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The Man Who Solved the Market

How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution

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The Man Who Solved the Market

Written by: Gregory Zuckerman
Narrated by: Will Damron
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About this listen

 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Shortlisted for the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award

The perfect gift for the avid reader on your list: the unbelievable story of a secretive mathematician who pioneered the era of the algorithm--and made $23 billion doing it.

Jim Simons is the greatest money maker in modern financial history. No other investor--Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, Ray Dalio, Steve Cohen, or George Soros--can touch his record. Since 1988, Renaissance's signature Medallion fund has generated average annual returns of 66 percent. The firm has earned profits of more than $100 billion; Simons is worth twenty-three billion dollars.

Drawing on unprecedented access to Simons and dozens of current and former employees, Zuckerman, a veteran Wall Street Journal investigative reporter, tells the gripping story of how a world-class mathematician and former code breaker mastered the market. Simons pioneered a data-driven, algorithmic approach that's sweeping the world.

As Renaissance became a market force, its executives began influencing the world beyond finance. Simons became a major figure in scientific research, education, and liberal politics. Senior executive Robert Mercer is more responsible than anyone else for the Trump presidency, placing Steve Bannon in the campaign and funding Trump's victorious 2016 effort. Mercer also impacted the campaign behind Brexit.

The Man Who Solved the Market is a portrait of a modern-day Midas who remade markets in his own image, but failed to anticipate how his success would impact his firm and his country. It's also a story of what Simons's revolution means for the rest of us.

*Includes a PDF of Appendices 1 and 2 with charts Business Professionals & Academics Mathematics Wall Street Liberalism Biography Computer Science Renaissance Stock Market

What the critics say

“Captivating.” —New York Times

“A compelling read.” —The Economist

“Reads like a delicious page-turning novel.” —Barry Ritholtz, Bloomberg

“One of the most important stories of our time.” —Financial Times

“Zuckerman brings the reader so close to the firm’s inner workings that you can almost catch a whiff of the billionaire’s Merit cigarette.” —Brandon Kochkodin, Bloomberg

“A gripping biography of investment game changer Jim Simons… readers looking to understand how the economy got where it is should eat this up.” —Publishers Weekly

"Worthwhile reading for budding plutocrats and numerate investors alike." —Kirkus

“Immensely enjoyable.” —Edward O. Thorp, author of A Man for All Markets

“An extremely well-written and engaging book . . . a must read, and a fun one at that.” —Mohamed A. El-Erian, author of The Only Game in Town

“Leave it to the Wall Street Journal’s Greg Zuckerman to lay open the golden mysteries of quantitative investing. With this fine, humane, and eye-opening book, he’s well and truly broken the code.” —James Grant, Grant’s Interest Rate Observer

"Page-turning tale…bravura storytelling." —Gary Shteyngart, author of Lake Success
All stars
Most Relevant
The book is a good window into the early days of quantz and trading. But obviously Renaissance is so secretive it doesn't really give much details of the how to, just how things progressed. There's also a very political chapter at the end which doesn't have much to do with Simons nor Renaissance.

Good book, can't get much details of the how to

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Like most readers of the book. I want to find out if there is a way to crack the market. It seems they found it. Even tho I wonder if using the modern day ML algorithms we can do something similar, without a doubt I know it’s not a one man job. It requires dedications and lucks of very sophisticated professionals in the field. It’s humbling to know how they reached what they achieved today and the chemical reactions of different inputs and personalities. Thanks for the inside view and the candid sharing of those involved.

Very interesting insights

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Very well written. Inspiring story really well told. It Shows the author but a lot of time and effort to write this.

Excellent book!

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Very informative about the emergence of a new approach to trading. Interesting characters. Difficult subject matter made accessible—though if you’re looking for technical details, this book isn’t it.

Easy and enjoyable listen

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Zuckerman has an ability to turn what could have been a boring story about a bunch of math PhDs into an academic adventure. I thought he did an excellent job showing the persistence and dedication Simons and his team had to achieving greatest in the financial industry. I was surprise by how many people were responsible for the funds success. I have only one major critique: non-fictional work should avoid some of the political opinions given especially nearing the end of the book. You did a great job collect facts and pursuing accurate details, why ruin that effort with politics and subjective opinion.

Thorough, thought-provoking, inspiring

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filled with tragedy and triumph. A truly fascinating story on how Jim Simons started one of the greatest, most secretive, and most successful asset management firms in the world. He is truly an outlier. I loved it so much I've listened to it 3 times already.

An Incredible Story of Jim Simons

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Will damron narration is always fantastic. Good book and great story. Saw Jim’s yacht on victoria harbour last year great to hear the story of the man

Great book

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Great reporting on a company that has escaped broader coverage. Covers a long period to give a complete picture.

Deep Coverage of Secretive Hedge Fund

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My expectations were along the lines of investment principles or methodologies. Instead, I learned about a market game changer, Jim Simmons and his gang.

Good read but didn't meet an expectation.

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If it was possible to give this completely inaccurate work of fiction a lower rating, I would. The book started ok, like a biography in Jim Simmons and Renaissance, where I noticed the writer merely embellished and biased the content to a lesser extent then, suddenly, turned into a full-on political commentary, full of biases and the rhetoric and assumptions of a political hit piece. The author is all over the place with adding bit part persons and his opinion regarding their politics and his own at the same time. He can't seem to stick to the meat of what he started with Nd, frankly it ruined the entire work... Before the point where he went entirely off the rails, it was just boring which was way better than how it ended, his writing style and lack of Talent and ability to colour his "commentary" with even a shred of anything interesting turn this snooze-fest into a big heaping, stinking pile of garbage. The story of Jim Simmons and Renaissance is a remarkable and interesting one, what is not is this political commentary dressed as a light scan on the life of Simmons. This work is as distant from reality as one could get, without changing the subject entirely. This tragic misuse of pulp is little more than the rantings of a Left-wing political activist pretending to be an author. Save your Money this one starts slow, goes off on wild tangents, a good portion is little more than political tripe and the only time he manages to swing back to the "main character" and the world around him, was in the final chapter where the only thing he was certain to add was Simmons own political opinions and positive works of philanthropy coloured by the authors own political biases. Do not buy, don't even pick this one out of the trash bin. It's a complete waste of time and money.

Started ok, then went off the rails and eventually imploded. Terrible writing.

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