Security Books

"Money Without Matrimony: The Unmarried Couple's Guide to Financial Security" is an essential resource for the 11 million Americans who are in committed relationships but are unmarried- either due to personal choice, timing, or discriminatory laws that make them ineligible for marriage's basic legal protections. The authors do a great job of identifying the unique financial challenges of unmarried couples and offer advice, strategies, and resources to help them achieve financial health and security.

A long overdue book, Money Without Matrimony discusses the myriad of financial considerations when two people are living together as a couple but are not married. In this situation there are many potential problems that can interfere with your planning for your future. The authors walk the reader down a solid pathway for financial advice by first examining why financial planning is important, determining goals and objectives, dealing with what assets belong to each person and which assets are jointly owned, dealing with insurance, taxes, estate planning, and retirement. And, of course, children raises another entirely different problem that needs to be examined in detail. The authors follow a well organized path that leads the reader from thinking about their goals through devising a total plan. The coverage is excellent and thorough and includes a discussion of such things as common-law marriage states and what to do about it. Other areas with surprises that are covered in detail include credit cards, life insurance, insurance proceeds, and inheritance. This is a complex field with many potential pitfalls and problems but also ripe with planning opportunities so that your wishes are met and assets protected. Money Without Matrimony is highly recommended for all unmarried couples.

My partner and I were given a copy of Money Without Matrimony just as we were starting to explore what we needed to do to be prepared financially in the future. There are so many things to know and we were feeling very overwhelmed. This book is written in such a way that it clearly spells out the different approaches you can take. It also points out strategies and talking points that we never would have thought of. It has really given us a good starting point now and we finally feel we have the direction that we were missing. We definitely recommend this for any unmarried couple looking for guidance.

As a consumer educator, I've heard many stories of people whose finances were ruined by a partner. Credit problems from a failed relationship are a common problem. Money Without Matrimony offers very sound and comprehensive advice for couples, and I can't recommend it highly enough. I had the opportunity to interview coauthor Debra Neiman on my Internet radio show, EverydayWealth Radio: Your Consumer Advocate, about the book (if you want to listen it's archived online at wsradio.com) and she clearly knows what she is talking about and takes a compassionate approach to what can sometimes be uncomfortable topics to discuss.

This is a must-read for unmarried couples, and a great gift if you know someone in that situation.

CFA's Sheryl Garrett and Debra A. Neiman's Money Without Matrimony: The Unmarried Couple's Guide To Financial Security finally addresses what is a major issue among co-habitating couples: how to live together without marriage and consider the methods and pros and cons of merging finances and lives. From owning property together to inheritances, partnership agreements, and other common obligations, Money Without Matrimony discusses many different arrangements and options.

Dunbar Ogden's entire family was deeply effected by the stand he took in Little Rock. As a pastor's wife, I was particularly inspired by the courage of his wife, Dorothy. Having met her years later, I am convinced that this experience made her all the more effective in her own ministry, as she could genuinely empathize with those in ministry - and in fact, all walks of life - who have suffered injustice and persecution, both within and outside the church. I would highly recommend this book!

This is a profound book. I found myself writing the author to thank him--for sharing this story and this part of our history; for sharing so intimately of his father's life and the choices he made (I am inspired by his faith and actions); for exposing the realities behind the headlines and the snippets of history that were in our history books; for sharing his own journey; and overall for writing such an important book.

Essential reading for anyone interested in this dark chapter of the civil rights movement. The book is based on thorough research into personal and public files and on personal memories. The argument is spellbinding at three levels: 1)an account of precisely what happened when Orville Faubus tried to defy the federal law; 2)a highly sympathetic account of the support by the Presbyterian (white) pastor Dunbar H. Ogden for the nine students attempting to register at the school; and 3)a deeply moving account by Ogden's son, a renown theater historian, concerning his own search for understanding after fifty years. The book is a superb success.

Well written and gripping, this true story is one of the most interesting books I have ever read.

This is one of the most needed books for students today. The collaboration between unlikely allies and their story is just what students today need to read to be able to have strong examples of unity in times of important social and political growth. As a school librarian, I find this a must in my library not only for students but as a vital resource for teachers. We still have a tremendous amount of segregation in our schools today.This book is just the tool we need to revisit this issue and reflect on our committment to social justice.

