Non-Gaussian Merton-Black-Scholes Theory

Customer Reviews:

challening .......2005-12-16

not for the ordinary practitioner. requires great mathematical maturity but if one can stand the challenge, it will open the eyes of the readers to newer and more interesting models in mathematical finance. it is too early to start developing applications since numerical techniques for levy processes have yet to be develop.
But that is the way science works

Difficult to read, even more difficult to apply..........2003-07-18

The authors have attempted the difficult task of gathering
in this book a lot of recent research results on Levy processes in option pricing. Many of the results in the book are due to the authors themselves, who are specialists of the field of pseudodifferential calculus.
There are a lot of references, not only to their own work but also to others, in maths and finance, which is useful.
However, perhaps because of their own background, they have chosen to describe these models using the theory of pseudo-differential operators, a technicallly difficult theory which is not even known to most mathematicians. The result is that the book is impossible to read for non mathematicians and difficult to read even for mathematicians who do not have a background in complex analysis and pseudo-differential operators. In fact I think that it is unncessarily complicated since none of the articles cited use pseudo-differential operators and everything could have been formulated using elemnetary manipulation of Fourier transforms.
Another problem is that they give no real world applications
on pricing and hedging...
Finally, by insisting on 'general results' instead of explicit examples the authors reduce even more the readability.

unreadable.......2003-06-27

This book is like the author's names: unreadable. If you are a hard-core mathematician you maybe like it. If you are a practicioner forget it. Although they claim it, this stuff is not useful in practice. There are also no real application worked out. The stuff on exotics is nice in theory, but not applicable in practice. You are much better of with Shiryaev's book or the book of Schoutens

Book Description

First presented as an idea 30 years ago, servant leadership is based on selflessly serving one's team, organization, or community rather than power, domination, or self-interest. "The Serving Leader presents the simple truth of this idea in a fresh parable about a dying father reunited with his estranged son and only child. This second book in the "Ken Blanchard series of short inspirational empowerment texts offers a practical "action approach" to servant leadership. The five lessons Mike learns from his father - upend the pyramid, raise the bar, blaze the trail, build on strength, and run to great purpose - can be applied equally to life and work. "The Serving Leader's moving story, memorable characters, and strong insights make it as exciting as it is educational.

Customer Reviews:

Timeless principles of Leadership in action.......2007-01-31

Ken Jennings and John Stahl-Wert utilize a short story format to teach the attributes of leadership. In a consultant's interviews with community leaders revitalizing the inner city, the attributes of true-to-life leadership are demonstrated by action in the narrative.

They highlight the astonishing truth that the best leaders' focus upon building up the people around them, that no man is great on his own.

This very readable leadership 'story' - thankfully light on matrices or charts -draws out more purposeful insights than most books on the topic.

Creative and educational.......2006-09-23

These guys have done a great job with what I call semi-fiction. Following the journal of a consultant as he reconnects with his father and learns the lessons of being a serving leader. This book goes further than Collins' Level 5 leadership and takes you into 5 practical pathways for becoming a serving leader. Excellent read.

Understands Deeper Issues.......2005-12-19

Jennings and Stahl-Wert know what they're talking about. Unlike many "leadership experts," this book rings absolutely true. A very moving, honest, hopeful story that helped me a lot. Thank you for getting to the deeper heart of leadership.

Sevant Leadership is not for Wimps.......2005-12-10

A very well written, thoughtful and practical book that courageously tackles the challenge that all successful leaders ask themselves at some point in their careers- "OK so I have made a big impact on the numbers- and achieved my goals- but why do I still not feel satisfied?" The authors correctly point out that it is all about what you give to others- and not just to impact top or bottom lines in business- but also to impact the communities around us. Those who have not really dug into what a Servant Leader is- and does- may well have their exising paradigms upended. Servant leadership is NOT about being spineless or too nice- it IS about setting a very high standard and holding people accountable- but also caring about and investing in them to help them to hit and surpass this high mark. Having been a keen student of leadership over the past 20 years, I have seen trends and fads come and go and many leaders rise and fall. What I like best about The Serving Leader is that its principles are timeless and fad-proof. One will never go wrong being the type of Servant Leader described in this book- and they may become the leader who has the type of impact that they never dreamed big enough to conceive. A great read!

