There are plenty of non-technical books that describe the market-neutral and statistical arbitrage trading strategies that are employed by hedge funds and a few active investment managers. This is one of the best.

It is an edited collection with chapters describing a variety of investing strategies for the equity and fixed income markets. The common thread is that all are non-directional strategies. They eliminate systematic risk by balancing long and short exposures. Strategies include equity market neutral, convertible bond hedging, sovereign debt arbitrage, market-neutral strategies for mortgage-backed securities and merger arbitrage.

I like the book because, although it offers a generally favorable view of these strategies, its treatment is reasonably balanced. Authors identify what can go wrong. Indeed, an excellent chapter dissects for readers how Askin Capital fell apart in 1994 and how Long-Term Capital Management emulated that feat in 1998. Also, two excellent chapters detail relevant US tax law. One chapter is for taxable investors and the other is for tax-exempt investors. Both are authoritative and highly informative.