This revised, expanded second edition of Net Crimes & Misdemeanors: Outmaneuvering Web Spammers, Stalkers, And Con Artists comes from a cybercrime expert who provides easy, efficient methods for handling a wide range of online attacks. Himself a one-time victim of cyberstalking, Hitchcock became a victim's advocate and so doesn't come from a programmer's background. Her coverage therefore is most accessible to the lay consumer - the most likely victim of such crimes - and offers insights and tips on preventing everything from identity theft to internet dating, newsgroup problems and more.

In general, the new information and new stories were woven amid the 1st edition information so well that there was no way to make any assumptions and skip along through. Just for the heck of it I tried! Then went back and thoroughly read the particular section and found that there was new stuff I'd missed. I did this intentionally a couple times to check. Gave up on the game and just kept reading! New stuff I *really* liked - the chapter on blogs, journals, etc. and the Nigerian Chapter. Even the Afterword was perfect. Just rightly written. Can't explain it other than it seemed to encompass the entirety of the book for you.

One (of many) of my favorite line(s). Intro, page 2, para.4, sentences 1 and 2. Buy the book and find out!

This book is excellent.

I had heard about the first edition of this book, but never bothered. I honestly thought I knew everything about being online. Then I had a bad experience and heard the 2nd edition was coming out. I bought it at the first chance I could and believe me, I have been kicking myself for not buying the first edition. All the advice given in this book is wonderful. I even found a situation similar to what happened to me and the advice was so simple, I couldn't believe it. Now this book sits next to my computer and I've found myself pulling it out to read about whatever I am doing online. Don't think you know everything - you don't! Trust me on this.

This is the second edition of the previously read/critiqued Netcrimes and Misdemeanors book.

Once again, the author fills the pages with important and vital information about how to stay safe online. From scammers to hoaxes, stalkers and ebay, even online dating and keeping children safe from online predators, this book is packed with real life examples of how people made mistakes that made them a target for some online psycho. But not only does it have the mistakes that lead to the problem, it has the solutions and tricks to avoid the situation in the first place as well!

Both versions of this book are useful to anyone that surfs online, but I would urge people to get the second edition as it contains updated links and information. Learn to be safe online! Buy this book for yourself and anyone you know who's a newbie to the online world. You never know... it might just save their life.

Identity theft, forgery, harassment . . . its happens to thousands of people every day, children included.

It is estimated that more than sixty percent of children between the ages of 13 and 17 have a Myspace profile, my own children are included in that percentage.

I thought that frequent supervision, placing our computer in the kitchen, and an expensive computer software program would be sufficient to protect my children. I was wrong. With tips from this book, I quickly changed simple computer settings that could ultimately prevent my children, or myself, from becoming a cybercrime victim.

The details that Jayne Hitchcock includes in this book about victim prevention and the procedures to follow if you are victimized, are clear and to the point. A review of cybercrime laws, victim experiences, and the psyche of perpetrator motivation make this type of book, which could be otherwise boring, very interesting!

This book is a MUST HAVE for computer rookies, experts, high school students, and every Mom in America, including mine!

This book is an excellent security reference, possessing both great scope and great depth, which is difficult to achieve in one book for such a large field.

The structure is very good, starting with an overview of security, providing the objectives of it, the reason behind it, the 'Why'. This is followed by the 'How' where it gives clear and concise overviews and explanations of the multitude of technologies complete with configuration examples and good use of diagrams and screenshots. Every chapter has a very helpful list of references for even more information. Advanced topics such as Network Admission Control (NAC), Security Monitoring and Correlation (MARS), and Attack Vectors and Mitigation are covered. Finally the book closes with the business side including security management, explanation of policies, frameworks, governance and the myriad of regulations.

As part of my preparation for the CCIE Security Written exam, I read this book and found it to be invaluable. I highly recommend this book for not just for CCIE preparation but for all levels of readers looking for one of the best books on network security.

When I first selected this book, I was expecting material rather specific to CCIE Security preparation. What I found after reading it, however was that it not only covered CCIE Security preparation but CCIE R/S preparation as well as many real-world security topics.

