The Man Who Solved the Market is an exciting read for anyone even a little interested in math, early machine learning, and money. The story of the brilliant billionaire Jim Simons and how he and his team of brainy friends solved the market is not to be missed.
Pairs With: Rich Chocolate Fudge
The Man Who Solved the Market by Gregory Zuckerman is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It combines everything to geek out over; math, stocks/finance, politics, and dark money. Zuckerman takes the reader behind the scenes of one of the most successful hedge funds in the world and tells the story about the relatively unheard of billionaire Jim Simons.
Although Simons is a private billionaire who prefers flying under the radar to flying into space. Zuckerman explains, “Even Simons spoke with me, eventually. He asked me not to write this book and never truly warmed to the project.” It feels weird to say since Simons wasn’t on board with the book but I’m so glad Zuckerman wrote it anyway! It’s an incredible story about a brilliant mathematician who has spent his life working to solve problems that everyone else had deemed impossible.
Overview
Don’t let the math content of the book keep you from reading it. Zuckerman does a great job presenting the storylines and complex information. He provides an overview of the main characters (there’s a lot of male players) and a timeline of the important events at the front of the book. If a character hasn’t been mentioned for a bit, Zuckerman makes sure to briefly reexplain who someone is and how they relate to the plot. To help the reader envision the story, even more, Zuckerman has included corresponding photos of the characters and events in the middle of the book. I love when authors go the extra step and include relative photos!
Early On
Jim Simons was a bright only child who had decided at the age of 14 that he was going to study math at MIT. He remembers people laughing at him when he told them what he wanted to do. A theme throughout Simon’s life would be when someone told him he couldn’t, he would show them he could.
After graduating from MIT and while working on his doctoral thesis, Simons wanted to discover the proof to a difficult mathematical problem. Again, his peers doubted him. They reminded him how difficult it would be to pull off and how many other great minds had tried and failed. The skepticism only fueled Simons and his proof was finished in just 2 years.
Although Simons brilliant proof gained him a prestigious teaching job at MIT, he remembered a valuable lesson his father taught him. His father spent his employment working for someone who had promised him ownership but when the time came, never gave it to him. Simons learned early on that, “The lesson was: Do what you like in life, not what you feel you ‘should’ do,” Simons says, “It’s something I never forgot.”
Simons taught for a few years before leaving academia for the Institute for Defense Analyses. At IDA he assisted the National Security Agency (NSA) in attacking and cracking Russian codes and ciphers.
Assembling The Team
Shortly after his successful time at IDA, Simon’s set off on his own to explore how to solve the market. As Simons built his team, he purposely avoided hiring economists or Wall Street traders. Instead, he focused on only employing fellow mathematicians and scientists. Simons was interested in approaching the market in a way that hadn’t been done before. He wanted fresh ideas from people who could solve difficult math problems, dissect data, and analyze patterns. Simons assembled a brilliantly dedicated team who each brought their own problem-solving skills.
Nearly all of the mathematicians who joined the team were previous professors. They were a group driven more by solving complex problems than by a desire to make lots of money. Simons was driven by both.
At times early on colleagues would start to feel like solving the market was impossible but Simons remained optimistic. He would reinspire the team by reminding them that patterns in the market had to exist. And that they were close to finding them.
Conclusion
I want to be friends with Jim Simons. No, not for the money. But for his great attitude and incredible mind. Simons is driven by curiosity and his desire to solve the impossible. I’d love to learn math from him and hopefully pick up some of his optimistic way of thinking. He seems like an incredible soul and mind to be around.
If you’re even sort of interested in math or stocks or the 2016 election – pick up this book and be inspired to go out there and take on a hard problem.
P.S. If you’re into politics and money, you should also check out Dark Money by Jane Mayer!
P.S.S Jim Simons did a TED talk interview in 2015 that’s also pretty interesting. Check it out here!
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