Rating: 
Summary: Technical but interesting
Review: I enjoyed the book and learned a lot from it. It is very detailed in its explanations of various instruments LTCM used, and that is both a blessing and a curse; a blessing because you learn exactly what they did, a curse because it's pretty dry.I was a little disappointed at the end, though. Dunbar took a long time setting up what happened, and then when LTCM toppled he went through it very quickly. It was almost like he just got tired of writing and decided to publish it. On balance, a worthwhile read for those willing to invest the time and effort.
Rating: 
Summary: A reasonable treatise, but could be more accessible
Review: I found the discussions of mathematics and statistics concepts pertaining to the subject at hand to be quite good, although that may be a function of the fact that I have an extensive background in those areas. The passages acquainting the reader with the fundamental notions relevant to financial instruments were also quite good. Where the book becomes slightly problematic is during the brief discussions of derivative financial instruments. Often times, a brief explanation would be offered (frequently one sentence), with the author subsequently eluding to the fact that a certain outcome with the instrument was "obvious" under given circumstances . . . . perhaps to someone with a technical finance background. In a subsequent edition (if one is written), I would simply recommend a single phrase explanation as to why a given outcome would be obvious. That would prove to be highly useful for those with an interest in the subject, but without an extensive finance background. Either this, or recommending some reading a priori to obviate confusion for the reader.
Rating: 
Summary: Anyone interested in derivatives
Review: I read this book because I wanted to figure out how two finance gurus' (Merton & Scholes) market venture go wrong. What was really went wrong? The book is well written, good explanation of money machines plus brain storming from time to time. I advice the book to anyone who is interested in derivatives. Only thing I didn t like is, introduction part is too long (or the story and conclusion is too short), almost half of the book is trying to get you into the main topic. Overall, I enjoyed reading a lot. Good job!
Rating:
Summary: Anyone interested in derivatives
Review: I read this book because I wanted to figure out how two finance gurus' (Merton & Scholes) market venture go wrong. What was really went wrong? The book is well written, good explanation of money machines plus brain storming from time to time. I advice the book to anyone who is interested in derivatives. Only thing I didn t like is, introduction part is too long (or the story and conclusion is too short), almost half of the book is trying to get you into the main topic. Overall, I enjoyed reading a lot. Good job!
Rating:
Summary: Anyone interested in derivatives
Review: I read this book because I wanted to figure out how two finance gurus' (Merton & Scholes) market venture go wrong. What was really went wrong? The book is well written, good explanation of money machines plus brain storming from time to time. I advice the book to anyone who is interested in derivatives. Only thing I didn t like is, introduction part is too long (or the story and conclusion is too short), almost half of the book is trying to get you into the main topic. Overall, I enjoyed reading a lot. Good job!
Rating:
Summary: Nothing new if you followed the story in the news
Review: I was disappointed that this book did not include more detail. I followed the story in the newspapers as it was happening, and this book gave me no additional insight. After reading "Inventing Money" I read "When Genius Failed" and enjoyed the latter more. "When Genius Failed" has more information on what happened during the crisis. One strongpoint of "Inventing Money" for some people will be the historical information. If you don't know much about hedge funds or the history of the industry this book will have good bits for you.
Rating:
Summary: Great story - and a nice primer for the financial markets
Review: I was prompted into buying this book after seeing a truly hopeless Channel 4 documentary about the LTCM collapse which attempted - but failed entirely - to explain what LTCM was all about: What the Black/Scholes formula did, how Meriwether and cohorts used it to make money, and how they managed to singlehandedly bring western world as we know it to the brink of financial collapse with a formula which is supposed to completely eliminate risk. Dunbar's very readable book scores on two fronts: firstly, it succeeds in explaining how these putatively "risk free" trades manage to make profit and be (to 'all' intents and purposes) perfectly hedged, when conventional wisdom would suggest that a perfectly hedged position must by definition be 'flat', and secondly, it serves as an excellent primer for anyone wanting to understand how the debt markets in general, and credit derivatives in particular, work. And all this in a little over 200 pages. Great going! The subject matter isn't easy, but nor (at the level to which Dunbar takes it) is it rocket science, and to his immense credit Dunbar manages to resist the temptation to write it off as 'baffling rocket science by Harvard Graduates which is far too hard for the stupid reader to understand' (which is what said Channel 4 documentary did) or to insert unpenetrable graphs, equations and formulae to show just how clever he and the LTCM sort of person is. Still, while the casual observer of the Stock Market (you know, the sort who watches the news each night to see if it went up or down) might find little in this book to light their candle, those in the industry and short on specific knowledge, or with aspirations of getting into it, could hardly find a better place to start.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: I'm not a math or finance geek, but found this fascinating and easy to read - the stories of the people involved and the theories behind their rise (and fall) were very interesting to read about. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Lowenstein beats Dunbar.
Review: If you really want to buy and read something about JWM and LTCM. Just buy Lowenstein's "When Genius Failed". It seems that Dunbar may not be able to get in touch with the insiders of the LTCM at that time and just told us too many things which may not be directly relevant to the LTCM crisis. What's worse is that there are some factual errors in those irrelevant. One of the examples: It is Osborne but not Samuelson who first applied the lognormal distribution to financial modelling.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Try -- But Falls Short of the Mark
Review: In his book, Nicholas Dunbar attempts the ambitious task of describing and explaining both the rise and fall of Long Term Capital Management and the underlying financial transactions that brought it down. While he succeeds relatively well in the former, he fails in the latter. I can guarantee that unless you are a Wall Street arbitrageur or have a very strong quantitative background in graduate level economics or finance, you will not understand half of what this guy is talking about. I know I didn't. (I may not be the smartest guy in the world, but I am a practicing attorney with an international law firm and have an MBA degree.) And without understanding the financial theory, a reader won't understand why LTCM failed, which is the whole point of the book. The sad fact is: Either Dunbar doesn't understand this stuff himself (which is what I suspect), or he just doesn't have the knack for making complex ideas simple for the reader. Nice try, though.
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