Great resource on servant leadership.......2005-06-20

This book is truly exceptional for anyone who wants to be able to truly understand the heart of servant leadership. If you are ever able to meet Dr. Stahl-Wert, you will understand that he does not just write about it and talk about it, he lives it in his own personal and professional life which makes the book even more real. Do not read this book unless you are ready and willing to commit to the call to servant leadership and what it can mean for you and your organization.

Book Description

Using more than 100 spectacular images from the Hubble Space Telescope, Cosmic Butterflies explores the beauty of the most mysterious celestial objects in space, planetary nebulae. The mystery begins at the end of the star's life, when it wraps itself in a cocoon by spilling out gas and dust. Sometime later, a butterfly-like nebula emerges from the cocoon and develops into a planetary nebula. These newly formed, effervescent structures are complemented by a kaleidoscope of colors emitted by glowing gases. Hovering in the gossamer of delicate streamers, the production of planetary nebula by a star is both its most momentous event and foretells its doom when its central energy runs out. In this extraordinary book, Sun Kwok, a leading international expert on planetary nebulae, details the discovery process of the creation of planetary nebulae and of the future of the Earth's Sun. Sun Kwok is Professor of Astronomy at the University of Calgary and a Canada Council Killam Fellow. His book The Origin and Evolution of Planetary Nebulae (Cambridge, 2000) is widely considered to be the definitive treatise on the subject. He serves as chairman of the Planetary Nebulae Working Group of the International Astronomical Union and has been a member of the Advisory Panel of the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics since 1993.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2002-02-03

I was actually not that interested in astronomy, but when a student at the astronomy club mentioned her father was writing it, I promised her I would go out and buy it, and it was one of the best choices of my life. Whether you're a relative newcomer in the field of astronomy, or someone who has studied it for years, this book will teach you an enormous amount about something so rarely visited - planetary nebula. It is such a fascinating field, I'm surprised so few books have been written about it. Never matter though - Dr. Kwok's book is by far the most informative book on this subject written, and is more than adequate for anyone who wishes to learn all they can on this.

It is beautifully illustrated, with over 100 spectacular colour illustrations, and masterfully written. If you've never picked up a book on astronomy before - fear not, it is both clear and easy to follow with the way it is written. I recommend this book to all those who are fascinated by our universe.

Planetary Nebula eye candy.......2002-01-16

If there is one book to give the amateur astronomer oohs and aahs and remain one of his/hers best books, then the jam packed images of planetary eye candy cannot be passed up! This book, written by Dr. Sun Kwok, of whom I had the unique pleasure of having speak at our astronomy club meeting, has created a great book, filled with eye popping imagery and informative text on the creation and formation of planetary nebula.

The text includes chapter after chapter on the beginings of planetary nebula formation, through the AGB stage, into proto-planetary infancy and finally into mature planetary nebula. The result is a colorful display of the awesome fury, if not death throe end, to a star in the december years of its life.

Dr. Kwok is both informative and a master in his field. His research is into the organic make-up of Planetary nebula. Could these deep sky wonders harbor within them the beginings of life, especially on earth, from the death of a star and its cataclysmic end? Read this book and find out.

Book Description

Evolutionary theory ranks as one of the most powerful concepts of modern civilization. Its effects on our view of life have been wide and deep. One of the most world-shaking books ever published, Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, first appeared in print over 130 years ago, and it touched off a debate that rages to this day.

Every modern evolutionist turns to Darwin's work again and again. Current controversies in the life sciences very often have as their starting point some vagueness in Darwin's writings or some question Darwin was unable to answer owing to the insufficient biological knowledge available during his time. Despite the intense study of Darwin's life and work, however, many of us cannot explain his theories (he had several separate ones) and the evidence and reasoning behind them, nor do we appreciate the modifications of the Darwinian paradigm that have kept it viable throughout the twentieth century.

