Searching for Alpha: The Quest for Exceptional Investment Performance

By turns technical, analytical and anecdotal, Ben Warwick's expert investment guide takes you on a whirlwind tour of modern investment theory and practice. Accessible enough to reward dabblers in the field, this book at the same time raises serious issues and attempts to, if not explain them completely, at least point you down the path to financial enlightenment. Abstract or downright abstruse concepts are generously illuminated by side trips into the worlds of one-armed oil wildcatters, Beethoven, Dom Perignon and the mathematician who managed to stop Napoleon's invading armies. We [...] recommend this book as one of the finest overviews of financial theory, technique and practice ever to grace our library's shelves.

Ben Warwick has done an exceptionally good job at taking a subject (Investment Policy) that to most readers is maybe dry, and unexciting and making it a highly enjoyable subject about which to read. Interlaced among truly entertaining stories and anectdotes ranging from the discoverery of nitroglycerine to the life of Ludwig van Beethoven are well-researched, sound, quite readable discussions and theories about Index-based Investing, Capital Asset Pricing Model, Modern Portfolio Theory, Managed Futures and much, much more. Warwick is incrediblly knowledgeable about the subject of investing, and as an Investment Advisor, my Investment Policy will be greatly enhanced having read this book.

A terrific read! Searching For Alpha is intelligent, well written and very timely. Author Ben Warwick has a gift for weaving people, anecdotes and financial theory into a fascinating history of the investment business. I really enjoyed the chapters describing the rise in popularity of mutual funds and indexing. Also, the sections devoted to managed futures and investors' irrational behavior were particularly worthwhile. The book is easy-to-read yet offers important financial insights that are regularly ignored by the mass media.You won't get rich quick or make a million dollars in real estate with "no money down", but you're bound to become a more savvy and successful investor by reading Warwick's book. Searching For Alpha is simply the best of the myriad of investment books to hits the bookshelves in recent years.

"Searching for Alpha" deserves a place alongside "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" and "Against the Gods" as a classic of investment literature. This is a rare book. It is intelligent, witty, inspired, and completely original. The quest to beat the market has engaged some of the finest minds in economics and academia, has stimulated investors to experiment with a variety of strategies, and has given rise to a legion of heroes and villains. "Searching for Alpha" brings all of this to life through concise explanations, metaphors, historical anecdotes, and even fictional characters. The result is an entertaining, thought-provoking, and highly literate romp through the investment world.