THE QUANTS How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It

THE QUANTS tries to take an outrageously complicated and controversial topic and make it simple—it’s sort of a "Quantitative Trading and Financial Disaster for Dummies." Did these mathematically minded whiz kids—with their revolutionary mathematical techniques, supercomputers, and "quantitative trading"—cause the financial crisis that began in 2007? Journalist Scott Patterson tries to make the pieces fit neatly together, but his conclusions are not totally convincing. Narrator Mike Chamberlain gamely labors to give more than a dozen characters their own voices, but keeping track of the complicated text and character development is difficult. As is the case with the crisis itself, there are just too many names and stories to track. It's all so complex that it's hard to follow by ear alone, no matter how much effort Chamberlain puts into it. This isn't summer beach listening, unless you’re a vacationing banker. M.S. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2010]