Many authors attempt to cover a wide area of technologies and wind up losing organization of their presentation of the topics. I find Yusuf's organization to be excellent and flowed very well making this an easy read. In fact, considering how many topics this book covers I am amazed at just how well it is organized, which is better than many of the technology-specific books I have read over the years. I become very annoyed with having to go back to reference past topics time and again but I did not find that I had to do that with this book and was able to continue going forward along with the topics.

I also found that this book gets right to the point. Yusuf didn't pack a lot of fluff and filler into the material. Instead you get right into the meat of the topics. Keep in mind that if you are looking for a thorough reference to take you from the very beginning of a specific topic then this book is not for you. This book is part of the "CCIE Professional Development" series and as such assumes you have at least some pre-existing knowledge in these areas. With this in mind, I find this an excellent study guide as well as a real-world reference for various areas of Cisco security.

Perhaps one of the most unique and possibly useful chapters of this book is the non-Cisco material. For example the section covering security policies is invaluable. As a consultant I see client after client without a corporate security policy and in this day and age that's trouble waiting to happen. This section discusses the value of such a policy and how to begin developing it. Another area within this chapter contains information on various regulatory compliance mandates, such as HIPPA and SOX. While this info is readily available elsewhere, Yusuf neatly summarizes the various regulations, including who is mandated to comply, penalties for not doing so and the various Cisco solutions used for compliance.

I found this book to be excellent.

Are you a network engineer or a security engineer, consultant, or a candidate pursuing security certifications. If you are, then this book is for you! Author Yusuf Bhaiji, has done an outstanding job of writing a primary reference book that will help you design and build a secure network.

Bhaiji, begins by introducing you to the principles of network security, security models, a basic overview of security standards, policies, and the network security framework. Then, the author describes the capability to perform traffic filtering using access control lists. The author also covers some of the most common techniques used for device hardening and securing management access for routers, firewall appliances, and the intrusion prevention system appliance. He continues by covering port-level security controls at Layer 2 and security features and best practices available on the switch. Then, the author introduces the software-based IOS firewall features, including the legacy Context-Based Access Control and the newly introduced Zone-Based Policy Firewall feature available on the router. Next, he provides comprehensive coverage of firewall operating systems, software features and capabilities. The author continues by providing mitigation techniques for a wide range of attacks at Layer 2 and Layer 3. Then, he covers details of the authentication, authorization, and accounting framework and implementation of AAA technology. He continues by highlighting the common use of ACS software functions and features. Next, the author introduces common two-factor mechanisms. He also covers the Cisco trust and identity management solution based on the Identity-Based Networking Services technique. Then, the author provides an overview of wireless LAN and details of securing WLAN networks. He continues by showing you how to implement the Cisco NAC appliance solution as well as the NAC-L3-IP, NAC-L2-IP, and NAC-L2-802.1x solutions. Then, the author gives a basic overview of the various cryptographic algorithms, including hash algorithms, symmetric key, and asymmetric key algorithms. Next, he covers a wide range of IPsec VPN solutions. The author continues by showing you how to implement various types of DMVPN hub-and-spoke and spoke-to-spoke solutions. Then, he covers the innovative tunnel-less VPN approach to provide data security. He also covers the newly introduced Cisco AnyConnect VPN. Next, the author shows you how to implement Layer 2 and Layer 3-based MPLS VPN solutions. Finally, he covers regulatory compliance and legislative acts including GLBA, HIPAA and SOX.

This most excellent book serves as a valuable resource for candidates preparing for the CCIE Security certification exam that covers topics from the new blueprints. Perhaps more importantly, this great book serves as reference for any networking professional managing or considering exploring and implementing Cisco network security solutions and technologies.

Yusuf does a great job at putting together all the relevant material on network security technologies in one place - and all that with comes with an easy to read guide compiled nicely into relevant chapters/parts.

Overall book is divided into five parts, and information is presented in a manner that it serves both novice and advanced readers.

a few things can be improved in a later edition, e.g.., a)allocation of breadths to the newer areas (more on zone-based FW than CBAC) and b) less repetitiveness around the subject matter (ie, overlap with other cisco titles).

