked to financial markets around the globe- to search for the Truth, and to deploy it in their quest to make untold fortunes. (p.8).

    "It was about money, of course, but it was also about proof. Each added dollar was another tiny step toward proving they had fulfilled their academic promise and uncovered the Truth (p.8)

    To the quants, beta is bad, alpha is good. Alpha is the Truth. If you have it, you can be rich beyond your wildest dreams." (p.8).

    What happened? Patterson's perspective on this historical epoch is essential reading for those interested in economics, culture and human behavior. It is also a treatise about man and machine. He writes, "Always trust the machine" was the mantra." (P.128). It's also about our human appetite for order and predictability, as well as our propensity to become victims of the illusory: "The model created an illusion of order where none existed." (P.196). "To quants, unprecedented is perhaps the dirtiest word in the English language. Their models are by necessity backward-looking, based on decades of data about how markets operate in all kinds of conditions. When something is unprecedented, it falls outside the parameters of the models. In other words, the models don't work anymore." (Pp. 271-272).

    Patterson does an absolutely spectacular job profiling the key players, organizations and belief systems that fueled the growth in hedge funds from $39 billion in assets in 1990 to $490 billion in 2000, and $2 trillion in 2007. How? How could such a rate of growth be sustained? Patterson's take: "the model was a jury-rigged formula based on the irrationally exuberant, self-reinforcing, and ultimately false wisdom of the crowd that assigned make-believe prices to an incredibly complex product. For a while it worked, and everyone was using it. But when the slightest bit of volatility hit in early 2007, the whole edifice fell apart. The prices didn't make sense anymore. Since nearly every CDO manager and trader used the same formula to price the fizzing bundles yet another instance of crowding that results from popular quant methodologies-they all imploded at once." (P.195).

    I can't wait for the next book by Scott Patterson. THE QUANTS - How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It is distinctly a five star work of art. Essential reading. You'll love it. Spellbinding!
    7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Gautam N
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing read
    Reviewed in Canada on January 3, 2025
    If you’re looking to further deepen your knowledge of how the quants work in the market, highly recommends. Also read Dark Pools
  • Gabriel Garbi
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente forma de estudar a história do mercado financeiro
    Reviewed in Brazil on December 31, 2021
    Ao mesmo tempo que existe um enredo, conceitos e personagens são abordados. Uma excelente forma de olhar para a história do mercado financeiro e conectar alguns pontos.
  • Misael
    5.0 out of 5 stars Buen producto
    Reviewed in Mexico on March 9, 2021
    Excelente
  • Toby Bernhardt
    5.0 out of 5 stars The quants
    Reviewed in France on May 31, 2022
    Great read. In depth analysis of HFT firms and the new era of trading. Identifies the fibre optic lines that firms were using to cut the line by using speed to get ahead of retail orders. Mentions the IEX exchange formation and the function of the exchange. Eye opening accounts inside wall st and abroad really, what occurred spread worldwide. As far as Australia.
  • Steviet010
    5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant read!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 5, 2018
    Fantastic book! Really interesting read and gripping!