Mathematical Finance: A Very Short Introduction by Mark H.A. Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – OUP

This is Oxford University Press’s Very Short Introduction to the field of the “Quants,” individuals who apply mathematics to questions of how to value financial assets and assess risks. The book begins by laying out how banking and financial markets work, then discusses how interest rates are determined, and then explores the quantification of various risks faced by lenders. The book finishes by discussing how the 2008 financial crisis impacted the field and how it operates in the wake of that event. (The 2008 crisis was described in an intriguing fashion in the book and movie The Big Short. It basically resulted from deceptive grading of mortgage-backed securities such that investors who thought they had the ultimate default-proof asset in fact had assets that not only could collapse, but — in fact — were bound to.)

Even though this book is a concise introduction, it shouldn’t be confused for a simple guide. It is not only mathematically intense but also jargon dense. It’s not a complete waste for someone without any advanced mathematics and / or economics / finance background to read, but there will be large patches that will likely be lost on one. (And if you’re not at all used to reading scholarly writing, it may be excessively daunting.)

If you want a quick guide to the field of quantitative finance, and you have an understanding of the mathematical notation used in calculus and statistics, I’d recommend this book. If you are interested in the topic but aren’t at all mathematical, you might start elsewhere (the aforementioned, The Big Short, might be a good place.)

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