All in all, a great title and highly recommended for network security professional at all levels!

During the first 7 chapters the author gives overviews of security vulnerabilities and attack mitigations in the current networking world. When finer points are confusing, there is detailed explanation to make the problem clear. For example distinguishing between MAC spoofing and ARP spoofing. Each threat is outlined with a description, background, problems, and mitigation techniques using Cisco configuration. This is not just a theory book but manages to fit in useful configuration examples in almost every turn of the page. This is not a quick read: you will want to have a lab setup to practice on while you read.

Unlike many security discussions that make much of vulnerabilites that are highly unlikely or virtually impossible to pull off, the author clearly states when an attack is improbable, and not worth the effort to consider.

The second unit of the book focuses on identity and access management. I found the sections on layer 2 access control most useful. Particularly the use of 802.1x protocol with a RADIUS server. Something I am currently trying to implement in a network.

Part 3 is all about privacy and encryption and covers many ways to tunnel, hide, and encrypt data packets. The last sections are about Intrusion Detection and Security Management.

Perhaps one of the most helpful setions in the book are the guidelines for establishing a security policy and making it work in a real world environment. Chapter 25 walks you through starting with a security model that gives you a foundation for fleshing out your companies standards, guidelines and procedures so you will be ready for your next audit as well as the real security threats of today.

This was a wonderful and engaging read. Not only were you given a clear picture of both Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, but the book cites numerous powerful men and women who were active in the suffrage movement. This book is like a small taste of women's history that leaves you yearning for more. However, I wouldn't overlook this book just because it is not extremely specific, it is very helpful in getting a feel for the suffrage movement as a whole.

This book was an eye opener for me. Every woman should read this book to understand the fight for our right to vote. These women devoted their lives to something they knew they would never even see in their live time! Its a story of courage and strength. It's makes one feel proud to be a woman.

This book is richly woven with details that dive into the true characters of these two beautiful souls. The book gives a truly amazing account of not only Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony, but dives into their lives and characters. The reader obtains a true understanding of these women's motivations, techniques, skills, and contributions, in a brilliant biography with great quotes, accounts, photographs, and special archives directly from the time period of Susan & Elizabeth, relating to their work. Ken Burns & Geoffrey C. Ward have made quite an accomplishment with this extraordinary account.

This book provides insight and history on the struggle that women went through to get the right to vote. It includes all kinds of interesting background and perspectives. It was a real eye opener for me and I'm giving it as a gift to all the young women I know.

This book fills a glaring need in history books. Not many people know more about Susan B. Anthony than she was one the dollar coin. This book corrects that oversight, and then some. Not only does the book give a balanced and well thought out look at Anthony and Stanton, the reader is also introduced to many, many other women who worked so hard for women rights.
I especially liked that the book didn't shy away from some of these women's more controversial stands, such as taking on the black person's cause.
All in all, a very good book.

The book Nothing About Us Without Us: Disability Oppression and Empowerment written by James I Charlton is profound. It really gives an insight to the history, psychosocial history of disabilities all around the world.

It is a profound book (very deep) and at times difficult for sensitive people like me but it is a must read book. I would like for the people in Puerto Rico to read this book to really comprehend the story behind the movement of Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The community of Persons with Disabilities in Puerto Rico need to comprehend deeply the situation that is going on even in Puerto Rico. The system provided in the territory of the United States does not work. On the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico the ADA Law is not enforce. I personally cannot wait until the Ammendment to the ADA Act of 2008 is pass by the Senate and finally signed by the President of the United States.

The "ADA Ammendment Act of 2008" was passed on the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly with 402 votes to 17 NAYS on June 26, 2008.

There are few books that can clarify the civil rights concepts and disability... This is one. I sat in a meeting of a government training program for Fair Housing investigations, and two of the lawyers/instructors as well as the Academy's Director stated that they do not need people with disabilities to be involved with the training or policy decision-making - now I give this book to persons who do not have a disability. What if we plan a celebration of women or Black History Month and only white males were invited?

RedGimp

Even though America may be one of the world's most enlightened
countries when it comes to treating people with disabilities
with respect, we still have a very long way to go.

