Book Description

This unique book applies economic theory to the business of sports. It deals mainly with professional team sports (with a section devoted to college team sports), showing how supply and demand join at the market level, and how team owners act together through their leagues (or athletic departments through the NCAA) to facilitate their market power. This book will help the reader understand the business side of sports and how it impacts the games seen at the stadium or in the arena.Topics covered in this book are: demand, supply, and sports market outcomes; the market for talent and labor relations; government and the sports business; and college sports.With amusing anecdotes and interesting stories about sports business personalities, this book is for anyone who is involved in the economic side of sports and sports management. ... Read more

Book Description

Barbarians at the Gate has been called one of the most influential business books of all time -- the definitive account of the largest takeover in Wall Street history. Bryan Burrough and John Helyar's gripping account of the frenzy that overtook Wall Street in October and November of 1988 is the story of deal makers and publicity flaks, of strategy meetings and society dinners, of boardrooms and bedrooms -- giving us not only a detailed look at how financial operations at the highest levels are conducted but also a richly textured social history of wealth at the twilight of the Reagan era.

Barbarians at the Gate -- a business narrative classic -- is must reading for everyone interested in the way today's world really works.

Reviews (59)

Descriptive
Barbarians provides a detailed look into the biggest LBO in history - RJR Nabisco. The author does any amazing job of describing the events, people, industry and money involved in this transaction. The author paints a perception of what drives men in the LBO industry - ethically and economically. He doesn't try to sway your opinion one way or the other. The chain of events, themselves, makes this book worth reading - no player in this transaction is left untouched. I recommend anyone interested in LBOs to pick and read this book. Tremondous insight into the LBO/power player industry

One of the Best of the Subject
This book is a description of the largest leveraged-buy out of the 80's. The book covers the management buy out of RJR and all the financial moves that took place to get it done. It covers the winners and losers and the tactics they used. The authors are investigative reports so they have the ability to provide the reader with a very well constructed and easy to understand story. They really bring the reader into the negotiations and all the high pressure and tension is coved to the reader. The most fun was when the authors took to describing all the financial players involved, their egos and ways of life and doing business. The excesses of some of the companies detailed are really something.
If you are interested in this topic then I would suggest you also read "Den of Thieves" and "Predator's Ball", both of which cover the 80's M&A and Junk Bond world. To get a better understanding of KKR, I would suggest "Masters of Debit" and if you are looking for more info on this particular deal I would suggest "True Greed".

Okay, Okay, But Why Is The Book Great?
To start explaining this book you must understand that the book has been written by two investigative reporters, so it reads like a well written novel. In fact with some of these books you must remind yourself that it is not fiction.

The other thing is that the authors emphasize the people and what they think, their motivations, their egos and their vulnerabilities. It is not a financial book. It is more of a novel. When you combine the writing plus with the emphasis on the people you get a best seller - as we have.

Here is the situation. The CEO's of some of these corporations get greedy and decide that making millions per year and having a fleet of their own jets - is not enough. They want to borrow money and buy the whole company. That is what we had here. The CEO Ross Johnson proposes a leveraged buy out (LBO) of RJR-Nabisco, which had previously merged. His idea is to borrow money and buy all the stock. So it is really a story about Ross Johnson and whether or not he could pull of this (theft) purchase from the shareholders by borrowing enough money. He is abetted by bankers and investment people, and they all want a piece of the action and large fees. It is all quite fascinating stuff.

But he hits a snag. The prize is too big and draws other people into the fray.

Like sharks smelling blood in the water he attracts KKR runs by Henry Kravis - a New York based LBO company. It decides it wants to get involved. The book takes us like a suspense novel through various negotiations and heavy duty meetings in Manhattan until it is finally settled. It makes for a fascinating read.

Recently I read another book that I thought was quite different but just excellent. Ross Johnson in the present book RJR-Nabisco was the CEO of a large public company and he became such by working his way up through the ranks. To me a more fascinating book is Losing my Virginity by Richard Branson also at Amazon.com. Branson starts his career by himself selling a magazine as a teenager, starts Virgin Records, takes on and beats back British Airways with Virgin Airways, and does it all with a flair for the dramatic - and often he owns the companies.

Jack in Toronto

A Classic Tale of Wall Street and Greed
This book became the basis for a paper I wrote in school and by the time I finished the book and the paper, I was actually surprised by my conclusions.

Leveraged Buy Outs (LBO) and Management Buy Outs (MBO) were all the rage in the eighties, and this book chronicles what is good about them as well as what is bad. In the general public's opinion, the bad far outweighs the good, but from a maangement standpoint, they can be a good idea.

The leveraged buyout of the RJR Nabisco Corporation for $25 billion, recounted in this book, is a landmark in American business history. Ross Johnson, CEO of RJR Nabisco, is is just one of the colorful cast of characters involved in the midst of this book, as he sets in motion whagt would become the basis for the events chronicled in "Barbarians."

Should be required reading for all business students and busienss leaders.

fascinating account of the 1980s merger mania
It reads like a thriller. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. It is the story of the RJR Nabisco buyout through the eyes of two journalists and it shows that a real world story can be just as dramatic as fiction. This book is one of the most important documentaries of the 1980s. ... Read more

Book Description

Recently, reorganizations, restructurings, and bankruptcies have replaced IPOs as the common financial vehicle of the times. However, these distressed companies can still provide an avenue for profitable investing. This eagerly anticipated new reference helps guide you through this treacherous landscape in order to master the multi-move chess-like strategies required to achieve financially advantageous results for your portfolio. It is the most up-to-date and comprehensive book on the market to deal with the myriad of issues surrounding a distressed company.

Providing theoretical and practical insight, Distressed Debt Analysis: Strategies for Speculative Investors presents a conceptual, but not overly technical, outline of the financial and bankruptcy law context in which restructurings take place. The book covers the broader financial environment of the reorganization and the basic process of investment analysis and investment strategies. The author uses numerous real-world examples and case studies to emphasize important concepts and critical issues.

