This is a elementary book that walks readers through a "course" about hedge funds—the industry, types of funds, performance measurement, taxes, etc. Primarily, it targets would-be investors. Readers are assumed to have little knowledge of finance or investing. A lot of what the book covers is basic finance. What is market value? How do you calculate a return? What is a standard deviation? What is duration?

As with most books on hedge funds, this one is a soft sell for hedge fund investing. Most other books provide some caveats about hedge funds, and I fault McCrary for failing to do so. He could have warned readers about hedge funds' negatively skewed return distributions. He could have explained that the hedge fund industry's performance claims are based on biased return data. He could have mentioned the conflicts of interest that prime brokers pose. He doesn't.