Book Description
Techniques and Inspiration for Creating and Sharing Artist Trading Cards
*First how-to book on the market, providing both instruction and ideas
*Topic speaks to a range of crafters, including memory artists, papercrafters, metal workers, quilters, and more
*Features contributions from top-name artists for star-power appeal
A world-wide phenomenon, Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) are the rage among all types of creatives. With this book, readers will find a spectrum of techniques--collage, painting, metal working, stamping, and more--for making the cards and albums to store them, as well as suggestions for fostering a community of friendship and technique sharing and card trading."
Customer Reviews:
best ATC book ever.......2007-10-04
I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend. I love it! It has a wide variety of styles, materials, techniques. It has enough ideas to keep an artist busy for months!
Artist Trading Card Workshop.......2007-09-27
This is a must have book for anyone who likes to do paper arts...There is so many techinques to learn..
Artist Trading Cards.......2007-09-26
I love this book. It has great ideas as well as the history of ATC's
It also give some web sites to visit so you can find other people wanting to trade ATC's I highly recommend this book!
tons of great ideas!.......2007-09-15
this book is brimming with examples of ATCs from a wide variety of artists and crafters + new techniques that I have never tried before like the gesso wash over magazine images - loved that! A perfect addition to your crafting library!
Pretty Pictures no instruction.......2007-09-08
Very pretty pictures. Not what I was looking for. I want to see the step by step process not a list of what was used. Very very unsatisfying. I returned it. Not worth the money for nice photo's.
Book Description
The book is a step-by-step guide to derivative products. By distilling the complex mathematics and theory that underlie the subject, Chisholm explains derivative products in straightforward terms, focusing on applications and intuitive explanations wherever possible. Case studies and examples of how the products are used to solve real-world problems, as well as an extensive glossary and material on the latest derivative products make this book a must have for anyone working with derivative products.
Download Description
"The book is a step-by-step guide to derivative products. By distilling the complex mathematics and theory that underlie the subject, Chisholm explains derivative products in straightforward terms, focusing on applications and intuitive explanations wherever possible. Case studies and examples of how the products are used to solve real-world problems, as well as an extensive glossary and material on the latest derivative products make this book a must have for anyone working with derivative products. "
Customer Reviews:
The best book.......2007-06-13
This is the best book I read on derivatives till date. I am a novice in finance but have a good understanding of maths. Mr. Andrew has done a fabulous job in explaining derivatives complexities. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in finance.
Perfect starting book.......2006-11-06
If you are interested in starting on derivatives instrument this is one of the right books.
Well done........2005-10-12
This book is what you expect from the title. It is a clear concise guide to understanding the logic and execution behind derivative trades. These principles can be used for trading but even more so for corporate finance executives to handle everyday currency exchange problems or to hedge against potential volatility in the future market. I read this one for a class first but am eager to pick up the Capital Markets book too.
Does exactly what it says in the title.......2005-03-22
This book is for everyone in finance and banking or studying the subject who needs a well-written introduction or recap on derivative products. There are lots of examples and cases and the writing style is excellent, not that common in books about finance. Highly recommended.
Brilliant and clear introduction.......2005-01-01
This is a really good introduction to derivative products. I have tried a lot of other books in this field and ended up thinking that they were far too complicated and obscure. This book is written in a very clear and simple way, and finally I have a real understanding of what is going on in derivative products, a subject I need to understand for my job in banking.
Book Description
In the 2nd edition some sections of Part I are omitted for better readability, and a brand new chapter is devoted to volatility risk. As a consequence, hedging of plain-vanilla options and valuation of exotic options are no longer limited to the Black-Scholes framework with constant volatility.