Who could elucidate the subtleties of Darwin's thought and that of his contemporaries and intellectual heirs--A. R. Wallace, T. H. Huxley, August Weismann, Asa Gray--better than Ernst Mayr, a man considered by many to be the greatest evolutionist of the century? In this gem of historical scholarship, Mayr has achieved a remarkable distillation of Charles Darwin's scientific thought and his enormous legacy to twentieth-century biology. Here we have an accessible account of the revolutionary ideas that Darwin thrust upon the world. Describing his treatise as "one long argument," Darwin definitively refuted the belief in the divine creation of each individual species, establishing in its place the concept that all of life descended from a common ancestor.

He proposed the idea that humans were not the special products of creation but evolved according to principles that operate everywhere else in the living world; he upset current notions of a perfectly designed, benign natural world and substituted in their place the concept of a struggle for survival; and he introduced probability, chance, and uniqueness into scientific discourse.

This is an important book for students, biologists, and general readers interested in the history of ideas--especially ideas that have radically altered our worldview. Here is a book by a grand master that spells out in simple terms the historical issues and presents the controversies in a manner that makes them understandable from a modern perspective.

Customer Reviews:

The Darwin Credo Reaffirmed.......2006-02-08

Mayr belongs to the select company who devised, in the Forties, the reconciliation of Darwinism to Mendelian genetics called Neo-Darwinism. One monument to this synthesis is the University of Chicago Centenary volumes published in 1959, where leading lights exalted the vindication of Darwin's theory. In the intervening decades enormous advances in all the sciences bearing on evolution have been made. Does Neo-Darwinism survive? Mayr believes that it does. To establish this improbable case, he begins his effort with a characterization of Darwin's achievement in terms compatible with what he takes to be the current state of evolutionary theory.

A fundamental historical component of the Darwinist credo is that the publication of the Origin marks an abrupt break, styled the Darwinian Revolution, in European thought, not merely in science but across the board, starting with religion and theology. Mayr's proposed characterization of this transformation is specified by four claims.

Claim 1. Darwin >refuted the belief in the individual creation of each species, establishing in its place the concept that all of life descended from a common ancestor <. The wording mirrors Darwin's claim that at the time he published Origin, he knew of no naturalist who disbelieved in special creation. There was an outcry against this historical perversity, including objections from the true originator of natural selection theory (Patrick Matthew, in 1831), and the Oxford mathematics professor (Baden Powell) who from 1835 published philosophical essays defending naturalistic evolution against special creation. By 1850 the concept of naturalistic evolution including the origin of the human species had thoroughly penetrated theology, literature, polite conversation, and even the working class. Darwin was the late-comer whose disciples stole the credit on his behalf.

Claim 2. Mayr states that >Victorian notions of progress and perfectability were seriously undermined by Darwin's demonstration that evolution ...does not necessarily lead to progress... < He produces not a single contemporary witness to this sense of Darwin's meaning. The facts are that the Origin equated adaptation with >improvement < (non-improvers are displaced). The book owed its celebrity in large measure to its scientific >proof < of the nearly universal belief in progress. Indeed the French translation of the Origin bore the title, De l'Origine des especes, ou Des Lois du progress chez les etres organizes. In her Introduction, translator Clemence-August Royer stated that >the doctrine of Darwin is the rational revelation of progress, pitting itself in its logical antagonism with the irrational revelation of the fall <. She related the survival of the fittest theory of organic change to the theory of change developed by free market economics. The same notion was promoted in England by Herbert Spencer. Darwin never repudiated these, for Mayr, gross misunderstandings. Why not? Perhaps because these views were his own.