The developments that have created these extraordinary investment opportunities have also created tremendous demand for professionals with experience and knowledge in the restructuring process. Distressed Debt Analysis: Strategies for Speculative Investors addresses the complete knowledge needs of investors and professionals in the burgeoning world of financially distressed companies. It is perfect for bankruptcy departments of law firms, restructuring advisory groups, turnaround consulting firms, and reorganization and distressed securities departments of investment banks. ... Read more

Book Description

"A sobering, timely wake-up call to the looming dangers of a massive - critically necessary - correction in the U.S. Richard Duncan writes with immense clarity and experience, weaving historical material into a rich tapestry of disturbing patterns, warning that the world cannot afford to ignore the lessons of Asian and Latin American financial crises - and Japan's malaise - as an even greater economic threat looms. A must read, with economic seat belt buckled." - David H. Satterwhite, Managing Director, The Economist Conferences Corporate Network-Japan

"Richard Duncan has written a fascinating study of history in the making. He is right to propose that we need joint efforts by different stakeholders to overcome a coming monetary crisis." - Frank J. Richter, Director, Asia, World Economic Forum

"Hard on the heels of the collapse of the "new economy" is that of the "new finance". Richard Duncan crisply explains why payback time for years of USs credit excesses, payments imbalances and securitized sub-par lending is imminent. Mr Greenspan, your time is up. The wisdom of Ludwig von Mises will prevail." - Philip Bowring, Columnist, International Herald Tribune

"Make no mistake - much of the discontent with the global financial system is rooted in the dollar standard. The risk of a dolar crisis is real and the author deserves much praise for clearly exposing a force that many seek to deny. A must read for anyone with a savings deposit." - Jesper Koll, Chief Economist, Merrill Lynch Japan

"This is a welcome attempt at exploring the symptoms of what may become a major financial storm. Is the world wise to expect the problem to find its own solution? Richard Duncans suggestions for a cure imply a degree of worldwide slump that may prove difficult to foster, but his arguments are worth listening to." - Philippe Delhaise, President, Capital Information Services Ltd ... Read more

Reviews (28)

Great points on international trade issues, poor solutions
This book is really worth the read for anyone trying to make sense of our world economic environment. Mr. Duncan makes many persuasive points as he explains the cause of the boom/bust cycles that have occurred since the breakdown of the Bretton Woods agreement. A major point is that the proliferation of a fiat "dollar standard" has created credit inflation in the banking systems of export heavy nations. This increase in credit created much distortion and malinvestment, and the cycle ended with over-capacity and speculation. Asset bubbles were then created in equities and real estate. He also describes the "boomerang dollar" as the money flowing out of the US, because of our current account deficit, finds it's way back here as foreign nations buy our corporate, federal, and agency debt. Our budget deficit is largely financed by foreigners who then add the dollar denominated assets to their bank reserves. The author's work is well researched and presented.
In part four the author presents his solutions to what he believes is a looming global deflationary depression. He describes a global minimum wage, and the empowerment of the IMF to basically become the world's central bank. It was enough to make the Austrian hairs stand up on the back of my neck. I believe his solutions are thankfully unworkable. The cost and logistics of overseeing the minimum wage compliance would be staggering. We have enough trouble enforcing work laws in our own country. How do we expect some UN knockoff to monitor an employer in Saigon or Calcutta? The author's solution to allow the IMF to use special drawing rights to provide global welfare makes me wonder if he may have written the fourth part of his book as an intellectual exercise, target practice if you will.
Mr. Duncan's book is important in its factual examination of some very troubling global economic developments. I'm glad I read it. But, his solutions are way off the mark. Any real solutions come with much pain, it can't be avoided. We need a sound money system, less government intervention, and more reliance on free market forces.

Read between the lines
Having traded currencies successfully for the past 20 years, I found this book to be a credible resource. With the U.S. deficit spiraling in the wrong direction, we need to be aware of all the possibilities to create optimum contingency plans. This book will provide you with the information to make the informed decisions.

Dollar Crisis Accurate and Timely
I first read The Dollar Crisis four months ago. With each re-read, the author's reasoning for and results of the coming dollar crisis makes more sense. It lays an extremely good foundation for the current world imbalance and makes valid predictions which are based on historical models.

Although I wish the author had given additional recommendations for what we, as individuals, might do to protect ourselves before the eventual dollar demise, I do believe his idea of establishing a Global Minimum Wage may be the best way, internationally, to avoid the collapse of the dollar. I wish him the best of luck if he pursues this ambitious solution.

Starts with conclusion and then uses facts to back it up
this book is typical of this "the sky is falling" genre. It presents many useful statistics about trade imbalance and growing debt for the U.S. However, rather than try to determine potential scenarios or outcomes, I feel like the author is always trying to make the data fit his conclusions. While these conclusions may play out, most people are just not that good at determining the future. For example, he talks extensively about the coming disinflation. Since his book, inflation has reappeared. Also, it seems like it's going to be with us for a while because of the Fed's agressive monetary policy, and strong demand from China for commodities.

Also, he tries (like many others) to suggest a gold standard is better than the fiat standard we have. While I understand the sentiment, it's just hard to believe that in today's very, very complex financial world that we could ever go back to Gold. Besides, no one (outside of the gold circles) seems to care if money isn't backed by gold.

Bottom line for the world: If I borrow $10, it's my problem. If I borrow $3 trillion, it's everyone's problem. In other words, the world is married to the dollar for now, and any other marriage (i.e., to a future currency) will take a lot of time to unwind. Also, countries are probably not going to stop buying our debt for quite a while since we're all hooked.

Bottom line for the book: Great facts. Conclusions too far-reaching.

A bit rushed, yet a valuable book nonetheless
As I write, the Fed has declared victory over the deflationary threat and is getting ready to raise interest rates. Thus, one reading this book would think that its dire warnings regarding deflation constitute old, passe news. They should beware. Duncan wrote this book in order to further educate people amongst the common investor class as well as analysts/economists about how dire the *overall* economic picture is in America. I.E. Said deflationary threat may have seemingly dissipated, yet the larger trends outlined in the book beg the question over whether disinflation/deflation have truly been knocked out in favor of a genuine economic recovery.

For any student of economics, political economy or investments, this book will serve as a rare and valuable primer regarding the real reasons why we are the richest nation on the planet, the core reasons for said status, the true nature of "money", and our relationships with other nations deemed as our "creditors". Quantitatively supplemented with charts, tables, graphs, quotes and figures cited directly from sources such as the IMF, Federal Reserve and luminaries/authors in the field (Stiglitz, Soros, Von Mises, Keynes, Friedman, Krugman, et al.), Duncan certainly backs up effectively his core assertions. If nothing else, the book serves as a mini course in global finance and macro-economics, and thus deserves a read.

