Interesting man and colleagues, but boring book

A lot of drawn out fluff in this book. I was on the edge of being fascinated the whole time, due to the people and the stories involved, but there was never really much to sink my teeth into. Too much filler, perhaps.

5 people found this helpful

Not enough insights into Renaissance

The author starts the book by saying how secretive Renaissance is and that not many people were willing to speak to him. This is apparent in the book: 85% is about the people who are/have been part of the organisation. The backstory of these people is relevant, but starts to bore after a while. The really interesting gems of how Renaissance works are left uncovered, so that the reader is left without much new knowledge of how this secretive quant hedge fund operates and makes money.

3 people found this helpful

Insightful and engaging

I enjoy books on this and similar topics, and am aware of the risk that a lot of them will go over my head or the subject matter is too dry/specific for the keen amateur. This didn’t do any of that, it was interesting, engaging and thought provoking. I completed the whole book in a couple of sittings, which is unusual for me. Hope you enjoy it too.

3 people found this helpful

Very entertaining

Very entertaining but lacks technical details for the savy reader looking for insight into Renaissance actual trading.

2 people found this helpful

Insightful

Fantastic narration enhances a rigorous examination of the Jim Simons/Renaissance story. Interesting digression into the political activities of Simons, Mercer et al. Highly recommended.

1 person found this helpful

Interesting Story But Too Much Political Fluff

I have been meaning to listen to this book for a long time now. Whilst it is fascinating regarding the building and success of Renaissance Technologies with the trial and error of their algorithmic trading strategies, I do not like the author obviously imparting his political views on the later stages of the book and this is very clear through his terminology. For example Robert Mercer took up more of the book than it should have. It seemed obvious to me near the end he had this obsession gravitating back towards Mercer's opinions and confrontations with other Renaissance employees (what does this have to do with trading?!). A little would have been ok but I think it added a lot of bloat to the book that didn't need to be there.

Left wing bias displayed throughout

What you'd expect from a Guardian journalist, I suppose, but don't listen to this if left-wing re-imaginings of history make your blood boil.

Amazing story but bad storytelling

The author gets lost into his political judgements instead of focusing in how Renaissance and its founders revolutionised investing and the Quant dynamics.

Enlightening

As with other great books, you leave with many questions. The story is a mix between the life of Simons, and selected important people on his lifes way. I found this to be a great way to tell his story. Even tough some parts, fx. the involvement of a main charecter in US politics, became a bit too much.

I rate five stars, because the story and the way it is told is intriguing. Because the book is understandable, and wakes the desire to learn more about math, finance, Simons and his gang.

Interesting but diluted

The topic of this book is really interesting to me in multiple ways. I did find the actual book really interesting too. However it focused mostly on a story of the lives of various people involved and the tension and suspense of whether they will overcome each next challenge. While that makes a nice story which is fairly interesting in itself I was much more interested in understanding more about what they actually did and how they achieved it, but the book was very light on detail about this.
The narration was great.