Claim 3. Darwin pioneered a new concept of science based on >concepts of probability, change, and uniqueness < as against the then dominant methodology based on physical laws and determinism. Oh dear! Darwin's comments on high level methodological issues are sparse. They are also conventional. Far from challenging the Newtonian model, he was anxious to bathe his theory in its prestige, especially after he was directly challenged (and thoroughly intimidated) by Briton's leading physicist, Lord Kelvin. Darwin didn't quantify because he had no head for maths. His one attempt, intended to relate species diversification to geographic distribution, was a flop, from which he was rescued by his friend John Lubbock. He was oblivious to advances in statistical demography, despite their direct relevance to his theory. The quantification of inheritance data was carried out by Mendel in his experimental work on peas and by Francis Galton in his writings on inheritance, whose sophisticated mathematical analysis Darwin admitted he could not follow. The struggle for existence did not figure in Mendel's theory, which was the first statement of the laws of evolutionary stasis. The development of electromagnetism and statistical mechanics owed nothing to the Great Mind.

Claim 4. Darwin was >the first person to work out a sound theory of classification, one which is still adopted by the majority of taxonomists <. Crikey! Darwin's theory of classification amounts to little more than the proposal that it be based on evolutionary descent. The proposal was made by numerous evolutionists and sketches of plausible lines of descent, including the pithacoid origin of our species, were readily available. The first edition of the Origin presented but one descent scenario-of whales from bears-but it attracted such ridicule that Darwin withdrew it in the second printing. His few subsequent proposals of descent, eg, the origin of mammals and of the human species, reiterated proposals made by others. The first attempt at an evolutionary phylogeny stems from Darwin's ardent discipline, Ernst Haeckel, which he based on the >biogenic law < (long since abandoned). Systematics has undergone profound change since 1959, first through Willi Hennig's reconceptualization of classification as cladistics, and then the elaboration of cladism by molecular analysis. (When Mayr wrote this book, his own earlier contributions to systematics had been superseded). To suggest a connection of this development with Darwin's modest contribution is to genuflect before the Holy Father.

These criticisms address statements made in but two pages of the text. The remainder of the book is of like character: Mayr pays no mind to the recent outpouring of history/philosophy of science literature that has placed Darwin in context. Thanks to these advances, we know that his original contributions were few, that his errors and oversights were many, and that he and his True Believer disciples relentlessly campaigned to promote the Cult of Evolution, whose dogmatism sometimes retarded or distorted the growth of evolutionary science. It is sad that this book is a living fossil.

The Darwin credo reaffirmed.......2004-10-20

Mayr belongs to the select company who devised, in the Forties, the reconciliation of Darwinism to Mendelian genetics called Neo-Darwinism. One monument to this synthesis is the University of Chicago Centenary volumes published in 1959, where leading lights exalted the vindication of Darwin's theory. In the intervening decades enormous advances in all the sciences bearing on evolution have been made. Does Neo-Darwinism survive? Mayr believes that it does. To establish this improbable case, he begins his effort with a characterization of Darwin's achievement in terms compatible with what he takes to be the current state of evolutionary theory.

A fundamental historical component of the Darwinist credo is that the publication of the Origin marks an abrupt break, styled the Darwinian Revolution, in European thought, not merely in science but across the board, starting with religion and theology. Mayr's proposed characterization of this transformation is specified by four claims.

Claim 1. Darwin >refuted the belief in the individual creation of each species, establishing in its place the concept that all of life descended from a common ancestor<. The wording mirrors Darwin's claim that at the time he published Origin, he knew of no naturalist who disbelieved in special creation. There was an outcry against this historical perversity, including objections from the true originator of natural selection theory (Patrick Matthew, in 1832), and the Oxford mathematics professor (Baden Powell) who from 1835 published philosophical essays defending naturalistic evolution against special creation. By 1850 the concept of naturalistic evolution including the origin of the human species had thoroughly penetrated theology, literature, polite conversation, and even the working class. Darwin was the late-comer whose disciples stole the credit on his behalf.

