Excellent treatment of all the major concepts -- good if you are studying for the CFA exam, as well...we used this in a top 20 MBA program and I highly recommend this book...fixed income is not easy stuff, but this book explains concepts/problems in a easy to digest way....

This book has numerous issues with incomplete formulas, math errors, and poor editing. Many of the questions at the end of the chapters are incomplete and the solutions in the manual often add in information that was not in the question. The solutions manual has lots of numbers transposed and on multipart questions these errors cause all of the answers to be incorrect. In addition, many of the solutions will change par value in the middle of the answer making it very confusing.

The editor of this book should be fired immediately.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL OTHER REVIEWS ARE FOR FABOZZI'S TEXT BOOK, which cost over USD100 (at time of writing). THIS book is NOT written by Fabozzi. THIS IS THE CRAM101 STUDY AID FOR THE TEXT BOOK, and costs under USD20. My review is about CRAM101.

The CRAM101 study aid is not a summary of the textbook. In fact it has almost no resemblance to the textbook itself. On the left side of the book are terms and terminologies with very brief introductory descriptions. There are no formulae, mathematics, charts, or diagrams. It is completely textual, like a thesaurus. The right side of the book is ruled, and is left blank for the reader to jot down lecture notes.

CRAM101 will only save the student from having to write out simple definitions of terms and terminologies, and nothing more. As such, it is next to useless for most people. The word "CRAM" is totally misleading as it is NOT in anyway an abridged version of the book. In fact, anyone who uses this book must be a diligent student who has been making his/her own notes throughout the semester, and is not suitable for cramers who only have a few weeks before an exam.

At $16, this book is over-valued. My recommendation is to give this book a miss, and use the lecture notes to cram.

I purchased this book with a lot of expectations. But this book contains neither analysis nor strategies. It only contains glossary of terms used in various Bond markets. Don't be fooled by the planted reviews :)

I purchased this book with a lot of expectations. But this book contains neither analysis nor strategies. It only contains glossary of terms used in various Bond markets. Don't be fooled by the planted reviews :)

It was worth buying and reading. You should be able to achieve your goals and target your objectives properly with this book.

I was a major peer reviewer for the publisher of "Bond Markets, Analysis and Strategies," and have used it several times (perhaps as many as 10 semesters) for both undergrads and MBAs. I have no incentive to give this book any particular rating, but I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT TO EITHER PRACTITIONERS AND ACADEMICS, AS IT IS AN EXCELLENT TEXT! There are very few weaknesses, and I disagree with most of those cited by the other reviewers listed here. It is clear, concise, loaded with examples, and beautifully written. It is also closely tied to real-world practice without sacrificing the mathematical modeling. Of course, it is no high-level bond pricing text, but it is not supposed to be--it is a broad introduction to bond markets. As such, it succeeds remarkably. In fact, I often refer to it to refresh my own understanding of the structure and pricing of these markets.

I highly endorse it, and will continue using it.

I was a major peer reviewer for the publisher of "Bond Markets, Analysis and Strategies," and have used it several times (perhaps as many as 10 semesters) for both undergrads and MBAs. I have no incentive to give this book any particular rating, but I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT TO EITHER PRACTITIONERS AND ACADEMICS, AS IT IS AN EXCELLENT TEXT! There are very few weaknesses, and I disagree with most of those cited by the other reviewers listed here. It is clear, concise, loaded with examples, and beautifully written. It is also closely tied to real-world practice without sacrificing the mathematical modeling. Of course, it is no high-level bond pricing text, but it is not supposed to be--it is a broad introduction to bond markets. As such, it succeeds remarkably. In fact, I often refer to it to refresh my own understanding of the structure and pricing of these markets.

I highly endorse it, and will continue using it.

If you think of this as an introductory book to the world of Bonds rather than a field manual for professionals you will find this to be a wonderful book. I find it to be engagingly written (yes, engaging!) with well-chosen examples. It is very nice to be able to read a book about Bonds and find it stimulating. It would have been easy to write a book that could act as a sleep-aid. Instead, this book provides learning objectives for each chapter and the prose is so inviting that I felt the book to be a page-turner.

The math used is not complicated and is chosen to help understanding rather than demonstrate the sophisticated math used in the actual world of bond trading. If you want that kind of material this isn't the book for you.

I don't know if there is a solutions manual available, but I couldn't find it. If there isn't, there should be. I have never had a college course that used the problems in the book for actual coursework and yet, no matter how simple the problems seem, it is nice for the student to be able to confirm that he or she has indeed found the right answer.

There are also many helpful footnotes that point to materials for further and deeper reading on the subjects introduced in this fine book.

A little too wordy, but as a management text, I guess its a prerequisite. It covers the gamut of fixed income securities, but only approaches the problems deterministically. The first thirteen chapters are "text" chapters, with the real math starting in chapter 14. However, the math used is elementary, and will not be of much help in the real world. For the fixed income math portion look into "Bond Pricing and Portfolio Analysis" by Olivier de La Grandville.

For a first course in bonds, and if the student has no prior background, this book will indeed be useful. But, for advanced students the book mentioned above should be more insightful.