Futures, Options, and Swaps

Rating:
Summary: This book delivers on its title
Review: After studying this book, you will know the technical intricacies of futures, options, and swaps. It has also excellent definitions of all the "Greek" risk measures (Delta, Vega, Gamma, etc...).

The book is well organized. The chapter sequence makes good sense. This is a good book overall.

Rating:
Summary: This book delivers on its title
Review: After studying this book, you will know the technical intricacies of futures, options, and swaps. It has also excellent definitions of all the "Greek" risk measures (Delta, Vega, Gamma, etc...).

The book is well organized. The chapter sequence makes good sense. This is a good book overall.

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive book on Derivatives
Review: Got many books on derivatives, but Kolb's is my favourite one. He covers the topic in a slightly less quantitative way than Hull does and goes straight to all the different derivatives while avoiding any further explanations like Ito's Lemma etc. I especially liked the part on swaps with many examples like flavoured swaps or equity swaps. Nevertheless, if you're looking for a good software, than I would recommend The Complete Guide to Option Pricing Formulas (build on Excel VBA).

Rating:
Summary: I bought it becasue I had to....
Review: Many of us ended up with this book on the shelf because it was recommended by the AIMR for the CFA course. This book was so badly edited that it was distracting - figures in tables not matching figures in the text, some calculations just plain wrong, and everything covered at a very superficial level. This had the potential to bridge the gap between a Hull-type presentation and an undergrad-type. Sadly, this book really disappoints.

Rating:
Summary: Expensive Books
Review: This is the only non-AIMR text that is required reading for all three CFA exams. I feel the Dr. Kolb's strength is laying out the basic tenents of finance for the layman. He also includes advanced formulas in the latter part of the book if you want to get deeper.Certain other authors of finance and accounting texts seem more interested in impressing their readers with their acumen in the field. In this book you don't have to read a paragraph 3 times to get the basic gist of what he is trying to say. It is very plain and straightforward. If only more academics would write in this manner. My main problem with this book is I found it so interesting I wandered off the required reading sections for the CFA test too much.