The theme of stochastic volatility also reappears systematically in the second part of the book, which has been revised fundamentally, presenting much more detailed analyses of the various interest-rate models available: the authors' perspective throughout is that the choice of a model should be based on the reality of how a particular sector of the financial market functions, never neglecting to examine liquid primary and derivative assets and identifying the sources of trading risk associated. This long-awaited new edition of an outstandingly successful, well-established book, concentrating on the most pertinent and widely accepted modelling approaches, provides the reader with a text focused on practical rather than theoretical aspects of financial modelling.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent introductory book to financial math.......2006-11-03
This book takes you through the math of finance step-by-step, passing through very simple examples first and then slowly adding complexity to the models studied. It is written very clearly and the prerequisites to reading this book are only some basic notions of probabilities (sigma-fields, probability measures).
Sometimes, the problem with math books is that they are "dry" and contain only a succession of theorems and proofs. In this one, the authors make a point of explaining in detail how different theorems and models relate to each other, and make extensive comparisons between them so that you get a better feel for how they work in practice.
The book is primarily a math book and can be light on market specifics. Do not buy this book as a practical "howto" in derivatives trading.
At the Forefront of Modern Mathematical Finance.......2005-05-23
This advanced text provides an excellent account of the current state-of-the art of options pricing/hedging models and interest rate term structure models. The book is accessible to both advanced practitioners of mathematical finance as well as to pure researchers in the field.
The book is in written in a mathematical style and contains rigorous proofs of many results. However, the main focus of the text is to describe the frontier of knowledge in the subject. Each section contains copious references to the literature and is so current that several references are to working papers. Many sections detail open problems and other areas suitable for scholarly research.
In their second edition, the authors provide an extremely useful critique of each modeling paradigm that they investigate. They also provide evidence for their position in the form of literature references which instruct the reader as to the shortcomings/limitations of a particular model. This information should prove quite valuable to model practitioners and implementers.
The authors assume an advanced background from the field of stochastic analysis, although they do provide an appendix which summarizes key results needed from the field. For the stochastic calculus prerequisites, I recommend Rogers & Williams "Diffusions, Markov Processes and Martingales" volumes I and II. Suitable prerequisites are also covered by Karatzas and Shreve in "Brownian Motion and Stochastic Calculus" 2nd edition. A good foundation in arbitrage pricing theory is also needed. I recommend the nice treatment by Bjork in "Arbitrage Theory in Continuous Time" 2nd edition.
The book is divided into two parts. The first part deals with options pricing in equity markets. Chapter 1 sets premlinaries required for the arbitrage theoretic framework, while Chapter 2 has a very nice treatment of discrete time models and finite financial markets.
In Chapter 3, the authors develop the Black-Scholes model along with the Bachelier model using arbitrage techniques. The models are compared and used as benchmark continuous time models and form the basis for all subsequent analysis.
Chapter 4 provides a nice survey of techniques used to price/hedge options in foreign equity and currency markets. The authors assume familarity of the basic workings of foriegn markets.
Chapter 5 is a terrific chapter on valuing American-style options. The American call option is thoroughly studied and approximation techniques for the American put option are introduced. The explicit derivations of the formulas are referenced to the literature.
Chapter 6 provides an introduction to exotic options, although the authors vary their use of the term 'exotic' to meaning 'not a standard European-style or American-style' in this chapter to meaning 'no readily available liquid market' in Chapter 7. The descriptions are quite accessible and the basic properties of the options are described along with pricing formulas (assuming the Black-Scholes framework).
Chapter 7 provides as complete an accounting as I have ever seen of the generalizations of the Black-Scholes model and motivates this from the point of view of volatility surfaces. Many of the well-known models are studied in detail, such as CEV, local volatility, and mixture models. The strengths and weaknesses of each model are analyzed. The stochastic volatility models of Wiggins (via Orenstien-Uhlenbeck processes), Hull-White, and Heston are studied, as is the SABR model. The chapter wraps up with a study of the SIV models, describes how the stochastic volatility models can be obtained via limits of GARCH models and surveys Jump-diffusion processes and Levy processes.
The second part of the book is concerned with term structure models and interest rate derivatives. The authors are quite well-know for their many contributions to this study and their treatment is authoritative.
