Customer Reviews (6)

An Excellent Book
When I became a quant, I needed to learn stochastic calculus and stochastic differential equations. Luckily, I found this book, which covers a lot of difficult concepts in a rigorous but accessible way. Oksendal is an excellent writer: his proofs are very clear (and usually not too terse), he provides very illustrative examples, and he does a great job of anticipating where the reader might get stuck. In addition, the problems at the end of the chapters do a good job of reinforcing central theorems and ideas. After reading this book, you'll be able to read most of the academic financial literature and all finance textbooks.

I've read lots of math books, and this is undoubtedly the best one I've ever seen. The only necessary backround is a solid understanding of measure theory.

Good reference - not so good text-book
This book is excellent if you already know why you want to know the material in it. Then it is concise, to the point, and very well-written. I turn back to it over and over again; my copy is very worn by now.

When I first started reading it, I was not too pleased with it. As a text-book it suffers from not motivating the theory, and not connecting it with parallel approaches. The subtitle mentions applications. Now, what one person considers applications is what the next person considers abstractions. My point of view is truly applied - I want to use SDE's to model real-world phenomena (actually, not financial ones) and are less interested in SDE's per se. So I would have liked more connections with physics (for instance advection-diffusion transport phenomena) and I would have liked the material to be more solidly anchored in general stochastic processes. Nevertheless, I appreciate that the book wouldn't have been as concise, then.

Simple, but rigorous book
This a perfectly written book on stochastic calculus, especially needed for junior (but rising!) financial quants. All themes are carried out with a profound pedagogical talent. For a practitioner, the book loses nothing to Karatsas and Shreve, but is a much shorter, simpler and joyable reading. Yet, it is a systematic text book that covers most classical results with (important!) accessible proofs. For example, the Kolmogorov equations (forward and backward) are derived, not just stated as in most other texts, Girsanov's theorem is relatively well covered (although the author has not demonstrated its computational side well enough, but this is a common disease). Ideas are illustrated by practical problems (including those from quantitative finance). What I also liked, Oksendal's SDE theory is much closer to "differential equations", than what is often presented by probabilists. A must for every practitioner who works with stochatic processes. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Differential Equations   2. Mathematical Physics   3. Mathematics   4. Probability & Statistics - General   5. Science/Mathematics   6. Stochastic differential equati   7. Stochastic differential equations   

Subjects:  1. Law   2. Legal Reference / Law Profession   3. Patent, Trademark, Copyright   4. Science & Technology   

Customer Reviews (1)

Not What I was Looking For
I bought this book because I was hoping that it would actually be an account of day to day life in Nazi Germany. I was curious how life under the dictatorial mad man looked to everyday German people. What I got was one man's struggle against the Nazi government. I was impressed that Mr. Engelmann was a man who did his best to stand up to the forces of evil whenever possible. He was imprisoned in Dachau and survived the war to go on to become a successful journalist. Men of his bravery deserve our respect and admiration. Had his book been entitled something more along the lines of "My private Struggle Against the Nazi Government" perhaps more people would have bought the book. My interest is in how it looked from the inside; not by someone who knew the truth from the beginning. Rather, how was everyday life like to an apolitical individual who went about his day to day life. I have always wondered about how such a monstrosity like Hitler came into power and staid in power. Maybe I've already found the answer but don't know it. Maybe I'll never fully understand such an answer. However, the answer certainly wasn't in this book. That's why I was disappointed in it. I'm sure if I had read it for what it actually is, I would have appreciated it more. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography/Autobiography   

Subjects:  1. Adventurers & Explorers   2. Biography / Autobiography   3. Expeditions & Discoveries   4. Polar Regions   5. Biography & Autobiography   6. Historical   7. Balchen, Bernt   8. Byrd, Richard Evelyn,   9. History   10. Transatlantic flights   11. South Pole   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics   2. Business / Economics / Finance   3. Business/Economics   4. Economics - General   5. Economics - Theory   6. Business & Economics / Economics / General   7. Economics   8. Finance   

Subjects:  1. Conservation biology   2. Ecology   3. Environmental Science   4. Life Sciences - Ecology   5. Mathematical models   6. Population biology   7. Science   8. Science/Mathematics   9. Stochastic processes   10. Applied ecology   11. Conservation of the environment   12. Ecological science, the Biosphere   13. Mathematics for scientists & engineers   14. Scientific equipment & techniques, laboratory equipment   15. Stochastics   