The book didn't get much press or publicity in the U.S. after it was published in 2003. No wonder. Its bearish tone and thesis are hardly qualities that Kudlow and Cramer would rant about, let alone even cite cautiously. However, the book does compliment other compelling texts with similar subject matters such as "Conquer the Crash" by Robert Prechter, Jr., "Financial Reckoning Day" by William Bonner, "The Case Against the Fed" by Murray Rothbard, "The Truth About Markets" by John Kay, "The Mystery of Capital" by Hernando de Soto and even "After the Empire" by Emmanuel Todd -- in describing what would otherwise be washed out in the mainstream media and press.

I was initially put off by the grammatical oversights that pop up every now and then, yet later figured that the book practically went from author's computer to the printing press. That's rare, considering the large publisher, yet considering the urgency of the material, I overlooked it. Again, the majority of the content outweighs aesthetic concerns.

Also, Duncan can be annoyingly redundant with many of his core points, which, coupled with the above complaint, gives the book's writing the sense that no one else really reviewed said text. Yet, again, the urgency of Duncan's arguments, that our current account and trade deficits are out of control, that foreign creditors are starting to show palpable concern, that current trends resemble past lead-ups to crashes while out-sizing them, amongst other points, mitigate such concerns.

The language he uses in describing his latter proposals is rushed and not as empirical as what he revealed earlier, yet his proposals are bold enough to warrant attention. If the reader wholly disagrees with his proposals regarding how to confront and treat our Himalayan-sized global money imbalances, at least the reader has a sober, solid foundation after the first 3/4s of the book for trying to arrive at their own proposal(s).

Great book, generally. The type of text that should be required reading at the *high school* level nowadays (yes, indeed, raise the bar...considering what future generations must contend with, debt-wise). ... Read more

Book Description

International Financial Management, 7e combines a strong foundation in international finance theory with current, practical applications.It provides thorough, up-to-date treatment of cutting-edge international finance issues along with traditional treatment of international financial management. This book is known for its readability and clear explanation as well as its extensive use of hands-on, real world applications and student-oriented pedagogy. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent for International Business!
The book was one of the best books I used throughtout my career, it's good for economist, finance people, and anybody who is in the international field in general.

A good study guide
This is a good study guide accompanied to the hardcopy of thetextbook Each chapter begins with specific objectives and an chapteroutline. Then all the definitiional, true and false and MC questions with easy access answers are presented. Readers can therefore quickly identify topics that are unfamilar to them and refer to the textbook for going into details.

Good for both students and busy professionals. END ... Read more

Book Description

This expanded edition of Environmental Health and Safety Audits brings you up-to-date on changes in EPA and OSHA auditing policies, issues currently confronting auditing programs, and state-of-the-art strategies for managing and conducting audits. The author discusses new developments in information generation and availability, including new chapters on meeting ISO 14000 auditing guidelines, auditing dilemmas, and auditing tips, and new tools for building a successful audit program, including seven model program stages. ... Read more

Book Description

Many instructors of microeconomic theory have been waiting for a text that provides balanced and in-depth analysis of the essentials of microeconomics. Masterfully combining the results of years of teaching microeconomics at Harvard University, Andreu Mas-Colell, Michael Whinston, and Jerry Green have filled that conspicuous vacancy with their groundbreaking text, Microeconomic Theory.

The authors set out to create a solid organizational foundation upon which to build the effective teaching tool for microeconomic theory. The result presents unprecedented depth of coverage in all the essential topics, while allowing professors to "tailor-make" their course to suit personal priorities and style. Topics such as noncooperative game theory, information economics, mechanism design, and general equilibrium under uncertainty receive the attention that reflects their stature within the discipline. The authors devote an entire section to game theory alone, making it "free-standing" to allow instructors to return to it throughout the course when convenient. Discussion is clear, accessible, and engaging, enabling the student to gradually acquire confidence as well as proficiency. Extensive exercises within each chapter help students to hone their skills, while the text's appendix of terms, fully cross-referenced throughout the previous five sections, offers an accessible guide to the subject matter's terminology. Teachers of microeconomics need no longer rely upon scattered lecture notes to supplement their textbooks. Deftly written by three of the field's most influential scholars, Microeconomic Theory brings the readability, comprehensiveness, and versatility to the first-year graduate classroom that has long been missing. ... Read more

Reviews (60)

Helps you to gain the confidence needed for academic success
Going through a Ph.D. education in economics can be a risky investment. Unless you build on strong foundations the whole thing will fall apart as soon as you get out of graduate school, no matter how fancy your dissertation was. This book provides you with the fundamental tools you need to do research and teach when you become a full-time researcher and professor, in any branch of economics, either applied or theoretical. Even if you dont apply them at this rigorous level, you will always know if you are doing something wrong just by checking the basics in this book. It also provides you with the common language economists speak all over the world, regardless ideological points of view. It is the stuff we all agree with, and the starting point of any future development in our discipline. However, if you are not planning to become a professor but a professional (a practitioner economist) better turn to Milton Friedman's Price Theory for sound intuition on how to tackle the even more difficult real-world problems.

Big book, but much bigger in its contents
In its coverage and depth, this book needs help from only several other books such as Fudenberg and Tirole's(Game), Freixas and Rochet's(Banking), Tirole's(IO) and Salanie's(Contract) in the standard topics of microeconomic theory.
In the meantime, this big book provides relatively unified and consistent core in "mathematical analysis"-like terms and tones. This may make the students frustrated and bored. Simply, this problem can be fixed in only one way. "Stand and Be accustomed!"

One thing is that we'd better get accustomed to Real Analysis, Functional Analysis, Vector Analysis and the like.

Excellent treatment in theoretical microeconomics
The book presents a very complete treatment in theoretical microeconomics. It is rigorous but plenty of explanations and examples.

Some readers complain about the lack of real world examples and the math level. Well, the book is intended for graduate students in economics and requires full command of calculus in several variables, nonlinear optimisation (Kuhn-Tucker), and some concepts in real analysis. Without, this background I understand it may be painful to read it. One advice is reviewing the mathematical appendix and using a complementary text like Simon&Blume. Once you get used to this the story changes a lot (own experience).

It is true that you don't find here many real world examples, but simply the book is not intended for this purpose. If you want this try another one.

In sum, if you want a good background in theory this is the benchmark (I've read Varian also and some parts of Kreps).