Martingales & Finance.......2003-04-12
I have used this book for two courses in my MSc degree in Financial Maths...well this book is hard to understand at first glance, but, once you are introduced with a good course on stochastic analysis and applied probability, this is an illuminating book...I particularly enjoyed the part on foreing equity derivatives and exotic derivatives.....Harmed with patience this is definitely the book by which you can effectively gain a sound a knowledge on modern mathematical finance theory....reading in conjunction with Bingham-Kiesel book, could help understanding the foundation of the subject.
yes, but ..........2000-03-17
I've been using this book on and off over the last year. At first I was very impressed with the level of detail in the mathematics, especially as it was the only book at the time focussing on risk-neutral methods and covering BGM. But I've become increasing disillusioned with it of late. It's difficult to explain, but although the whole book is written in traditional theorem-proof style, there are no real proofs! (I have a PhD in math and have done research for 10 years so I should know a little about proofs.) The only "proofs" provided are basically symbol shifting, but the heart of the math is strangely absent. This is especially strange given the Springer series in which it appears.
In short, if you want a catalogue of methods this book does the job, but if you want a deeper understanding try Lars Nielsens book.
excellent book for post-John-Hull readers.......1999-08-17
This book covers essentially everything needed for a serious financial math study. It captures the spirit of modern financial math. For people with math, physics or engineering background, when you feel comfortable woth John Hull's books, then this book is right one, and a must one.
Book Description
The Das Swaps & Financial Derivatives Library – Third Edition Revised is the successor to Swaps & Financial Derivatives, which was first published in 1989 (as Swap Financing). A second edition was published in 1994 (as Swaps & Financial Derivatives – Second Edition (in most of the world) and Swaps & Derivative Financing – Second Edition (in the USA). The changes in the market since the publication of the second edition have necessitated this third edition.
The Das Swaps & Financial Derivatives Library – Third Edition Revised is a four-volume set that incorporates extensive new material in all sections to update existing areas of coverage. In addition, several new chapters covering areas of market development have been included. This has resulted in a significant expansion in the size of the text. The four volumes in this set are:
Derivative Products & Pricing
Risk Management
Structured Products Volume 1: Exotic Options, Interest Rates & Currency
Structured Products Volume 2: Equity, Commodity, Credit & New Markets
Book Description
Swaps and Other Instruments focuses on the pricing and hedging of swaps, showing how various models work in practice and how they can be built. The book also covers options and interest rates as they relate to swaps, as they are often traded together. The book will include coverage of all the latest swaps including credit, commodity and equity swaps. Exercises and simulations are also provided on an accompanying CD ROM, including Excel spreadsheets enabling the reader to simulate and build their own spreadsheet models.
Customer Reviews:
If you trade swaps, this is one book you have to have........2004-08-28
This book fills a huge gap in linking a diverse number of products together. From cross currency swaps to swapping bond issues to floating structures, as well as optionality and fixed income risk management as it should be done. Swaps and other Derivatives is the culmination of Richard Flavell's long and respected career in the markets, giving back to the reader exactly what you need to know..in a practical form. No heavy math, just good clean excel style pricing examples.
an excellent book for pricing swaps.......2004-06-26
give clear excel examples on how to implement swap calculation.
Excellent field guide.......2004-02-20
This is definitely the best book in the market for Swaps and related derivatives. The level of detail is extraordinary in comparision with other available books. Leaves very little gaps which means it is easy to apply the knowledge in practical situations.
Most books lean either towards the technical/quantitative side or the financial business side. Richard Flavell's books is a much-needed well rounded book on the issue. Definitely a much better book than Satyajit Das/Fabozzi books.
I wish Richard Flavell would write more. If you're buying one book on Swaps and related OTC derivatives, its got to be this one!
