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To get the ball rolling... I will answer this question this evening

For people aware & unaware I think it would be a great way to introduce the group, resources for fundamental knowledge & concepts.

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perhaps would be good to request people to recommend just one or two resources / books per answer, otherwise it will get hard to have an overview. – Suvrit Jan 31 '11 at 21:04
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(1) This should be made community wiki and (2) let's limit it to 1 book per answer so that the voting has meaning. Lastly, I really don't like this question because it's way too broad: can you please make it a little more specific? – Shane Jan 31 '11 at 21:05
I agree, it should be made community wiki; also good would be to perhaps summarize why a particular book / resource is good? this could be done by the asker, or the community itself? – Suvrit Jan 31 '11 at 21:12
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This question should serve as a canonical answer for book recommendations... This question will come up over and over again, so it will be good to have one central place to point people to. – Michael Pryor Jan 31 '11 at 21:18
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Sorry, I'm going to close this as "off topic"... This is intended to be a site for practicing quants, none of whom would ask a broad general question like this. It's important that when we come out of private beta, we have a REAL community of quants, and general, non-expert questions like this don't help. Later when the site is doing well it'll be fine to ask non-expert questions but for the private beta, please stick to real questions in quantitative finance, not surveys and polls. – Joel Spolsky♦ Jan 31 '11 at 21:52
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closed as off topic by Shane, Joel Spolsky♦ Jan 31 '11 at 21:49

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8 Answers

up vote 12 down vote

Clark, This is one of the popular questions we have on our community when someone new to the field come in and ask where they should start.

We point them all to the list we have gathered which is now one of the most comprehensive list for quant finance

http://www.quantnet.com/master-reading-list-for-quants/

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great link; thanks! – Suvrit Jan 31 '11 at 21:14
up vote 3 down vote

I like Statistics and Data Analysis for Financial Engineering by David Ruppert (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1441977864/ref=oss_product)

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up vote 3 down vote

John C. Hull's "Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives" is the mostly widely recognized introductory book for derivatives valuation.

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up vote 3 down vote

One that I found via google that seems promising (for beginners though) is.

Numerical methods in finance and Economics

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up vote 2 down vote

This may be too basic a book for what you're hungering for. In preparation for the Financial Engineering actuarial exam, I'm studying from Derivative Markets by McDonald.

It's very technical, but gives a great introduction to the mathematics behind pricing options and even goes into depth on Brownian motion.

Check it out here: http://amzn.to/g3QOES.

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up vote 2 down vote

I like the following book (though have only very briefly skimmed it):

  1. Optimization methods in finance
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up vote 2 down vote

My type is "An introduction to the mathematics of financial derivatives" by Salih N. Neftci. Though it's definitely harder to digest than Hull.

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+1 for Neftci - especially since the question mentions being a math lover. Agree totally that it's harder to digest than Hull though. – Adam May Jan 31 '11 at 21:43
But this book does not give much intro to how the market functions. For that look at his other book, "Principles of Financial Engineering". -- RIP Neftci – John Smith Feb 3 '11 at 13:34
do you know where I can find the answers to exercises from this book ? – Karusmeister Feb 3 at 18:26

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