Claim 2. Mayr states that >Victorian notions of progress and perfectability were seriously undermined by Darwin's demonstration that evolution ...does not necessarily lead to progress...< He produces not a single contemporary witness to this sense of Darwin's meaning. The facts are that the Origin equated adaptation with >improvement< (non-improvers are displaced). The book owed its celebrity in large measure to its scientific >proof< of the nearly universal belief in progress. Indeed the French translation of the Origin bore the title, De l'Origine des especes, ou Des Lois du progress chez les etres organizes. In her Introduction, translator Clemence-August Royer stated that >the doctrine of Darwin is the rational revelation of progress, pitting itself in its logical antagonism with the irrational revelation of the fall<. She related the survival of the fittest theory of organic change to the theory of change developed by free market economics. The same notion was promoted in England by Herbert Spencer. Darwin never repudiated these, for Mayr, gross misunderstandings. Why not? Perhaps because these views were his own.

Claim 3. Darwin pioneered a new concept of science based on >concepts of probability, change, and uniqueness< as against the then dominant methodology based on physical laws and determinism. Oh dear! Darwin's comments on high level methodological issues are sparse. They are also conventional. Far from challenging the Newtonian model, he was anxious to bathe his theory in its prestige, especially after he was directly challenged (and thoroughly intimidated) by Briton's leading physicist, Lord Kelvin. Darwin didn't quantify because he had no head for maths. His one attempt, intended to relate species diversification to geographic distribution, was a flop, from which he was rescued by his friend John Lubbock. He was oblivious to advances in statistical demography, despite their direct relevance to his theory. The quantification of inheritance data was carried out by Mendel in his experimental work on peas and by Francis Galton in his writings on inheritance, whose sophisticated mathematical analysis Darwin admitted he could not follow. The struggle for existence did not figure in Mendel's theory, which was the first statement of the laws of evolutionary stasis. The development of electromagnetism and statistical mechanics owed nothing to the Great Mind.

Claim 4. Darwin was >the first person to work out a sound theory of classification, one which is still adopted by the majority of taxonomists<. Crikey! Darwin's theory of classification amounts to little more than the proposal that it be based on evolutionary descent. The proposal was made by pre-Origin evolutionists and sketches of plausible lines of descent, including the pithacoid origin of our species, were readily available. The first edition of the Origin presented but one descent scenario-of whales from bears-but it attracted such ridicule that Darwin withdrew it in the second printing. His few subsequent proposals of descent, eg, the origin of mammals and of the human species, reiterated proposals made by others. The first attempt at an evolutionary phylogeny stems from Darwin's ardent discipline, Ernst Haeckel, which he based on the >biogenic law< (long since abandoned). Systematics has undergone profound change since 1959, first through Willi Hennig's reconceptualization of classification as cladistics, and then the elaboration of cladism by molecular analysis. (When Mayr wrote this book, his own earlier contributions to systematics had been superseded). To suggest a connection of this development with Darwin's modest contribution is to genuflect before the Holy Father.

These criticisms address statements made in but two pages of the text. The remainder of the book is of like character: Mayr pays no mind to the recent outpouring of history/philosophy of science literature that has placed Darwin in context. Thanks to these advances in historical knowledge, we now know that his original contributions were few, that his errors and oversights were many, and that he and his True Believer disciples relentlessly campaigned to promote the Cult of Evolution, whose dogmatism sometimes retarded or distorted the growth of evolutionary science. This book is a living fossil.

Modern evolutionary thought .......2003-08-01

The title of One Long Argument can be a bit misleading, as an earlier reviewer mentioned - it is in reference to Darwin's Origin of Species, and Mayr really does not make an argument himself; the book, nonetheless is interesting, if a bit dry.Mayr begins by picking apart Darwin's evolutionary theories (its not one single theory, but actually 5 inter-dependent theories that relate to evolution as a system), before addressing its impact on the scientific community up until the mid - 1970's. Yes, Darwin is still being scrutinized, and not just by the religious set.I found the book a bit dry and difficult to keep my attention. Far too little is discussed about the thinkers before Darwin, and too much is spent on the scientific debate the 50 years after Origins was published. I would have preferred Mayr exploring the implications and impact of the discovery of DNA and microbiology on modifications of natural selection, specicies variation and adaptation instead. Therefore I can only give it 4 stars. In my opinion, a far better book on a related subject is Loren Eisley's Darwin's Century.