Complete, well explained and concise
This is a really good book for those who are taking graduate courses or comprehensive exams in Microeconomics. It covers almost everything one needs to know about microeconomics and can be used as a reference book. It sure gets into technicalities too, but one has always the option to skip them and focus on general ideas. Only that the "Game Theory" section is not the best you can find. Some complementary texts is recommended for that section.

Solid introduction to microeconomics
Just like Samuelson's introductory text was for many years a standard in undergraduate economics courses, so is MWG the canonical choice for first-year graduate microeconomics. It is a comprehensive treatment that leaves out neither the rigorous mathematics that the subject deserves nor discussions of the applications and intuition, and while the size can be intimidating, instructors generally only choose the chapters most appropriate to their own exposition. The only quibble about the book is that while it covers the 50-year-old foundations but does not go into new developments of microeconomics too much, for which I would suggest _The Structure of Economics_. ... Read more

Book Description

Authors James D. Gwartney, Richard L. Stroup, Russell S. Sobel, and David Macpherson, believe that a course on principles of economics should focus on the power and relevance of the economic way of thinking.It is this belief and corresponding writing approach that has made Microeconomics: Private and Public Choice one of South Western Thomson Learning's most solid and enduring texts.Throughout this text, the authors integrate applications and real-world data in an effort to make the basic concepts of economics come alive for the reader. ... Read more

Book Description

Why make statistics harder than it has to be?Lind/Marchal/Mason: STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES IN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS, 11/e is a perennial market best seller due to its comprehensive coverage of statistical tools and methods delivered in a student friendly, step-by-step format.The text is non-threatening and presents concepts clearly and succinctly with a conversational writing style.All statistical concepts are illustrated with solved applied examples immediately upon introduction. Modern computing tools and applications are introduced, but the text maintains a focus on presenting statistics content as oppose to technology or programming methods, and the eleventh edition continues as a ‘students' text with increased emphasis on interpretation of data and results. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Good Book
This was a useful book and had helpful examples using excel. I had hoped that it would have had examples using the TI83 calculator but other than that this was a good book for statistics.

GOOD Stats book
Many examples. The formulas were easily explainable and understandable. However, I had hoped that it would have provided additional uses on the calculator like the TI83 - but the CD that accompanies this book was well done to help you do additional excercises on excel. So I give this book 5 stars!

Not a bad book
First of all, I would like to say that this is not a bad book, but I personally found that many of the examples were a little hard to follow. I felt that in many cases steps seemed to be left out, and it was assumed that you would know how to get to these points in the examples that were shown in the book. Unfortunately in my case the professor teaching our statistics class really does not seem to care to follow the material in the book. He's not a bad buy, but I'm not so sure he should be teaching statistics. In addition we use Microsoft Excel and the Megastat add-in on some of the example problems. So what happens is that the answers I get vary depending on whether I follow the book, my professor, or the Megastat program. All of this adds up to massive confusion on my part, and on the part of my fellow classmates.

The Paperback, International Ed. is Great
The paperback international edition is the best deal out there! It will save you a load of cash and is EXACTLY the same content wise as the hardback USA edition. As far as the quality of the textbook goes I'm not exactly a math minded person and this book seems to explain stuff fairly well or at least as good as Quantitative Methods can be explained.

Excellent Book!
Reading this Book helps anyone understand all Basic Statistics; this allows continue with more advanced textbooks. I recommend it to all, who need to start up with essential statistics and need a friendly, introductory but very efficient approach! ... Read more

Book Description

"Essential reading for anyone concerned with importing and exporting."
—International Small Business Journal

Build your import /export business faster, stronger, and more profitably

Give your budding import/export business a big boost and keep it going strong with expert advice and proven solutions from one of the foremost authorities in the field. In Building an Import/Export Business, Third Edition, renowned entrepreneur, international trade consultant, and lecturer Kenneth Weiss brings you completely up-to-date guidance on every aspect of conceiving, launching, and operating a successful import/export business.

This easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide is packed with the very latest information on government regulations, tax laws, customs requirements, and shipping procedures. What’s more, it features proven strategies for using the Internet to reduce costs, gain a marketing edge, establish sales and information resources, and develop a targeted customer base. You’ll also learn how to:

• Choose a winning product line
• Target a profitable market
• Prepare a powerful business plan
• Cope with rising security concerns
• Make foreign currency transactions with confidence
• Take advantage of GATT, WTO, NAFTA, and other trade pacts

Reviews (6)

yup, I agree, this is good!
some of the books I bought from here were so out there!! They didnt say things that I can relate in a real life!! I found them so boring!! but this one is good coz, if ur thinking about starting importing/exporting job, u can definately use this book as a guide!!

No Better Book for Starter, I Promise
I bought a whole library of Ex/Im titles to learn the trade, and I must tell you that starters in this business will not find a better book.

It is very well written, holds your hands, yet very entertaining and indeed you learn the whole business of Export-Import. A decent high-school student can read through this book and right away open his own Ex/Im startup. And by the way, there is absolutely no riches overnight. If you hussle, and stick with it, you'll triumph.

Isaac

Excellent source for the beginner
This book was excellent. I wanted to start an import/export business and this book was the most comprehensive I have read so far. The author tells readers what periodicals to read, how to find business opportunities and what to look out for. It's a must read for anyone entering the business.

Good book, but cursory understanding of Asia
I liked this book. I was disappointed that it did not recommend specific strategies for specific markets. As some one engaged in export/import, for an understanding of the Asian market I was really helped by "New Asian Emperors: the Overseas Chinese, their Strategies and Competitive Advantages" by George T. Haley, CT Tan and Usha C. V. Haley. When supplemented by richer, more-area specific material like this, this book provides real insight.

Thorough, yet practical hard to find info.
Great for the new exporter/importer. This is the age of international business. This book quickly adapted us to the lucrative import/export world's vernacular. I recommend it to larger businesses too for the examples it gives. ... Read more

Amazon.com

In Conquer the Crash, Robert Prechter explains why he thinks the boom times are behind us. Based on his interpretation of the Elliott Wave principle (an idea premised on the notion that mass investor psychology is what really drives markets), Prechter believes that the U.S. economy is about to enter into a deflationary depression that few investors are prepared to deal with. In making his case, Prechter assembles an impressive array of data that in essence suggests that the bill for the last 10 years of market excess is about to come due. The second half of the book shows how to avoid becoming "a zombie-eyed victim of the depression" and offers advice on protecting one's assets in a deflationary environment (cash is king). If there's any good news in the future that Prechter sees coming (other than how to avoid it), it's that all-out depressions don't last very long. Conquer the Crash should appeal to gloom-and-doom investors and to those desperately looking for a safe haven from the uncertainties of today's markets. --Harry C. Edwards ... Read more

Reviews (89)

Who are you going to believe?
Subscribers to Prechter's newsletters will have already read most of what is in this book. But for the other 99.99% of investors in the world who are not his subscribers, he has distilled down his reasoning and recommended course of actions into one convenient place.