Flavell's book find the right balance.......2002-07-14
Whilst I have only read the first 100 pages or so of Favell's book so far, my impression is very favourable. This is simply an excellent book that finds the perfect middle ground between academic texts and introductory works, both of which usually leave out practical market issues such as day count conventions, business day adjustments, rounding rules, interpolation concerns, available market data etc
As a quant working for financial software company finding the detailed information required to write documentation to drive software development is often difficult. This book supplies the level of detail needed, and also contains excellent descriptions of different pricing methodologies for interest rate swaps.
Later chatpers on risk management and pricing of other derivatives look equally impressive, and I look forward to reading them.
This is the best book on swaps that I seen so far; a definite improvement on Das in my opinion.
Product Description
The growth of the credit derviatives market has produced a liquid market in credit default swaps across the credit curve, and this liquidity has led many investors to access both the credit derivative and cash bond markets to meet their investment requirements.
This book investigates the close relationship between the synthetic and cash markets in credit, which manifests itself in the credit default swap basis. Choudhry covers the factors that drive the basis, implications for market participants, the CDS index basis, and trading the basis.
Credit market investors and traders as well as anyone with an interest in the global debt markets will find this insightful and rewarding.
THIS BOOK QUALIFIES FOR 7 PD CREDITS UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF THE CFA INSTITUTE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.
Customer Reviews:
This book could be boiled down to an article........2007-03-27
The book is 195 pages total. The first 60 pages explain what CDS, z-spread, and asset swap spread are. While this is useful information, chances are, if you are buying a book about CDS basis, you will already know this stuff. And if you dont, wikipedia or any other online source can concisely explain it.
The last 50 pages includes definitions and appendicies. In between, you get a lot of repetitive information. Every chapter starts out with a 2-3 page summary of what you just read.
Chapter 3 is really the only useful part of the book - it outlines the 10 or so factors that drive basis. I certainly learned a lot here but it was in the course of 10 pages or so.
The final chapter talks about "trading the basis." I was disappointed to read that they are simply telling you how to execute the trade...ie, buy $10MM notional, sell X, hedge with futures. It really doesnt help with idea generation which is what I was hoping to see.
Very Useful For Practitioners.......2007-01-27
Choudhry lays out the relationship between cash and synthetic fixed income instruments: 1) for cash bonds, the different ways to measure the cash flows, swapping fixed to floating, using ASW, I spread, Z spread, etc., and the pro's and con's of each measurement. 2) For CDS, there is a brief primer on the CDS product structure, and discussion of CDS pricing methodology (both mathematically and in layman's terms). He then lays out techniques for hedging and basis trading and presents examples. There is discussion of market supply/demand influences.
The emphasis is hands-on usability for the practitioner. He presents examples using the Bloomberg & some spreadsheets. Although several approaches to CDS pricing theory are presented (including some math that I'm not knowledgable enough to evaluate), CDS theory is not explored or debated in great detail. This level of theory is not the primary focus of the book. The book is NOT targeted to heavy duty quants or theoreticians.
There are a couple areas where I would have appreciated a bit more diligence. Choudhry himself points out one example where the values in the printed Bloomberg screen differ slightly from the book's text (couldn't they have updated one or the other before going to print?). In another case, I was unsure about the consistency of treatment in different parts of the book regarding one of the spread measurements. In this case I will probably buy one of his other books where the issue is examined in greater detail.
Overall, I found this book VERY useful and well worth reading.
Book Description
Structured Products Volume 1 consists of
4 Parts and
20 Chapters covering applications of derivatives, the creation of synthetic assets using derivatives (such as asset swaps, structured notes and repackaged assets), exotic options, non-generic derivative structures used in interest rates and currency markets (including non-generic swaps, basis (floating-to-floating) swaps, swaptions (options on interest rate swaps), callable bonds, CMT products, IAR products, interest rate and currency structured products.