As proven in "Nothing About Us Without Us", the revealing
expose by James I. Charlton, so does the rest of the globe,
to varying degrees. Listen to the voices of people with
disabilities in different countries that carry the same
messages of fear, shame, discouragement, and even hope:

Maria Paulo Teperino: "There is a cult of the body in Brazil.
We call it 'culto ao corpo'. Machismo is very strong, and
it affects the way many men think of women. Because of its
prevalence, machismo leads many men to believe that a disabled
woman can't satisfy him. Many even believe that disabled women
cannot have children."

Fadila Lagadien: "In South Africa, families don't educate or
support the education of disabled women because of the attitude
that no man will pay a 'bola' (dowry) for a disabled woman."

Joshua Malinga: "I had an inborn attitude not to accept the
attitudes at the institution. These ideas were very bad. For
example, disabled people were told when to eat, when to sleep,
that they couldn't make love, it was banned...By the mid-1970's
I and a few others wanted to reject all these ideas and start our
own organization. By 1965, I began organizing disabled people
because I knew things were not right."

Charlton's book reveals the often-ignored truth that 'things are
not right' for people with disabilities all around the world.
Whether it's being called a 'chirema' for 'useless' in Africa
or being 'ai duan' (looked down upon because of your disability)
in Asia, if you have one, then good luck NOT being treated as a
second-class citizen or worse. Things are looking up, however...

Rachel Hurst: "I decided I had to do something. I quickly realized
that a single person never gets anywhere, so I tried to figure
out how I could do something collectively." --London, England

More and more people with disabilities are joining Rachel in
organizing to stand up and fight for the human rights that other
humans take for granted. After you read "Nothing About Us Without
Us", I sincerely hope you will want to join them in their just cause.

I'd thoroughly recommend this book. It provides a global overview of the disability rights movement, and includes interviews with many activists from different countries. I found it easy to read, and thoroughly interesting.

This is a well written, thoroughly researched work dealing with the treatment of disabled people in various cultures. The book explores the impact of religious institutions, charities, schools and various other institutions on how the disabled are treated. It also does a remarkable job of explaining how consciousness needs to change in order for progress to be made. It is an extremely thought provoking work which raises many issues. I recommend this book to anyone who may some day be disabled - which is any of us.

"On Your Own" is a well written, very informative book. The authors are able to cover specific financial, legal and emotional issues without being too wordy or losing the average reader in technical jargon. The content is applicable to widows of all ages and financial situations.

I keep multiple copies in my office as gifts for any recently widowed individuals I meet.

As a financial planner specializing in Wealth Preservation Planning, one aspect of my practice is providing life insurance, when appropriate. As a result, part of my job involves the delivery of death claim checks to widows. Unfortunately, many of them have never had the opportunity to deal with family finances or budgeting - but are suddenly thrown into a situation where they must assume that responsibility. It comes at a time of great instability and disruption.

"On Your Own" by Alexandra Armstrong and Mary R. Donahue deals sensitively with both the emotional and financial issues of widowhood, and provides guidance for both - with compassion and authoritative wisdom. It provides comfort and knowledge in a clever structure which allows the reader to review applications of each chapter's information in one of several optional formats, based upon her individual set of circumstances (young with children, elderly, etc.)

I am so impressed with the book that I give it to each of the beneficiaries to whom I deliver a death claim check. The thank you notes I have received have provided a wonderful reward for sharing this valuable information.

I purchased this book five years ago from Ms. Armstrong at a NAIC Congress in Florida. At the time I purchased it as a reference for my investment club's library. With 21 women in the M & D Investment Club I figured someone would need it sometime. I have skimmed it occasionally through the years but when I recently become widowed it was the first book I brought out. Ms. Armstrong has literally saved me much time and grief in trying to figure out what to do next. There is no time of greater confusion and despair than at the sudden and unexpected loss of a beloved spouse. When I can read this book gives me something to do or think about. The suggestions for organization are excellent and will allow me to make informed descisions instead of emotional decisions. While I did not expect to be the recipient of her wisdom I am grateful for it. I highly recommend it for all women, married, single, divorced or involved in any relationship that has financial involvement. We can't afford to not know how to best proceed with our financial future.

