Here is what is on my Christmas list and these books should appeal to other financial modellers too:
Junaid Mubeen’s Mathematical Intelligence: What We Have that Machines Don’t
This book explores human mathematical intelligence. Computers are powerful, but so is human thinking and harnessing the two is what financial modelling is all about. I’m hoping that this book will help modellers realise that thinking skills are the key to good models.
Dan Ariely’s Predictably Irrational
Behavioural economist Dan Ariely looks at why humans make irrational decisions and why our expectations influence our opinions and decisions. There is plenty of irrationality around in financial models and hopefully this book will help us realise how to avoid it.
Erica Thompson’s Escape from Model Land
Erica Thompson argues that we need to understand how models are constructed and how the assumptions that underlie models can have significant unintended consequences. I confess to having bought this one already when I spotted it in my local bookshop. I am immersed in it already.
I’m hoping that my family will have taken the heavy hints I have dropped and perhaps throw in one or two puzzle books at the same time. Along with a warm fire and some good food, this combination will create my perfect Christmas.