This book is really two books within one set of covers -- the publisher even uses two different kinds of paper stock to differentiate the "books." In "book one," Prechter draws from history and shows charts & graphs (some going back 300 years) of what has happened in situations similar to what we are going through today. Known for his Elliott Wave analysis, Prechter does not stop there. He uses all of the tools of technical and fundamental analysis to methodically build his argument that the current market downturn is very far from over. Like a lawyer presenting a case, he covers everything from esoteric considerations such as rising federal debt as a percentage of GDP, to public psychology, to the ultimate impotence of the Fed. At the end of the section, the reader is left with the choice to either believe that history repeats, or that "this time it's different."

"Book two" presents practical advice of what to do now. He offers suggestions of what to do if you're in the stock market and your account is way down. He covers junk bonds, real estate, treasuries, pension plans, 401Ks, insurance, gold, and the whole spectrum of investments. To help the reader, he lists the safest banks in the country. He has eye-opening advice for people who are relying on government protection such as FDIC bank account insurance. Finally, he shows how to actually profit in the environment we are currently in.

Some disparage Prechter for his past fault of getting out of the market too early. It's a valid criticism; nevertheless, every one of his predictions are currently playing out. How do you argue with someone who is right?

Ultimately, the reader is left with a choice. One is to follow the financial mass media, economists and brokerage analysts who say recovery is just around the corner. The other is to look at history and Prechter's prediction, along with his track record of being only one of a handful of people to predict the magnitude of the market crash. Who are you going to believe?

Shows you how to profit from the coming depression.
In his new book, Robert Prechter makes a convincing case that we are heading for a deflationary depression, similar to the environment the U.S. saw in the early 1930's, and Japan has experienced for the last 12 years. Readers are shown how to prepare, and even prosper as this deflationary scenario unfolds. While most will be crushed by the weight of their own mortgage and credit card debt, readers of this book can take advantage of a once in a lifetime investment opportunity.

Prechter's understanding of technical, contrary, and economic analysis is exceptional. According to conventional wisdom of investors, traders, and the so-called "experts" on Wall Street, external events and fundamentals cause psychology and social mood to change. Flying in the face of this conventional wisdom, Prechter maintains that in reality the opposite is true; psychology and social mood cause underlying economic and market conditions to change. Once you view events from this perspective you can successfully anticipate conditions and properly adjust your investment techniques for maximum wealth appreciation and preservation.

Prechter identifies the many ways for readers to profit off the continuing stock market decline. Whether you trade stocks, bonds, commodities, or options you will find valuable advice in this book. It will have a permanent spot on my own bookshelf next to Prechter's earlier classic "At the Crest Of the Tidal Wave". Prechter's advice will surely be used in my own trading.

Interesting but...
I like Prechter because he's an interesting, unconventional thinker. But... I want to be careful and fair... doesn't his track record leave quite a bit to be desired?

At one time (I think the early 80's), I've read or heard he did well with his market predictions. But, not sure, didn't he get the 87 crash wrong in the sense that the market quickly recovered and that would've been the opportunity of a lifetime to buy? And, hasn't he's been bearish though another great opportunity, the incredible bull market of the latter 90's?

Finally, here we are in mid 2004, with Gold holding _above_ $400, the stock averages within spitting distance of their old highs, and the fed likely to raise interest rates because of the economic recovery (along with job creation) to keep inflation in check.

It just seems like Elliot Wave strings you along... there're always unlikely alternate counts and unlikely alternates to those that make you question why the unlikely of the unlikely seem to happen so often. I'm not trying to bash; would actually prefer to be more positive; but am simply expressing an honest dissapointment.

Highly Recommended!
Prophets of doom have always made entertaining reading. In his latest fire-and-brimstone warning, Robert R. Prechter, Jr., an experienced forecaster of long-term economic and social trends, says financial Armageddon is just around the corner. While his technical analysis ("Wave Theory") may appear to be stock-market astrology, readers may appreciate his examination of the basic functions of money and credit, his argument that worldwide central banking has fundamentally altered these functions, and his perceptive comparisons of the late 1990s with the Roaring Twenties. Prechter might have appealed to a broader audience by toning down his graphs and technical talk, and focusing instead on his investment suggestions: If the market turns down, you'll save your skin, but even in a bull market, keeping your money safe can't hurt. We recommend this book to anyone looking for bear-market investment advice, as well as those interested in technical analysis or an opinionated view of business and market cycles.

A poorly argued case, even for market bears.
Mr. Prechter is best known as a popular advocate for the Elliot Wave principle. He continues this school of thought in this book.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part attempts to persuade the reader that the US economy is headed for a deflationary depression. The second part recommends actions to prepare and prosper during a deflationary depression. This specific edition of the book also includes an update written in 2004. (The original book was written in 2002.)

First of all, with any investment book review, it is important to understand the reviewer's biases. My belief is that the US will enter some type of unwinding, either through an extended securities bear market, or more severe overall imbalance. I maintain a minor belief in technical analysis but do not rely on it.

Elliot Wave analysis is, at its core, a technical analysis methodology. Elliot Wave claims to find a recurring pattern in short term, long term, and ultra-long term market price charts. What is gravely missing, however, is some sort of explanation or justification for its supposed utility. Many schools of technical analysis, for example, give plausible explanations for why "resistance levels" exist based on market or individual investor psychology. This is completely missing from Mr. Prechter's writings and thus he fails to distinguish himself from a long line of failed data miners.

This missing and crucial "why" is the most glaring hole in this book. While other writers attempt to prove a thesis through a chain of reasoning and supporting data, Mr. Prechter skips steps in his thesis. The holes are not glaring to a casual reader, but a person with some breadth in economic knowledge will easily spot large omissions.