For all who have ever asked "What do I do now?" or "Who can help me with...?" I recommend "On Your Own". Like earlier editions, this is a sensitive and insightful resource for those who have recently experienced (or are preparing to experience) the loss of a spouse. In a highly readable and usable style the authors lead the reader through important topics often thought to be too intimidating or too confusing for someone wrought with fear and sadness.

Even though this book was written with widows in mind I found it a thorougly useful and informative work about investing. I am in my late twenties and have a young child. I found that this book was written in a way that made it accessible to me, as I am new to investing and all things financial! The book really made me understand how I should be planning out my financial future. My understanding was helped by the fact that this book was written by two women; I was able to relate to it on a financial and emotional level.

This book makes it relatively easy to understand the mathematical principles behind the Black-Scholes theory. The CD guides you through various scenarios and plots everything for you. You don't have to be a mathematician with a PhD from the University of Chicago to appreciate the explanations and diagrams depicted. A "must-have" for every options trader or investor - a definite "keeper"!

Fantastic software!

The book is really a step by step tutorial on how to use the
probability forecasting software that is on the CD.

Excellent learning tool as well as a decision-analysis tool for investments.

Really great. Loved it. Learned a lot!

Many thanks to the author.

One Caution: It doesn't work on a Macintosh
(unless you have PC emulation software for your Mac).

Cheers,
---Freddy

Any student or trainee having to study this topic really should buy this tutorial.

Having a degree in Mathematics and a professional accountancy qualification did not prepare me for the explanations of Black Scholes to be found in most text books.

They may have got a Nobel prize for their option pricing model but Black and Scholes were never going to get an award for clarity of explanation.

Having grappled with this area for a few months, I decided I needed a little more innovative help; hence my purchase of Jerry Marlow's interactive tutorial.

Two days later and I feel I could go for the next Nobel prize myself!

So many things click into place so quickly, it's marvellous.

Jerry gives his email address which I had to resort to for one query. He answered most helpfully within a couple of hours.

I suspect that it helps to have had an overview appreciation of the area before starting the tutorial but this shouldn't deter first timers from starting with this.

The visual presentation the book offers combined with the interactive CD-ROM make this indispensable to anyone who really wants to understand how option pricing works. It's right here on my desk for easy and quick reference - which is my advice to everyone!

I was skeptical to buy it since there were more than 100 different books available on options... but I am glad I choose this book. Its easy and the software developed beats anything I have seen yet... All the free softwares available are excel based but do not offer such insight on the subject as this book.
I would strongly recommend it to anyone. Only hitch is that the software is bit slow to run but it performs...

The author seems to have "bought" into Public Key Infrastructure completely. Many chapters have a simliar formula:

1. Explain background on the compliance issue or standard

2. Then explain why PKI is so great and solves a majority of the problems with the particular issue being discussed.

This leaves a bit to be desired in some cases as the compliance-heavy discussions really move past PKI and into extremely detailed market compliance issues. This book will be useful for individuals looking for information having to do with Financial, e-Government, and Health Care compliance issues but not necessarily with PKI implementations for Enterprise organizations.

I found this book very useful. With other material in the field the author did a great job.
If you planned to roll out a PKI just take a moment and take a deep breath before doing that and consider all the do's and don't's. Ask yourself the question if PKI is really the only solution for your problem. This book helps you get that perspective. Good style of writing, clear and consistent. Certainly worth buying. Don't assume this is a deep technical drill down on PKI and you're okay!

Rob Faber, CISSP, MCSE, Infrastructure Architect
The Netherlands

Overall I found this book to cover the key concepts of PKI and its practical use fairly well. The case studies help me relate to how things are actually being done. My issue with other books is that they are too theoretical. Also the book gives me a strong case for expanding my PKI deployment as I can cite other successes (worldwide).

Good stuff on PKI: technical and business angles. Compliance was the main reason I took at look at this book, since HIPAA affects us day to day. I did appreciate the introduction to the technology (with technical depth). One thing I did really like it was that (to large degree) the book was vendor neutral. Some of the books through the RSA label have some spin. Definitely worth adding this book to the security collection.

