The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It

This is not a great book, in general or on the financial crisis in particular. It is good and it may be one of the best on the origins, mechanisms, models, culture and consequences of the quants on Wall Street. But it seemed to me that Patterson tried to do too much in this book, to tell a human story, a history story, have multiple parallel and intersecting plot lines and so many protagonists (major, minor and very minor) that it was easy to get lost in the text (it is very well read by Chamberlain). It is encyclopedic in some ways, without having the organizational and categorical benefits of being an encyclopedia (which might, in any case, be hard to listen to).

Before you go away thinking the book is worthless, let me say that many sections, small sections scattered about, are superb. Which is why it gets a 4-star score rather than something lower. Patterson is very good with the root origins, in mathematics and physics, and the more near-term historical origins in the US investor community in the 1950s, 1960s & 1970s. Patterson is quite good at explaining the different threads of quant strategies without getting you bogged all down in math. And he does succeed at times, in the human story, to make you understand some of the players.

Like any complex event, to fully understand what happened, you have to read more than one book on the subject. Other books on Audible such as those by Tett, Lowenstein and Lewis tend to complement Patterson's book by looking at different facets of the origins of the crisis, the crisis itself and the public policy issues. Tett, Lowenstein & Lewis do not focus so much on the quants, so to fill out your knowledge it may be necessary to pick up Patterson. And since the quants are in many ways right at the center of the crisis, in the way it filled up a bubble, popped the bubble and generated significant contagion effects, it is necessary to understand them.

The previous reviewer pretty much nailed it on the head for me: the author enjoys writing the about the personal -- and largely irrelevant -- stories of the people profile. Had he just spent as much effort unwinding the how and why of the quants approach, I would have enjoyed this book much more. When he doesn't overthink it, the narrative is focus and informative. When he does, its push the work very close to a fictional feel.

Of course, understanding the level of hubris involved in this culture is part of understanding how and why it lead to the outcomes it did, so it was essential to cover that. Just too much of a good thing here.

One concluding suggestion: if you decide to invest your time and attention into the offering, make sure you have already done the same or will follow this title up with Taleb's "The Black Swan." Its a great counterpoint this.

I found this book entertaining to listen to but I don't believe it gets to the root causes of the financial disaster. I'm currently reading The Black Swan and I find this much more insightful about the fundamental causes of financial crisis. The author of this book wants to confine his discussion to how the quants models were broken but doesn't want to discuss how bankers, government officials, and everyone else was in some way responsible for the downturn. If you are looking for an entertaining look inside the world of hedge funds this would be a good place to start. However, if you are trying to find a book that gets to the causes of the financial crisis I would start somewhere else.

My first impression, after the first chapter or so, was to regret my purchase. But I came around on it.


The bad: The book is sensationalized. Instead of putting things in plain straightforward language, the author chooses to phases such as "every trading system known to God" (to describe the deal some young trader got with his broker). The narrator doesn't help with the sensational aspect, but he generally does a good job. The author can't refer to a mathematician without saying "whiz" or "genius". It is painful if you can't get used to it, and I'm sure that's why the other reviewer hated the book. It can seem insulting to anyone who already knows something about wall street.


The good: The book actually has a lot of information in it and seems to be well researched. Some of the conclusions and observations made along the way make sense. He describes complex issues well.

I found this book entertaining to listen to but I don't believe it gets to the root causes of the financial disaster. I'm currently reading The Black Swan and I find this much more insightful about the fundamental causes of financial crisis. The author of this book wants to confine his discussion to how the quants models were broken but doesn't want to discuss how bankers, government officials, and everyone else was in some way responsible for the downturn. If you are looking for an entertaining look inside the world of hedge funds this would be a good place to start. However, if you are trying to find a book that gets to the causes of the financial crisis I would start somewhere else.

I really enjoyed every bit of the book. The content has been well researched and the story has been exceptionally well written. Loved it.

A revolution has taken place on wall street, and Patterson shows us how it happened.

This book is very interesting and very well written. The story itself should be called "A confederacy of dunce geniuses". What is inspiring about this story is that it could have only happened in America. Only in America would the conditions be correct for a group of men be so egotistical, "irrationally exuberant", and innovative to the point that they are able to get billions and billions of dollars of other peoples money to invest and make themselves rich in the process, but they did this without ever creating a single thing to sell except paper.

It also goes to show that the love and creation of money for money's sake is a notion this inherently sick. Behind the study of greed and money for money's sake is a study of personality types. The narcissism of geeks and the drives that this creates is a worth studying all by itself.

I have gone through several books in this genre, the last being "The Myth of the Rational Market." That is an alright book, but this blows it away on the same topics. This author is a great, standout (not merely good) explainer of events and ideas. The smiles this books brings me along the line are intelligent smiles. He adds just enough color and personal quirky stuff (nerdy of course, as one would expect here) to stay breezy, but is slightly more straighfaced than, say, Michael Lewis. The choice of details and events never wanders far from the big ideas and history being presented. This will get a second listening.

The stories of this financial fad are interesting and it adds some information missing from similar Wall Street books I’ve heard, so it’s worthwhile in that respect. For example, this book describes the origins of and people behind VaR and other statistical methods mentioned in other books.

It’s not very well written, though. The author uses too many clichés and often dips into unnecessary melodrama. He tries to get too fancy for his subject matter and it comes across like bad poetry. Chamberlain’s delivery doesn’t help matters, as he employs the singsong inflection favored by cheesy local TV reporters.

I wouldn’t recommend this as a first book for anyone interested in recent Wall Street antics, but for those who have read several and are looking for something more, this should be worth a credit.