For example, even if you accept the disjointed framework of technical and fundamental analysis, the fundamental arguments for deflation are seriously flawed. Note, also, that Elliot Wave principles claim only to predict the performance of securities. Thus, Elliot Wave is agnostic with respect to the inflation vs. deflation debate. Therefore, Mr. Prechter's arguments for deflation are purely fundamental in basis. This is where his loose foundation really comes apart. His understanding of the Federal Reserve functions are contrary to those written by many other writers and scholars, including many who share similar contempt for the Federal Reserve. This is rather crucial, because the specific authorities and obligations of the Federal Reserve can determine whether a presumed economic failure results in deflation or hyper-inflation. Convincing cases for deflation have been made, but Mr. Prechter does not offer one.

Where many market bears thoroughly argue and carefully build their conclusions, Mr. Prechter glosses over far too many details to arrive at this deflation conclusion and blatantly ignores examples that contradict his thesis. He uses the US depression of 1929 as his sole argument that monetary policy is powerless to prevent deflation, forgetting that Federal Reserve authority was much lesser back then. Meanwhile, he ignores the numerous historical hyper-inflation examples caused by monetarism, such as 1970's US "stagflation", the recent collapses of Argentinean and Mexican currency, or even popular historical cases such as the South Sea Company bubble and post World War One Germany. Mr. Prechter is either grossly ignorant or deliberately avoiding such cases. Neither speaks well for him.

Most importantly, he sets up his own case of why he is wrong. He admits that there is a small probability that he could be wrong and that hyper-inflation will set in. Mr. Prechter says that this would be indicated by a declining US dollar and a price of gold reaching above $400 per ounce. Both are now clearly true, yet in his 50-page 2004 appendix, he conveniently ignores this fact and chooses to emphasize only his market index prognostication.

The rest of his fundamental case rests on material already beaten to death by other bearish scholars. He writes about historical price to earnings ratios, the contrarian indications given by popular finance magazines and long-to-short ratios, for example. His fundamental arguments are not thoroughly presented and escape ridicule only because others have argued the case before him. He adds nothing new here.

Since the first part of the book is so poorly supported, the second part regarding how to survive a depression is irrelevant. His recommendations generally apply only to deflation and would not work in a hyper-inflation or zero-inflation economy.

When one supports an already argued case, the burden of proof is small. However, if one dares to present a different case as Mr. Prechter has done, one needs to cover all well known and reasonably applicable cases at a minimum. Mr. Prechter has failed in this regard and by his own criteria. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

One of the best Economic textbooks I've read
Heyne begins w/ the first principles of economics: how human beings interact on a mass scale, and the positive consequences of those actions, and the negative consequences of interferring w/ voluntary human interaction. He then carries the reader through the traditional economic concepts of Supply and Demand, Specialized Labor, Externalities...all focused through the lens of the "Economic Way of Thinking".

Make no mistake--this book is a substantive, philosophical refutation of "Statism". Heyne hits Comparative Advantage, Price Theory, Rule of Law, and Private Property hard (in the affirmative), and if you're for tariffs, regulated prices, arbitrary Gov't intervention, and public property, your views won't be validated. All the more reason for you to read this book, and understand why so many stamp their foot down against politicized economic policies that superficially sound and feel so good. Heyne's lesson is to think on a macro-scale, think about the unintended consequences of mass social change, for that is the Economic Way of Thinking.

Comparative Advantage in Price Theory
Heyne's text explains what it explains well. It is a good Freshman level price theory text. Its strengths are in explaining informational and coordination issues in markets. It does more to explain how the price system works as a communications network than any other text I have seen. It also explains the issues of property rights and transactions costs clearly.

When it comes to the public sector, it is vastly better than many other texts. There are other texts, like Gwartney and Stroup, and Ekelund and Tollinson, which are arguably better at explaining the public sector.

The biggest weaknesses of this book are in macro and international economics. Its chapters on money are ok, but it explains far too little about trade cycles. It has some good material on growth, but could explain more and in more detail. The chapter on international economics could go further as well. The shortcomings of this book likely reduce its sales. So, it seems that the marginal benefits of such revisions exceed their marginal costs.

Heyne is no longer around to revise this book, but the co-authors who took over for him could improve this book greatly for the next edition.

Outstanding
Dr. Heyne was an outstanding professor. In fact, the most memorable and influential of my college "career." You will understand from reading his books how brilliant he was.

Excellent
This book makes the complex subject of economics very easy to understand, and will cause you to think very differently about social issues. Paul Heyne is also one of the best teachers I've ever had.

Very usefull book. VERY USEFULL ONE!
If you need a textbook on Economic, and you do not know the theory, you HAVE to read it before you get started. It's also very usefull for businessmen. I've read it in Russian ... Read more

Book Description

Interest Rate Models Theory and Practice In implementing mathematical models for pricing interest rate derivatives one has to address a number of practical issues such as the choice of a satisfactory model, the calibration to market data, the implementation of efficient routines, and so on. This book aims both at explaining rigorously how models work in theory and at suggesting how to implement them for concrete pricing. This is an area that is rarely covered by books on mathematical finance. The book is meant both to help quantitative analysts and advanced traders price and hedge with a sound theoretical apparatus, and to encourage academics to develop a feeling for the practical problems in the interest rate market that can be solved with the use of relatively advanced tools of mathematics and stochastic calculus in particular. Advanced undergraduate students, graduate students and researchers should benefit from seeing how mathematics can be used in concrete financial problems. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Best book on interest rate models
This is the best book available on interest rate models. Very detailed. Much more focused and readable than Rebonato's book. More pragmatic and explicit than Musiela and Rutkowski. Not as theoretical as Hunt and Kennedy. James and Webber also looks very good, but I'm not that familiar with it. All other books have only bits and pieces on interest rates.

The best book I have read on the subject
With all the due respect to the other authors I would say that if one is interested in a good theoretical book whihc is also good on the implementation side then the book of Brigo and Mercurion is definetly the best book I have ever read on the subject.

Anyone interested in implementing the LMM/BGM/MSS model in practice is well advised to read it.

I would just say that this is certainly a must have in the field.

New stuff and nice overview: hard to beat!
In the late nineties I went through Brigo's innovative work on stochastic nonlinear filtering with differential geometry techniques. I was favorably impressed by results and style, particularly in his dissertation and in his 'geometry in present day science' very readable overview. Interesting results are found and nicely told with accurate - but not pointlessly complicated - advanced mathematics for the problems at hand, I reasoned.