This book covers a good chunk of digital security strategies with a focus on digital certificates (PKI). The first part of the book covers the PKI basics including technical and business topics. The next part of the book goes over the compliance laws (in relevant vertical areas) and how PKI (and compatible technologies) help resolve them. The last part of the book goes over resources and specific products/companies.

What I really liked about this book is it focus on how solve real problems such as compliance issues. Plus the case studies and specific vendor references make this is a good book to use for actual implementations.

Finally, this is a recent book on PKI and I have not seen too much on this topic as of late. The international coverage in the book also does well to keep the material relevant and current.

I would say this book would be ideal for security consultants as well as decision makers doing anything related to digital certificates and/or ecommerce in general.

Learn continuous time finance from this book: you won't be disappointed. I have read almost all the most famous finance books and I must say that this is by far the best one of them. Although somewhat limited in scope, it is masterfully written: everything is explained clearly and carefully. All statements are rigorously proved. I would say it is suitable both for beginners, having a minimum exposure to measure-theoretic probability and willing to spend some time on it, and for advanced students. Personally, I first read the book as a beginner and found it extremely useful, but even now, that I understand and know most of the material, I find it to be an invaluable reference. The level of mathematical sophistication is quite high, so don't expect anything like Neftci, Baxter and Rennie, Mikosch or Bjork. The level is the same of Duffie, but, while Duffie presents a lot of material and most of the time he doesn't provide proofs and explanations (which, personally, I find irritating), this book is limited to few selected topics, but they are explained at length.
Unfortunately, the perfect finance book has not yet been written (finance professionals seem to be too busy and well paid to write good books), but this one is almost perfect. If you really want to understand quantitative finance, I strongly recommend that you invest a good amount of hours in studying this book. Two good books to acompany this one might be Resnick's book on probability and Steele's book on stochastic calculus.

Nielsen has written a virtually self-contained treatise on the subject. Reading this book was a beautiful learning experience: The author's clarity of thought was striking; the examples made particular points transparent; and the exercises made invaluable contributions to understanding.
The three appendices (on measure and probability, the Lebesque integral, and the heat equation), and the first three chapters make the book as self-contained as is possible.
Synopsis: I do not know of a better book on this subject.

This book is excellent. As anyone interested in this field knows, there is a lot of high-level math. The author has included several appendices which cover the required background, and he only includes proofs that are helpful to overall understanding. All theorems without proofs have references to the standard math texts.

In comparison to other texts, it does not leave many important ideas to intuition like Neftci's book. Baxter & Rennie is better than Neftci, but not as good as Elliot & Kopp or Lamberton & Laperyre. All of the above I have studied to some extent, and Nielsen's book seemed to include all that these did AND to fill in the gaps. This is the first book I have seen to actually define 'numeraire'.

Make no mistake, to truly understand this material one has to make an investment in learning a good amount of math. The texts I recommend for real analysis are Royden (tops among all for ease and clarity) and Folland (more comprehensive, but very well written); for probability I recommend Resnick's new book which includes a good chapter on discrete-time martingales (much more readable than Chung) and the legendary text by Billingsley.

If you are willing to learn about 4 chapters of Royden and keep Resnick at your side, then this is the only book you need. If not, then start with Baxter and Rennie.

I read it with Rudin's"Principle of Mathematical Analysis" & Royden's "Real Analysis" by self-study.In my view,you can replace Lamberton & Lapeyre with it.It is rigorous yet accessible for non-math major who is interested in derivatives pricing but frustrated with the high-level mathematics.Buy it and read it with your patience.It won't make you disappointed.

This is an excellent textbook on financial mathematics. It is quite mathematical, but self contained, clearly and carefully written. The appendices are very well written condensed reviews of basic technical facts. The book also contains discussions of a topics that I've never seen anywhere else, such as "Arbitrage and Admissibility" and "The doubling strategy". As mentioned in the preface, the book is based on a doctoral-level course, and the author clearly had the benefit of a large amount of feedback from students. Reading it, one can't help notice the presence of a very large number of extra remarks and hints, inserted on every page in order to clarify what must have been a denser original text. Finally, I have to mention the excellent editorial work done by Oxford University Press in producing this book, as compared to similar books published by Wiley.