Book Description
Written in an accessible, non-technical style, Futures, Options, and Swaps is the most comprehensive text on derivatives markets available. As the only book to utilize such a reader-friendly, instructive approach, students will find the material readily comprehensible without a professor's guidance, thereby freeing instructors to cover only the vital topics, or to teach a more technical course. This fifth edition has been extensively revised to address the most recent developments in this rapidly evolving field. New and updated information reflects current conditions in a variety of areas, including electronic trading platforms, globalization of markets, hedge funds, financial scandals involving derivatives, and government regulation. Also new to this edition are text boxes containing anecdotes or vignettes related to topics discussed more formally in the text, and product profiles to describe some of the more successful contracts around the world and to highlight innovative or unusual features of traded contracts. The treatment in this text emphasizes financial derivatives, but it does not neglect traditional commodity futures. An accompanying website can be found online at www.blackwellpublishing.com/kolb, containing the OPTION! program that allows the user to compute virtually every option and swap value discussed in this book, as well as many of the relationships among different option prices. The website also includes more than 80 exercises designed to enhance the understanding of option pricing principles and applications.
Customer Reviews:
Much better than many realize.......2005-09-19
Let's face it: the big Kahuna in this space is Hull's 6th Edition of "Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives" (I actually prefer the 5th Edition), which is frequently referred to as "The Bible" by financial quants. Paul Wilmott's two volume "Quantitative Finance" also has a solid following, in addition to growing appreciation for Mark Joshi's "The Concepts and Practice of Mathematical Finance." Robert Kolb's "Futures, Options, and Swaps" therefore is often confined to an "also-ran" and treated as unserious because of its inclusion in the CFA curriculum. This is unfair, and for most undergraduate and MBA students who are not destined for derivatives dealing desks, and even many who are, Kolb is the better volume.
Critics of Hull frequently cite that he is dry and technical to the point of somnolence. For Wilmott the opposite is the case. Critics hold his tone is flippant and that he glosses over major dimensions. My own view is these harsh reactions to these fine authors are exaggerations, but do have some evidence to support their expression. This, as a professor, leads me to the conclusion that for many students the author's tone is a major factor in their successful engagement with a fundamental teaching text.
This leads me to Kolb's excellent works. Many undergraduate and some MBA students of derivatives use "Hull lite" ("Fundamentals of Futures and Options Markets"), but I encourage the wider adoption and use of Kolb's "Futures, Options, and Swaps." Kolb is superior to Hull for tone, accessibility, lucidity, and utility. Where Hull reaches for a completist coverage of obscure pricing models, Kolb's coverage is instead complete in a practical sense, while not abandoning treatment of less well-known options and their pricing models. Kolb's clarity is commendable, and never dry. Kolb does not gloss over or ignore difficult topics, and his style is never pedantic or superficial.
This text does, however, contain any number of horrible errors and editing snafus that frustrate the reader. The errata sheet from the publisher does little to ameliorate the pain from these howlers. One wonders how a book can contain so many errors in such a competitive field. But it is fairly easily explained: because of Kolb's adoption by the CFA curriculum, there is a floor of near guaranteed sales that creates a non-competitive economic rent.
I particularly recommend Kolb over Hull and Wilmott for those students whose background is not mathematics, engineering, or hard sciences. While the book is technical, it is not written in near-code geek speak. For my MBA students who are "poets" rather than "rocket scientists" Kolb wins as hands down favorite. Hull remains excellent for experts, PhD students, technicians, and pricing specialists, however, Kolb certainly deserves wider respect and use by the majority of students of derivatives. In short, while flawed, Kolb is an excellent and accessible work. I recommend the wide adoption of Kolb's "Futures, Options, and Swaps," and in fact, all his other works, for most students of finance.
This book delivers on its title.......2003-05-29
After studying this book, you will know the technical intricacies of futures, options, and swaps. It has also excellent definitions of all the "Greek" risk measures (Delta, Vega, Gamma, etc...).
The book is well organized. The chapter sequence makes good sense. This is a good book overall.
I bought it becasue I had to...........2001-06-21
Many of us ended up with this book on the shelf because it was recommended by the AIMR for the CFA course. This book was so badly edited that it was distracting - figures in tables not matching figures in the text, some calculations just plain wrong, and everything covered at a very superficial level. This had the potential to bridge the gap between a Hull-type presentation and an undergrad-type. Sadly, this book really disappoints.