I've followed a similar path from control to finance, and having worked with interest rate models, I couldn't help but order this Brigo-Mercurio book. I had high expectations 'cause these two guys are working in a bank on the real thing.

Sure enough I'm not disappointed.

1-factor models are handled with great care, a ton of formulas and recipes are given. I've never seen this kind of analysis of pricing with Gaussian 1-f models. The new upgrade of the CIR model is interesting and accurate. "CIR++" is now my favorite 1-f model. I like the treatment of lognormal 1-f models and the explanation of Monte Carlo and trees -- the flow-chart for Bermudan swaptions is crystal clear! Plots of market implied structures and volatility calibration are useful additions.

The chapter on 2-f extensions has one of the best discussions on volatility, and two tons of useful formulas/recipes. Two dimensional trees!

The HJM chapter size is OK. I agree - the useful models embedded in HJM are short rate models and market models.

Market models - these three chapters alone are worth the book. You'll find yourself nodding as you read the guided tour. They make it look easy all the time. The exposition is focused, clear, intuitive, detailed. There's also new stuff, just check the calibration discussion! Smile modeling begins with a brilliant tour and ends with Brigo-Mercurio's new approach - the mixing dynamics - deserving a whole chapter if expanded.

The detailed explanation on products is a much welcome original addition. Cross currency derivatives!

Quotes - as in Brigo's old work - are a pleasant diversion while reading. The 500 and more pages are a treat given the competitive price.

Still there's room for improvements - more "CIR2++"! Something on 3-f models. Historical estimation of the correlation matrix and low-rank optimized approximations. Expand smile modeling! More hedging. Something on structured products. Cross currency libor model. chapter 9 - other interest rate models - sounds out of place and can be suppressed for other things.

This book rings true and has useful teachings for students, academics and practitioners. Although it requires some background in stochastic calculus, it's hard to beat on the pricing front. Kudos to Brigo and Mercurio! It only harms there aren't enough books like this.

Nicely written overview of interest rate models
This recent book, written by two Italian "quants" Mercurio & Brigo, gives a nice and accessible overview of interest rate models which is a compromise between the practitioner viewpoint, expressed for ex. in Rebonato's book "Interet Rate option models"
and the theoretical viewpoint such as the one in Musiela & Rutkowski.
The authors, themselves PhDs in quantitative finance/ applied maths, wrote this book while working as quants in an Italian bank and this first hand contact with the market gave them a
practical view on the subject which markes this book very interesting.

The book contains a "rational" catalogue of models used in practice ( as opposed to models which are impossible to implement!).

In contrast with academic books on interest rate modeling which deal with HJM formulation, there is a lot of emphasis here on LIBOR and Swap market models
(BGM -Jamshidian models) which reflects the current market practice. This is a positive point since there are not many books with details on implementing and using these "market models".

Part II: Interest rate models in practice is particularly useful because it deals with implementation and calibration which, as any practitioner knows, are important and usually delicate issues.
However calibration issues are dealt with somewhat lightly, especially recent developments on modeling cap/swaption smiles
are not included here.

This book can also be used for a graduate level/PhD course on interest rate models.

There are a lot of numerical examples in the book and mathematics is kept to the necessary level while keeping the
approach both rigorous and understandable.

Overall, it is one of the best books written on the subject.
I highly recommend it to PhD students, quants and researchers interested in this field.

Well written and useful book
In my humble opinion, this is the best book on Interest Rate modeling out there. The writing style is clear and focused and the appendices are fantastic. The book is rigorous but someone with some background in Stochastic Calculus will find it easy to follow. If you need refresher, dont worry the authors have you covered, see the appendix on Stochastic Calculus. Not an introductory book. Very exciting book. ... Read more

Book Description

The bestselling author of Philistines at the Hedgerow probes the secretive world of Manhattan luxury apartments, where real estate costs the most and matters even more.

Steven Gaines once again trains his sharp eye on rich people behaving badly. This time, the arena is Manhattan luxury real estate and the outlandish displays of ego, outrageous behavior, blood feuds, status hunger, and conspicuous consumption that dominate that world.

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT reveals the apartment swapping adventures of many celebrities, from Jerry Seinfeld to Barbra Streisand, from Tommy Hilfiger to Gloria Vanderbilt--with typical Gaines verve and style. But Gaines digs much deeper to tell us the fascinating story of how boxes stacked on boxes came to be seen as the ultimate in status for the rich. He introduces us to a fascinating, diverse cast of carriage-trade brokers, whose most important task is to get their anxious clients past the dreaded co-op board. And, he gives us finely etched portraits of a few of the discreet, elderly society ladies who are the real arbiters of who gets into the so-called "Good Buildings." ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Solid Introduction to Law and Economics
In a sense, this book is quite curious. Because law and economics is a discipline in its infancy, a book of this nature has to tread the fine line between serving as a distanced text and engaging in the dialogue of current research. And in both respects, Cooter and Ulen do a magnificent job of doing just that.

Law and economics is a branch of jurisprudence that aims to frame legal questions in terms of economic efficiency. While some maintain that legal questions can purely be reduced to economic ones, Cooter and Ulen take - rightly, in my view - the more conservative stance that economics can describe at least part of the legal question. It turns out, however, that the methodologies presented in this book are useful in reducing most legal problems to ones of economic efficiency.

This is a textbook for beginners. It presupposes virtually no knowledge on economics or law -- a brief synopsis of microeconomics and English common law system is presented at the outset. The rest of the book utilizes economic methodologies in analyzing legal problems of property, contract, torts, common law and criminal law.

However, there is a caveat. As law and economics is a burgeoning and diverse field, many important details are omitted. Most notably, the distinction between different schools of law and economics is saliently missing. This book adopts the "Posnerian" or "Chicago" school of law and economics; that is, analyzing legal questions using the framework of wealth maximization. This scaffold is one of many schools of law and economics, including the "Virginia School" and the "Rochester School."

Taking this into note, however, does not mitigate this book's clarity or exposition. This is a solid although incomplete introduction to law and economics. Recommended.

Fast delivery and excellent quality...
The book arrived really fast. It is brand new as promised. I am very satisfied.

Expensive, but a good investment
This is a nice textbook. If you're looking for a good introduction to the field of law and economics intermediate between Mercuro/Medema's _Economics and the Law_ (low brainstrain) and Thomas Miceli's _Economics of the Law_ (high brainstrain), this one is a good choice.

