Essentials of Investments [Hardcover]

Zvi Bodie (Author), Alex Kane (Author), Alan Marcus (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0073226386 | ISBN-13: 978-0073226385 | Publication Date: November 1, 2005 | Edition: 6

The market leading Essentials of Investments, 6e by Bodie, Kane and Marcus is an undergraduate textbook on investment analysis, presenting the practical applications of investment theory to convey insights of practical value. The authors have eliminated unnecessary mathematical detail and concentrate on the intuition and insights that will be useful to practitioners throughout their careers as new ideas and challenges emerge from the financial marketplace. Essentials maintains the theme of asset allocation (authors discuss asset pricing and trading then apply these theories to portfolio planning in real-world securities markets that are governed by risk/return relationships).

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Zvi Bodie is Professor of Finance and Economics at the Boston University School of Management. He is the director of Boston University’s Chartered Financial Analysts Examination Review Program and has served as consultant to many private and governmental organizations. Professor Bodie is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, where he was director of the NBER Project on Financial Aspects of the U.S. Pension System, and he is a member of the Pension Research Council of The Wharton School. He is widely published in leading professional journals, and his previous books include Pensions in the U.S. Economy, Issues in Pension Economics, and Financial Aspects of the U.S. Pension System.

Alex Kane is professor of finance and economics at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego. He was visiting professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo; Graduate School of Business, Harvard; Kennedy School of Government, Harvard; and research associate, National Bureau of Economic Research. An author of many articles in finance and management journals, Professor Kane’s research is mainly in corporate finance, portfolio management, and capital markets, most recently in the measurement of market volatility and the pricing of options. Professor Kane is the developer of the International Simulation Laboratory (ISL) for training and experimental research in executive decision making.

Alan Marcus is professor of finance in the Wallace E. Carroll School of Management at Boston College. He received his PHD in Economics from MIT in 1981. Professor Marcus recently has been a visiting professor at the Athens Laboratory of Business Administration and at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and has served as a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He also established the Chartered Financial Analysts Review Program at Boston College. Professor Marcus has published widely in the fields of capital markets and portfolio management, with an emphasis on applications of futures and options pricing models. His consulting work has ranged from new product development to provision of expert testimony in utility rate proceedings. He also spend two years at the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), where he developed models of mortgage pricing and credit risk, and he currently serves on the Advisory Council for the Currency Risk Management Alliance of State Street Bank and Windham Capital Management Boston.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 726 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Irwin; 6 edition (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0073226386
• ISBN-13: 978-0073226385
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #164,683 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent intro to Investment theory, December 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Essentials of Investments (Hardcover)

I studied the entire book for my Investment Management course at Stellenbosch University in South Africa and found it very complete from the point of view of the "novice" investor and/or student. The book is not written for the intermediate or expert investor, but for an introductory course in Investment management it did the trick.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essentials of Investments, December 28, 1999

By 

sheryl cohen (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essentials of Investments (Irwin/McGraw-Hill Series in Finance, Insurance, and Real Est) (Hardcover)

This is a clearly written book with excellent visual aids. I especially liked the concept checks and the current events boxes. The sample questions from CFA exams were particularly helpful. On whole the book does an exceptional job of explaining difficult subject matter. I'd even recommend this book to the 'lay' reader.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Knowing your subject and knowing how to teach it are different things, May 20, 2006

By 

Daniel J. Warme "dwarme" (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Essentials of Investments (Hardcover)

The authors no doubt know Investment analysis. Unfortunately they don't communicate that information too well. Frequently happens when Phd's forget they are writing to students, not other Phd's. Bought this book for a senior level finance course, required to complete my major in finance.
Even my Prof. started the course with, "the textbook is difficult to read but just follow my notes and you should do ok". Not too good of an endorsement for a textbook. Now, after completing the course, I am searching for another text on the subject to keep as a reference. Even after the lectures, this book's explinations of the same topics are difficult to follow.