What a disappointing read. As dry as an old maid's down below. The first half of the book is a tale about a young physist, studying at university and then following an academic career at AT&T.
Not until we get past the staples does the author finally drag us into Wall Street and describes his life as a quant, which is the main reason for most of us wanting to read the book in the first place.
Billed as "Emanuel Derman relives his exciting journey as one of the first high–energy particle physicists to migrate to Wall Street". Sorry but excited I was not.
On the one hand the book tries to be a quant's version of Liar's Poker but with the author not being a trader the tales are hardly juicy. On the other hand the book tries to give a little (and by little I mean almost no) insight into quantitatve algorithms. The information given is introductory at best. Any quant text book covers all that you need to know.
The author is obviously not a narrative writer and the book comes across as such. I would rather have read a more technical book in a style, I feel, the author would be more at home with.
The book has a very linear and dull narrative from a very linear and dull physicist though I am sure his seminars are more focused and interesting. I can see why traders would want to avoid geeky quants, which is why I keep to myself.