Comprehensive book on Derivatives.......2000-04-13
Got many books on derivatives, but Kolb's is my favourite one. He covers the topic in a slightly less quantitative way than Hull does and goes straight to all the different derivatives while avoiding any further explanations like Ito's Lemma etc. I especially liked the part on swaps with many examples like flavoured swaps or equity swaps. Nevertheless, if you're looking for a good software, than I would recommend The Complete Guide to Option Pricing Formulas (build on Excel VBA).
Expensive Books.......1999-10-29
This and four other books required for the CFA level I exam are priced a lot more than that offered by the AIMR
Book Description
Interest rate swaps--used globally by both corporate finance departments and investment firms to control interest payments, manage debt, and enhance investment portfolios--constitute a growing 1.9 trillion market. Now, financial personnel, swap traders, corporate treasurers, and professional cash managers can turn to this clear, authoritative guide to master all the methodologies used in the international swap market. Written for anyone whose work is touched by swap market activity, the guide uses diagramming techniques to first explain what swaps are, and how and why they are traded. It then addresses more sophisticated financial transactions, such as rate setting, analysis of swap desks, market-to-market, speculating, and financial statements. Readers will find detailed coverage of more than two dozen derivative products, including spreadlocks, swaptions, caps, and flows, and learn how swap trading works in foreign currencies and interest rates. Critical light is also shed on questions regulators are currently raising about the security and future of the swaps markets.
Customer Reviews:
Me thinks some reviewers protest too much.......2004-07-11
This book has been damned for being too simplistic, therefore consign it to the trash cart, or so we are expected to do. But given the relative novelty of these financial products simplicity in the best sense of word could be seen as a virtue in any work dealing with this topic. So, why the evident annoyance from some. Could it be that this work dissolves some of the mystery involved, and threatens some closed shop in these markets ?
Outdated and Shallow.......1999-09-02
The book easily shows its age in its focus on standards and issues which have long ago fallen by the wayside in this dynamic market. Far worse is that the book is preciously short on quantitative and analytic methods, and long on third-grade-teacher types of admonishments. I read the whole book becasue I paid for it, there are better, more up-to-date volumes out there. Could possibly be re-named "Swaps for English Majors", although, English majors as a group might correctly be upset at this association.
Book Description
Not All Knowledge Is Created Equal
Deep smarts are the engine of any organization-as well as the essential value that individuals build over their careers. Distinct from I.Q., this type of expertise consists of practical wisdom: accumulated knowledge, know-how, and intuition gained through extensive experience. How do such smarts develop? And what happens when people with deep smarts leave a particular job-or the organization? Can any of their smarts be transferred? Should they be?
Basing their conclusions on a multiyear research project, Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap argue that cultivating and managing deep smarts are critical parts of any leader's job. The authors draw on examples from firms of all sizes and types to illustrate the connection between deep smarts and organizational viability and continuous innovation.
Leonard and Swap describe the origins and limits of deep smarts and outline processes for cultivating and leveraging them across the organization. Developing an experience repertoire and receiving strategic guidance from wise coaches can help individuals move up the ladder of expertise from novice to master.
Addressing a topic of increasing importance as the Boomer generation retires, Deep Smarts challenges leaders to take a hands-on approach to managing the experience-based knowledge shaping the future of their organizations.
Customer Reviews:
An exciting read for the knowledge management junkie.......2006-09-01
For as long as anyone can remember leaders have been struggling to describe and to manage a mysterious kind of knowledge that people cannot readily pass on to others. It has been called wisdom, tribal knowledge, and tacit knowledge. Authors Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap put this elusive kind of expertise in an organizational context and call it deep smarts.
