Keeping Up with the Quants

Quantitative analysis can be an intimidating subject, but accessible writing and Alan Sklar's warm, gravelly voice make this audiobook surprisingly friendly. The "quants" of the title are analysts who use large amounts of data to improve decision making, and their influence is now growing far beyond the field of finance. The authors address their book to businesspeople with no mathematical background, suggesting how anyone can use a quant-like process at work or in daily life. They explain their ideas in nontechnical language that works well in audio because there's no need for formulas or diagrams. Sklar's narration is a comfortable fit, especially during the passages where anecdotes and real-world examples are used to illustrate statistical concepts. D.B. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

October 1, 2014

Davenport (information technology & management, Babson Coll.; Big Data at Work) and Kim (business/statistics, Korea National Defense Univ., Seoul) present a timely discussion of the complex field of data mining, formally known as quantitative analysis (QA). The authors do an excellent job of translating this relatively obscure field of business that is rapidly growing as a viable profession. They describe the process of QA, beginning with an exact definition of the identified query; explain the decisions that are made based on the analysis; and demonstrate how the results commonly influence subsequent action. While the material is targeted at data-savvy personnel, or quantitative analysts ("quants"), the authors manage to help develop the analytical skills of novices by summarizing key operational data, detecting the pearls of wisdom found within them, and extracting the resultant value. Numerous examples of businesses and organizations that have successfully solved problems based on high-level QA help relate this complex work to most businesses. Alan Sklar's unhurried, no-nonsense reading maintains listener interest. VERDICT Recommend to listeners looking for specialized business titles.--Dale Farris, Groves, TX

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