Puzzles of Finance

Puzzles of Finance takes on today's most persistently challenging financial questions and, through clever examples and just plain logic, helps you move beyond those questions to arrive at a deeper understanding of finance and the daily management of money. From Siegel's Paradox ("Is it possible to profit from asymmetry of exchange rate changes'") to questions of option value ("Why is the value of an option unaffected by the underlying asset's expected return'"), Puzzles of Finance goes beyond vague theoretical suppositions to supply practical, concrete solutions that investors and money managers can benefit from every day.

While the intellectually curious will be drawn to Puzzles of Finance, it is the day-to-day finance professional who will derive the most benefit from this remarkable book. In clear, concise language with more than a touch of humor-renowned author and financial professional Mark Kritzman simplifies six of today's most perplexing financial riddles. Along the way, he presents a finance primer as practical as it is profound, as illuminating as it is entertaining. Kritzman artfully explores the relationship of such seemingly disparate fields as botany and thermodynamics to options. These proofs propel Puzzles of Finance forward with the pace of a novel. An easy-to-understand. primer on financial concepts and quantitative methods combined with a technical glossary ensures that no concept is misunderstood.

The result is an unprecedented book that will change the way you view finance and investing. When you invest your time in reading Puzzles of Finance, you will uncover some of the most probing and insightful lessons in financial literature today.

MARK P. KRITZMAN is Managing Partner of Windham Capital Management Boston and a Senior Partner of State Street Associates. He is also the Research Director of the AIMR Research Foundation and serves on the boards of the Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance and the International Securities Exchange, and on the editorial boards of the Financial Analysts journal, the Journal of Alternative Investments, and the Journal of Derivatives. Mr. Kritzman has written numerous articles for academic and professional journals and is the author of six books including the Portable Financial Analyst.