One of the best ways to describe deep smarts is to provide an example of what it can do. They write, "When knowledge is fragmented, it takes deep smarts to aggregate it, make sense of it, see the relevant patterns, and act on it." So deep smarts is what it takes to define a path through confusion by sensing the connections in a blizzard of information. Wouldn't we all like to have that ability and have it flourish in our organizations?
Deep Smarts, the book, stands out among its peers in the rapidly growing field of knowledge management books on the strength of several virtues that are expressed in the subtitle. The authors show the reader how to cultivate and transfer enduring business wisdom, with `how to' being one of the key elements.
Cultivating deep smarts in an organization requires serious commitment from a manager. The manager must study it enough to understand its nature. It also requires a big investment in other people in order to give them the opportunity to develop deep smarts, which is to say, to move beyond ordinary levels of competence. Finally, the manager must maintain an environment that supports learning rather than stifling it. This means maintaining an environment of candor, fairness, and mutual respect. Anything less stifles learning and discourages the development of deep smarts.
Swap and Leonard provide an abundance of rather specific guidance on the `how' component. They do not leave the reader to invent the implementation process. The tasks they prescribe are not easy, however, and this is why the skillful development of deep smarts is rarely accomplished by organizations.
There are plenty of books on knowledge management, but Deep Smarts fills a unique niche for the working manager who faces the real life challenge of building a smarter organization by virtue of providing a helpful vocabulary, a useful conceptual framework, and real life examples of success and failure in knowledge management. This is a "best-of-class" book for both the scholar and the practitioner who is accountable for the bottom line.
Deep smarts make Good to Great happen.......2006-04-17
This book uses great examples to explain the value of different levels of smarts. In the ancient hunting and gathering age, it's almost impossible for a hunter to get 1000 times of games more than his peer did. But in the Internet age, an expert programmer can easily make 1000 times of IT performance higher than her peer does.
The related critical issues come along: (1) How to distinguish different levels of knowledge? (2) How to find the right knowledge workers with required level of intelligence? (3) How to develop the deep smarts and their knowledge masters? (4) Finally, how to use those deep smarts to accomplish the organization's goals?
In the future editions, I would like to see the authors elaborate more on item (3) and (4) which are lightly exploited at the current version. Even for the item (1): how to distinguish different levels of knowledge? I think more quantitative and qualitative analysis may be introduced for better measurement and clarification. For example, how to measure the productivity of the software programmer is a tough task. (It's certainly not measured by the lines of code written per day.) In the senior corporate management and politics, it becomes extremely hard for rigorous performance measurement.
In a word, the deep smarts make good to great happen. The level 5 leaders in the greatest companies deploy and enable their organizations' deep smarts and constantly out-perform the rest. Therefore, it would be great worth exploring the general mechanism of deep smarts.
Learning Influenced by Beliefs.......2005-12-07
This book is in the area of Knowledge Management. Similar to many other business books, it is based on empirical research performed by the authors.
The authors first define what they mean by "deep smarts" through reviewing different levels of expertise. Then they introduce the main thesis of the book. Expertise is acquired by an individual through active knowledge building. This includes getting first-hand experience and the transfer of knowledge from coaches or through other means. However, in such a process, the amount of knowledge that is actually internalized is also influenced by one's own beliefs and other people via their social influences.
The authors have led me to a significant understanding of why it is so hard for some people to learn, despite the fact that, their need for the relevant knowledge is very obvious already. Important factors include their lack of knowledge receptors and the knowledge to which they are exposed being contrary to their existing beliefs and assumptions.
This book is a great help to coaches, teachers, and consultants in helping them learn more effective methods of transferring knowledge to their students or clients in various situations.
By far the most useful, insightful book I've read in years........2005-05-04
By far the most useful and insightful book I've read in years. It changed the way I think about my organization and my career.
Leonard and Swap have shown that deep smarts, the experienced-based knowledge held by individuals in a firm are vital to an organization's survival as well as to an individual's success. I've heard much about the necessity of "cultivating talent" or "managing knowledge" without any real insight into what constitutes talent or what kind of knowledge is important. The result I've seen has been impractical (but often very expensive) efforts to codify any available organizational information without any sense of how valuable or accessible it is.
