Christmas is fast approaching and here are a few ideas for books which should appeal to financial modellers:
Anyone interested in finance and risks (and that should mean financial modellers) needs to read Nassim Taleb of The Black Swan fame. Yes, he is opinionated and controversial, but his books are entertaining and give much food for thought. This year I enjoyed Skin in the Game where the central theme is about taking risks and having something to lose. As Taleb says: “Never trust anyone who doesn’t have skin the game”.
I also thoroughly enjoyed a client’s recommendation Why They Do It by Eugene Soltes which explores white collar crime. This book should be enough to convince modellers not to make small unjustifiable tweaks to financial models.
And finally, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a good puzzle book and I’m hoping to be given Conundrum by Brian Clegg. It’s all about cracking the ultimate cipher challenge; this sounds like the perfect gift for a circular reference buster.