The Man Who Solved the Market

The Man Who Solved the Market How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution

Jim Simons is the greatest moneymaker in modern financial history. His record bests those of legendary investors, including Warren Buffett, George Soros and Ray Dalio. Yet Simons and his strategies are shrouded in mystery. The financial industry has long craved a look inside Simons's secretive hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies and veteran Wall Street Journal reporter Gregory Zuckerman delivers the goods. After a legendary career as a mathematician and a stint breaking Soviet codes, Simons set out to conquer financial markets with a radical approach. Simons hired physicists, mathematicians and computer scientists - most of whom knew little about finance - to amass piles of data and build algorithms hunting for the deeply hidden patterns in global markets. Experts scoffed, but Simons and his colleagues became some of the richest in the world, their strategy of creating mathematical models and crunching data embraced by almost every industry. Simons and his team used their wealth to upend the worlds of politics, philanthropy and science. They weren't prepared for the backlash. In this fast-paced narrative, Zuckerman examines how Simons launched a quantitative revolution on Wall Street, and reveals the impact that Simons, the quiet billionaire king of the quants, has had on worlds well beyond finance.
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Reviews

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Jb@jbr1992
3 stars
Mar 1, 2024

An ok book. I wish it had been more technical, but I guess even if that was what the author wanted it would be hard due to trade secrets. Only a few things I didn't seem to know that were important. 1. The history of people doubting computer based trading models and the history of their failure. 2. How long it took Simons to get this together 3. The biographies of the people involved could be interesting and nuanced. 4. I didn't know this was a Stonybrook story/the office's evolution, Simons' tech investing career.

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Matthew Royal@masyukun
3 stars
Feb 13, 2023

This book was written too early. Worshipful descriptions of people and mysterious math provide little value in understanding either. Perhaps Simons will be significant... Perhaps Mercer will be significant beyond supporting Trump... but the golden light Zuckerman infuses into the tribe of mathmen who solved the market is something future historians will need to squint at to determine the truth.

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Keven Wang@kevenwang
2 stars
Feb 4, 2023

Boring

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luis martins@luismrmartins
4 stars
Sep 29, 2021

It’s a slow burner but the last third is great

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Arun@arunbab
4 stars
Jan 14, 2024
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James King@jamesking
5 stars
Apr 21, 2023
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Hemanth Soni@hemaaanth
4.5 stars
Aug 12, 2022
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Mat Connor@mconnor
4 stars
Jun 25, 2024
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Taylor Murphy@tayloramurphy
4 stars
Apr 7, 2024
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José@joserss
3 stars
Mar 23, 2024
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Brock@brock
5 stars
Jan 3, 2024
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Rob@robcesq
4 stars
Dec 28, 2023
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rob suttman@stigs_cousin
3 stars
Dec 26, 2023
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Jayme Cochrane@jamesco
4 stars
Dec 20, 2023
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Jeff Roche@jeffroche
3 stars
Nov 10, 2023
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Nick Nikolov@nicknikolov
5 stars
Oct 20, 2023
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J@knightdips
3 stars
Jul 26, 2023
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Siddharth Ramakrishnan@siddharthvader
4 stars
Feb 10, 2023
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Jimmy Cerone@jrcii
4 stars
Feb 4, 2023
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Ben Roberts@benjammin
5 stars
Jan 31, 2023
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Blake Hord@blakehord
5 stars
Jan 29, 2023
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AJSingh@ajsingh
5 stars
Dec 20, 2022
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Andy Sporring@andysporring
3 stars
Nov 20, 2022
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Phillip Santiago@philthepill
3 stars
Oct 20, 2022