Customer Reviews (1)

The first 20th century holocaust was against Armenians
The first 20th century holocaust was against the thousands of innocent Armenians massacred by Turkish troops in the First World War. No soon as that war was over than most Armenians, if they were not forced under Turkish rule, became Soviet citizens. Then when they finally got their independence back after the end of the USSR, they found themselves involved in a bloody war with Azerbaijan. Few peoples have suffered as much as the Armenians in the past 20 years and a book like this is absolutely essential reading if we are to understand the people of the oldest continually Christian country in the world. Buy this book and then give all your friends this book as a present for Christmas. Christopher Catherwood, author of CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE (Zondervan, 2003) ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1920-1991   2. 1991-   3. Armenia (Republic)   4. Armenians   5. Azerbaijan   6. Europe - Russia & the Former Soviet Union   7. General   8. History   9. History: World   10. Individual Photographer   11. Middle East - General   12. Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, 198   13. Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, 1988-1994   14. Photography   15. Photojournalism   

Customer Reviews (1)

stunning index
A wonderful book made accessible by an equally wonderful index. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. General   2. Investigative Journalism   3. Investigative reporting   4. Journalism   5. Language   6. Mass Communication Media And Society   7. Mass Media - General   8. Mass media   9. Media Studies   10. Performing Arts   11. Politics - Current Events   12. United States   

Customer Reviews (2)

From a pleased Norwegian
The existing review of this book that appears on the Amazon site is an excellent one that gives great details about the book. All I wanted to say is that as a fellow author, and of Norwegian descent, I regretted every time I had to put this book down.
There is a song by the late Canadian Stan Rogers that includes the line: "Now you know what it is to scale the heights and fall just short of fame, and have not one in ten thousand know your name."
That was written about someone else, but it sure fits in Balchen's case. A man always on the verge of being at least as famous as Admiral Byrd. A man of incredible courage, inventiveness, and grace in the face of hostilities, both of nature and of Byrd himself. This is an awesome biography that ought to be the catalyst for the re-writing of every history textbook. I thank Carrol Glines for making the enormous effort.

A long overdue recognition of a true hero.
Bernt Balchen is perhaps the most underappreciated hero of our times. A master flyer, an artist, a negotiator, and most of all, a soldier, Balchen's unassuming personality belied the fact that he had one of the most fascinating careers in aviation history. Balchen, unfortunately, was the victim of a vendetta by a man for whom he had done much, Admiral Richard E. Byrd. Byrd feared that Balchen would reveal that Byrd's famous first flight over the North Pole was in fact a fraud, and waged a life-long war against Balchen. Glines is a highly skilled biographer (Jimmy Doolittle, Roscoe Turner) and he makes the most of his talents here. His research is excellent, and he portrays Balchen in his true colors as a patriot who fought the Russians with the Finns in the First World War, then conducted clandestine operations with the Norwegian underground in the second. He was the confidant of the great flyers of the era, including Amelia Earhart, and was among the first to be capable of true instrument flight. Bernt Balchen Polar Aviator would make a fantastic movie, for it has everything--exploration, romance, combat, skullduggery, and most of all, heroism. Balchen was a strong, handsome man who would have been an Olympic boxer for Norway if he had not elected to learn to fly with the Norwegian navy. He became an expert in Polar matters, saved many lives, was important during the Cold War, and had thousands of friends who knew just what a hero he was. The United States government, however, allowed Senator Harry Byrd to block Balchen's promotion to general, forcing his retirment, and at one time, deported him! This is a great biography of a great man, done by a great biographer! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adventurers & Explorers   2. Biography & Autobiography   3. Biography / Autobiography   4. Biography/Autobiography   5. Military - Aviation   6. Scientists - General   7. Travelers   8. Biography: historical   9. Geographical discovery & exploration   

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General   2. Business & Economics   3. Business / Economics / Finance   4. Business/Economics   5. Corporate Finance   6. Corporations   7. Economics - General   8. Finance   

Subjects:  1. Church and state   2. Developing countries   3. History   4. Missions   5. Missions & Missionary Work   6. Religion   7. Religion - Missions   

Subjects:  1. Balchen, Bernt   

Subjects:  1. Christianity - History - General   2. General   3. History - General History   4. Religion