Leonard and Swap dig deeper into the real meaning of knowledge. Their research has identified what kind of knowledge creates competitive advantage, and more importantly, how leaders can cultivate and retain this knowledge. I don't know anyone in business who has not been confronted with the realization that vital experience has not been captured or passed on...when someone retires, leaves a position or leaves the company. And most of us have experienced a competitive threat based on superior expertise. But the solutions proposed usually aren't based on an understanding of how people actually learn (rather than how we wish they would) and don't often result in the development of judgment and wisdom. This book gave me a whole new way of thinking about expertise and how to leverage it. Deep Smarts also spoke to me on a personal level. I found their suggestions for how to build personal deep smarts an extremely useful approach to my own career development.
I also appreciate that this book is grounded in rigorous research. Based on hundreds of interviews, it provides the kind of insight that comes from real people, managing real organizations. It is no wonder their suggestions and guidance are so actionable. For once, I feel like a management book has been written for managers! This book is a must for anyone serious about the reality of managing knowledge assets and intellectual capital.
You don't have to be an expert to learn how to share knowhow.......2005-05-03
In Deep Smarts, the authors demonstrate a brilliant capacity for translating complex concepts into practical ideas for managers. Finally, here is book that addresses directly some of the challenges in knowledge transfer at a critical time for professions in all sectors of society. The authors tackle a very difficult problem: how to understand expertise; but then they go the additional step and discuss how to develop useful practices for sharing expertise across organizations. Leonard and Swap show how and why expertise can and should be captured before knowledge 'walks out the door.' The book aggregates and synthesizes years of primary and secondary academic research, but you wouldn't necessarily know that unless you took a close look at the extensive citations. In addition, there are many case examples that tell the story in a compelling and highly readable manner.
Some may see this as a book for HR, training&development, or knowledge management... it is for all three of these domains and the one that ties them together: strategy. As expertise is more greatly valued as the enduring resource for sustainable economic advantage, knowledge-based organizations will turn increasingly to their communities of practice, in which resides the expertise that is the wellspring of innovation.
Books:
- Battling for Saipan
- Building an Import/Export Business, 3rd Edition
- China, Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World
- China Shakes the World: A Titan's Rise and Troubled Future -- and the Challenge for America
- Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation (Perennial Classics)
- Covered Calls and Naked Puts: Create Your Own Stock Options Money Tree
- Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind
- Currency Derivatives: Pricing Theory, Exotic Options, and Hedging Applications (Wiley Series in Financial Engineering)
- Currency Derivatives: Pricing Theory, Exotic Options, and Hedging Applications (Wiley Series in Financial Engineering)
- Deal Terms - The Finer Points of Venture Capital Deal Structures, Valuations, Term Sheets, Stock Options and Getting VC Deals Done (Inside the Minds)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Prentice Hall's Health Question and Answer Review for the Medical Assistant
- Burpee : The Complete Vegetable & Herb Gardener : A Guide to Growing Your Garden Organically
- The Horror Genre: From Beelzebub to Blair Witch
- The Complete Idiot's Guide to Comedy Writing
- The True Love Tarot: Secrets of Dating, Mating and Relating
- Chow Venice: Savoring the Food and Wine of La Serenissima, Second Edition
- American Horticultural Society A to Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants
- No-Nonsense Finance : E.F. Moody's Guide to Taking Complete Control of Your Personal Finances
- The Concise Guide to Interpreting Accounts
- Vermont Notebook, The
General
| Graphic Arts
| Graphic Design
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| Arts & Photography
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1,000 Artist Trading Cards: Innovative and Inspired Mixed Media ATCs (1000 Series)
Kaleidoscope: Ideas And Projects to Spark Your Creativity
Pretty Little Things: Collage Jewelry, Trinkets, Keepsakes
The Altered Object: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration
Collage Unleashed