You must understand the title to not be disappointed.......2003-03-11

The title "One Long Arguement", it is a reference to part of Darwin's introductory description to The Origin of Species (appearing within Origin itself). This book is not about arguing with Creationists (Thank God ;). I suspect the above reviewers were misled to the point that they felt rating stars must be subtracted. Don't be fooled by title bashers. This is an excellent history and theory primer for the novice and a nice knowledge gap filler for those well-read in the science of evolution and biology.

Darwin & The Old Earth Creationists.......2003-01-22

Creationists have claimed that geology has conspired to support evolution. This book just shows how ridiculous that claim really is. Geologists tossed out the idea of "Flood Geology" long before Darwin arrived on the scene. The idea of an old Earth was developed independently of Darwin. Also interesting is that Darwin was well respected among his fellow scientists, even though they did not initially accept his idea of evolution. His work on the Beagle was considered important, and it alone was sufficent to establish Darwin's scientific reputation. He was already famous (in his day) before his landmark work.

Many scientists in Darwin's time were old earth creationists. In time, many of them were persuaded by the mass of evidence that Darwin had collected, although it would be a long time before natural selection was accepted as the mechanism. So, it is possible to not accept natural evolution and still accept the idea of common descent. Creationists try to argue that evolution is a package deal, that if one idea is out of place or not quite right, then the whole thing should be tossed out. This notion is just wrong, and reading this book will help the reader understand why. In general, creationists exploit the public's poor understanding of the scientific method. While one fact can be enough to completely toss out a theory, what often happens is that old theories get revised to accomdate the new facts. Successful, powerful theories (like Darwins) tend to evolve.

Average customer rating:
One Long Argument Charles Darwin and the Genesis of Modern Evolutionary Thought
Mayer Ernst
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UETKIY

Book Description

The main topic of the conference was the physics of strong interaction and the understanding of how quarks form hadrons, which are part of the atomic nucleus. The proceedings give a comprehensive overview of the present status of the physics of hadrons. Topics include: mesons, baryons, scalars, exotics, heavy quarks, theoretical concepts, hadrons in matter, and reactions. The timing of the conference was very fortunate as many new and surprising results appeared in the months before its start. The highlights were the discussions about the nature of the recently discovered arrow states.

Average customer rating:
(Introducing) Jin Shin Jyutsu Is: Book I (Getting to Know Myself Art of Living), Book 2 (Cosmic Artless Art to Know Myself Physio-Philosophy: Nature-the Effortless Reality), Book 3 (Know Myself Be It Is, IS: Fingers and Toes: Physio-Philosophy)
Mary Burmeister
Manufacturer: J.S.J. Distributors
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound
ASIN: B000NAA8W2

Product Description

Self-Help with Jin Shin Jyutsu Is. Master Jiro Murai. Three book set.

Average customer rating:

The Cosmic Finger
Dan Homeres
Manufacturer: PublishAmerica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Comic | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1413757634

Book Description

The Cosmic Finger chronicles an uncommon story about a susceptible man who, acknowledging that his mentor Raymond Barleycorn and his beloved Uncle Buddy are perhaps the two most unlucky individuals in the Pacific Northwest, struggles and finds life-enhancing offerings in the reckless debris left in their wake. The storyteller manages to interweave current and past bouts of misfortune with poorly managed periods of good luck. In this ironic and non-linear tale by the author of Introverts Dedicated to Chaos, our susceptible narrator also becomes the heir apparent to a core of conniving misanthropes, self-indulgent in-laws, an ex-wife on a crime spree and an ice-fishing judge who helps him unravel the multiplicity of providence. Sometime it's not enough just keeping an eye out for The Cosmic Finger, but there are those rare occasions when a person might actually look forward to its company.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books