About riskbook.com

Books are rated for quality and technical difficulty. Quality ratings are described in Exhibit 1.

Quality Ratings
Exhibit 1


	Bad
	Poor
	Fair
	Good
	Very Good
	Excellent
	Exceptional

Books are rated on a scale from 0 to 6 stars. Descriptive terms associated with each rating are indicated above.

Quality ratings are not absolute. They reflect the quality of a book relative to available alternatives. If there are lots of books on a subject (e.g. introductions to financial engineering), the rating is relative to similar books. If there are just a few books on a subject (e.g. books on liquidity risk), the rating is relative to all alternatives—similar books, papers, websites, and what a professional might reasonably expect to learn on the job.

Keep in mind that quality ratings reflect the book's relative quality at the time it was published. A five-star book published ten years ago may not be as relevant to your needs as a similar four-star book published this year. Think of it this way. The older book received five stars when it was published, but it might receive just three stars, if it were published today as a new book. A book's quality rating will be updated when a new edition comes out only if Glyn writes an updated book review. A date at the end of the review will indicate when it was written, and an accompanying note should indicate if the review was based on an earlier edition. Just because the cover art for the new edition or the current edition number is displayed with a review doesn't mean the review itself has been updated.

Some classic texts are not given star ratings. An example is Markowitz's (1959) Portfolio Selection. Such books have appeal unrelated to the actual quality of their exposition. Classic books are indicated with a rating of

The quality ratings are not related to a similar five-star rating system used on Amazon.com. That system reflects an average of ratings submitted by visitors who post book reviews on those sites. Be aware that those ratings and reviews are notoriously subject to manipulation. Still, many reviews posted on the Amazon site are honest, insightful and communicate useful information.

Finding a good book and finding one that is right for you are two different things. Glyn also assigns books technical ratings, so you can find a book that is right for you. These are described in Exhibit 2:

Technical Ratings
Exhibit 2


	Non-technical: uses no math. Audience: Anyone.
	Simple: Mathematical content is primarily arithmetical or graphical. Audience: Anyone.
	Modest: Uses a modest amount of basic math, including algebra, pre-calculus or basic spreadsheet functionality. Audience: Anyone with basic math skills.
	Technical: Uses a lot of math, including some calculus, probability and/or linear algebra. Audience: Quantitative professionals.
	More Technical: Uses calculus, probability and/or linear algebra extensively. May touch on more advanced math or make brief "hand waving" use of stochastic calculus. Audience: Quantitative professionals willing to be challenged.
	Very Technical: Makes extensive use of advanced math such as differential equations, measure theory or basic stochastic calculus. Audience: Financial engineers.
	Extremely Technical: Makes extensive and possibly cryptic use of advanced math, including stochastic calculus, functional analysis or branches of mathematics not typically encountered in finance—such as finite fields or number theory. Audience: Mathematicians or financial engineers willing to be challenged.

Books are rated on a scale from 0 to 6 "old English" style letter T's. Descriptions for each rating are provided above.

the quantity of math—using 2 differential equations is less technical than using 30;

assumed knowledge of math—a book that explains the math it uses is less technical than a book that uses the same math without explanation:

relevance of the math—math placed in appendices, that is boxed off, or that is not central to the discussion is less technical than math that is the focus of the discussion.

If a book has not yet been rated, a "not rated" symbol

will be displayed. A book's technical level can usually be determine quickly by flipping through the book, while a more in-depth read is required to assess a book's quality. For this reason, some books may be given technical ratings but not yet be rated for quality.