Rating: 
Summary: not enough
Review: A good start, but not enough detail or complexity. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there is anything better.
Rating:
Summary: not enough
Review: A good start, but not enough detail or complexity. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there is anything better.
Rating: 
Summary: The best book on the converible bond market to date
Review: At last a book that addresses the more complex aspects of convertible bonds!Pricing convertible bonds by Connolly is an excellent book both for the novice and the advanced practitioner. Although this work starts by assuming that the reader knows very little, the experienced player will also benefit from the refreshingly simple approach to what are very complex instruments. By the use of very simple stepwise spreadsheet type modelling, the user discovers for himself all unusual characteristics of convertible bond price behaviour. This is certainly the first work ever to address the issue of share dilution, and never before has the modeling of refix convertibles been addressed in any text of which I am aware. Although Connolly skirts the issue of random interest rates, the book is by far the best work produced on the convertible bond market to date.
Rating: 
Summary: Useful, practical, essential, but MORE Please!
Review: Connolly has written a useful, practical book for those who are attempting to price these (increasingly) complex instruments. For more abstract or academic treatments of the topic, seek other sources and the innumerable academic journals of quant finance. But for a nut-work 'gotta-price-this-bugger-'cause-my-boss-asked-me-to-and-I'm-the-quant-guy-in-the-shop' this guide, while not strictly a 'cookbook,' is indispensable. Although it begins at a relatively basic level, it clearly and concisely explains every technique from the simple (y = mx + b) and then step-by-step ratchets up to the Excel-samuri level (MIN and MAX tests after multiple operations of option pricing trees (bi-nomial and tri-nomial)). I limited my rating to four stars, however, because Connolly only mentions in passing the available (expensive) software-house products that do many of the same things his example spreadsheets do. Fin software needs critics, and I can think of no one better placed than the author to examine them and give front-line quant analysts his views. In addition, like most worker bees, I try never to reinvent the wheel (programming in C++ and VB or anything else for this kinda thing is undiluted soul-destroying tedium), but at the same time want to thoroughly check out the foundational theory and techniques someone applied before I risk my career on someone else's work. In this case, a good list of the academic sources and current financial literature on the topic would have been a useful and welcome addition to this slender volume. I suppose a final criticism is that we have all seen the exponential growth of credit derivatives in the past few years. Connolly's next edition will need to address the topic of credit derivatives in relation to convertible bonds, as their use in combination with CBs provides alternate hedging, investment, and speculative strategies not explicitly considered in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Well-written, valuable reference work
Review: Don't be fooled by its size relative to other financial textbooks. This is a comprehensive and well-written text, containing far more valuable information than previously available on the complex issues of pricing convertible bonds. Starting from first principles, Connolly's tome takes the reader (both beginner and professional alike) step by step through the process of building a convertible bond model, gradually introducing the various complications that set CB's apart from other instruments. The result is a success for the author and a reward for the reader who is prepared to work through the text and accompanying (free) software. Maybe there is such a thing as a free lunch after all!
Rating:
Summary: Well-written, valuable reference work
Review: Don't be fooled by its size relative to other financial textbooks. This is a comprehensive and well-written text, containing far more valuable information than previously available on the complex issues of pricing convertible bonds. Starting from first principles, Connolly's tome takes the reader (both beginner and professional alike) step by step through the process of building a convertible bond model, gradually introducing the various complications that set CB's apart from other instruments. The result is a success for the author and a reward for the reader who is prepared to work through the text and accompanying (free) software. Maybe there is such a thing as a free lunch after all!
Rating:
Summary: The best book to be published on the convertible bond market
Review: Dr Connolly's book is long overdue. It enables the reader to be able to value all aspects of these corporate derivative instruments. Unlike so many other books on the subject it does not brush over essential elements of pricing such as dilution (the only book to really put the issue to bed), the input of interest rates into the model and the foreign exchange complications.
Rating:
Summary: This is a MUST book in your CB journey
Review: I bought it when it had published about 2 years ago, and the content I can promise you still be very advanced and useful in this field nowadays. I have a lot of books related to CBs, while I can assure you this is the best I have ever had. Many of the others have been somewhat problematic, but not this one. As a fan of CB investing, I highly recommand you to have one to be more acquanited with the fantastic porperties of CBs, no matter you are a beginner or not!!
Rating: 
Summary: It's a start...
Review: If you are a beginner to the area then this book could be of some use to you. However, for the more experienced practitioner it is limited in its usefulness. The phrase "beyond the scope of this book" becomes too repetitive whenever the interesting and challenging topics are mentioned. And it is precisely these modeling areas that differentiate the convertible bond from the more trivial option pricing problems that are covered well in other books. This lack of detail in the meatier areas is the biggest disappointment of the book. Generally it is well written and presents the issues clearly - just not enough of the issues that really matter.
Rating:
Summary: It's a start...
Review: If you are a beginner to the area then this book could be of some use to you. However, for the more experienced practitioner it is limited in its usefulness. The phrase "beyond the scope of this book" becomes too repetitive whenever the interesting and challenging topics are mentioned. And it is precisely these modeling areas that differentiate the convertible bond from the more trivial option pricing problems that are covered well in other books. This lack of detail in the meatier areas is the biggest disappointment of the book. Generally it is well written and presents the issues clearly - just not enough of the issues that really matter.
| 