One of the things I especially like about Cooter and Ulen's approach is that they are careful _not_ to reduce law to economics (or vice versa, for that matter). Their claim is simply that law and economics have a lot to learn from one another. And this claim is hard to argue with, no matter what other criticisms I might make about some parts of the law-and-economics movement.

For example, people who work with the law may tend to think of law as a means (solely) of securing justice, unaware that law also provides a complex structure of what economists would call "incentives" which promote what economists would call "efficiency". On the other hand, economists may tend to take for granted the existence of such institutions as property rights and contracts, and the meaning of such terms as "voluntary." These things are not as simple as they appear (as any first-year law student could tell you, although lots of "pop libertarians" probably couldn't), and legal scholarship has developed a lot of machinery for dealing with them.

So this textbook, after a short opening chapter, devotes two not-overlong and altogether mainstream summary-and-overview chapters to, respectively, microeconomic theory and law. This means that a reader from either discipline can learn the basics of the other before proceeding to the meat of the analysis.

Then the real work starts. Cooter and Ulen do a thorough job of presenting, in a readable and accessible manner, the basics of the economic analysis of the law of property, torts, contracts, legal procedure, crime, and all the other neat stuff on which the law-and-economics movement has based its reputation -- i.e., the application of economic theory to the study of law beyond the traditional bounds of, e.g., antitrust and other areas of law directly concerned with economics.

It's designed to be eminently readable. Judgments like the one I'm about to render are notoriously subjective, but overall, the text strikes me as a good mix of clear expository prose, a well-chosen range of helpful examples, sound theory, and audience-appropriate mathematics (algebra and graphing). More advanced texts -- e.g. the aforementioned Miceli, and _Introduction to Law and Economics by A. Mitchell Polinsky -- are harder to read than this one unless you've got some math background. (Polinsky doesn't actually _use_ all that much math, but I think readers without some mathematical experience will find his book more difficult reading than this one.)

References abound; every chapter closes with at least a handful of them. So the text also doubles as a bibliography and introduction to what is rapidly becoming a vast literature.

If you're introducing yourself to the field, this book is a good investment. If you have a sufficiently strong background in mathematics, you _may_ be able to start with either Miceli or Polinsky (or both) and give this one a pass. But you'll miss a lot of helpful introductory discussion.

Besides, this book has been something of a classic in the field ever since it was first published. If you have any interest in this field at all, you'll probably want to pick up a copy eventually.

(It will probably _not_ help you much in law school, by the way, at least in the beginning. If you're just looking for an introduction to law and economics sufficient to get you started as a law student, I recommend Mercuro/Medema. You can go on to Posner and Landes and Shavell and Calabresi and the rest of them later.)

A Great Book On A Great Topic
Originally, I bought this for a class in college and it remains one of the few texts that I kept. I was studying economics and had always imagined that I would go to law school some day so I took this class. The result was I went back sooner and fell in love with concept of looking at law through an economic lens. To this day, I will pull this book down from the shelf to rethink about a question using the tools this book provides.

The best part about this book is that is not overly complex or attempting to over simplify. Rather, its beauty is found in Cooter & Ulen's use of a well-timed example, beautifully simple diagrams, and realizing that this book is only an introduction to a controversial and complex subject matter. If you want to read Judge Posner's treatise I highly recommend it, but if you want to begin to understand why Posner and those like myself argue for this type of analysis-start here.

This book is expensive, but I would buy it again. If you're even remotely interested in this beautiful hybrid of human though, I strongly recommend you buy this. If you have to buy it for a class as I did, I would hold on to it and read it again without an eye toward the exam. I know it will be a good beer resale at the end of the semester, but I think in the long-run you'll be glad you kept it.

Good intro to Law & Econ
As one who both read this book and studied under Professor Ulen, I found this book to be an excellent introduction to the field. No, this is not a huge treatise on the subject, nor is it meant to be. It is designed to reach people familiar with either law or economics and broaden their understanding of the other field. In this, it succeeds quite well. ... Read more

Book Description

Essentials of Economics is the market leader for the one-semester survey course.In just about 400 pages, it provides a solid introduction to the core concepts of economics with an emphasis on real-world examples and current events.Essentials has earned its popular success because, unlike other books on the market, it is free of the abstract and complex theory that require more time than this course allows.Instead, the text is clean and concise, with many examples of significance to students today, including Headlines and Policy Perspectives that use current events to help illustrate the topics discussed.This real-world policy emphasis is a distinctive feature of Schiller’s text and is integral to its dominance of the survey text market. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Wonderful
I don't study Economics in college but i have loved this topic since high school. I was looking for a book that enriches my knowledge to Economics without much complexity. This book was exactly like i wanted. It has a very easy approach to many aspects of Economics so that the reader can be comfortable with both easy and advanced topics in microeconomics and macroeconomics.

Understandable
I am currently taking and Inro to Economics class. I read this book when ever I get the chance. I never really want to read books that have to do with my classed, but this book i don't mind reading. It's taking me a little while to get through it but I can pretty much understand everything that I am reading. The only thing I don't like about this book is that many of the definitions are worded in complicated ways. But if you read the book it explains in a different way that you can understand. This book also uses real like situations in order for you to understabd it too.

Not just for college.
I recently took an Economics class and used this book for class. I found the book very easy to use along with the instructors notes. Key terms and definitions are provided alongside the text for easy referral later.The summary at the end of each chapter hits upon key points and helped with studying. The problems and exercises at the end of the chapters were helpful also, and the book provided the answers in the back, just in case. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Good Graphs, but a bit thin on explanation.
I use this textbook in my Managerial Economics course.Personally, I think the graphs are very well done, but the material covered is somewhat more challenging than a typical intermediate-level textbook and requires an understanding of calculus.The verbal explanations could be better.Waldman makes somewhat ambitious efforts to cover advanced topics such in utility theory, the number of firms in monopolistic competition, and bundling.

Stay away from this book
To any instructor considering this book, don't use it.Currently, we are using this book in our Microtheory class.99% of the class hates the book and 75% of the class is barely passing.1.) The book is extremely dry, hard to understand, and requires reviewing the concepts at least 5+ times a week.2.) The author doesn't provide a thorough explanation for each concept.3.) The author uses calculus and algebra for majority of the concepts. ... Read more