In Behind the Hedges, journalist Rich Whitt focused his investigative lens on recent events at the University of Georgia, and in so doing examined the bigger story of "a sea change in how America supports its institutions of higher education." Through interviews with many key figures in a struggle for power at UGA over the last decade, Rich examines the controversial tenure of Michael Adams as UGA president, and how this controversy led to the unprecedented split between the Board of Regents and the UGA Foundation, with implications for the landscape of higher education funding nationwide.
For readers of The Smartest Guys in the Room and When Genius Failed, the definitive take on Brian Hunter, John Arnold, Amaranth Advisors, and the largest hedge fund collapse in history At its peak, hedge fund Amaranth Advisors LLC had more than $9 billion in assets. A few weeks later, it completely collapsed. The disaster was largely triggered by one man: thirty-two-year-old hotshot trader Brian Hunter. His high-risk bets on natural gas prices bankrupted his firm and destroyed his career, while John Arnold, his rival at competitor fund Centaurus, emerged as the highest-paid trader on Wall Street. Meticulously researched and character-driven, Hedge Hogs is a riveting fly-on-the-wall account of the largest hedge fund collapse in history: a blistering tale of the recent past that explains our precarious present . . . and may predict our future. Using emails, instant messages, court testimony, and exclusive interviews, securities analyst turned investigative reporter Barbara T. Dreyfuss charts the colliding paths of these two charismatic traders who dominated the speculative energy market. We follow Brian Hunter, the Canadian farm boy and elbows-out high school basketball star, as he achieves phenomenal early success, only to see his ambition, greed, and hubris precipitate his downfall. Set in relief is the journey of John Arnold, whose mild manner, sophisticated tastes, and low profile belied his own ferocious competitive streak. As the two clash, hundreds of millions of dollars in pension and endowment money is imperiled, with devastating public consequences. Hedge Hogs takes you behind closed doors into the shadowy world of hedge funds, the unregulated wild side of finance, where over-the-top parties and lavish perks abound and billions of dollars of other people’s money are in the hands of a tiny elite. Dreyfuss traces the rise of this freewheeling industry while detailing the decades of bank, hedge fund, and commodity deregulation that turned Wall Street into a speculative casino. A gripping saga peppered with fast money, vivid characters, and high drama, Hedge Hogs is also an important and timely cautionary tale—a vivisection of a financial system jeopardized by reckless practices, watered-down regulation, and loopholes in government oversight, just waiting for the next bust. Praise for Hedge Hogs “Regulators, legislators and judges inclined to sympathize with the industry ought to rush out and buy a copy of Barbara Dreyfuss’s Hedge Hogs, a wonderfully instructive tale about Amaranth Advisors. . . . Dreyfuss, a Wall Street analyst turned investigative journalist, not only plowed through what turned out to be a treasure trove of official records and transcripts, but supplemented it with plenty of her own reporting. She manages to organize it all into a tight, riveting and understandable yarn.”—The Washington Post “Clearly and entertainingly told . . . a salutary example of how traders who believe they are super-smart might be nothing more than lucky, and how there is nothing so intoxicating as the ability to speculate with other people’s money.”—The Economist “[Dreyfuss] does a great job of putting Amaranth’s out-of-control trader into historical context, explaining the blitz of deregulation that set the stage for someone like Hunter to do maximum damage.”—Bloomberg “The definitive take on the largest hedge fund collapse in history . . . You will not be able to put it down.”—Frank Partnoy, author of F.I.A.S.C.O. and Infectious Greed Named One of the Top 10 Business & Economics Books of the Season by Publishers Weekly
Bestselling author Steven Gaines's "richly entertaining" (People) and juicy social history of the Hamptons. As one of America's most fabled communities--long a magnet for artists, celebrities, the very rich, and their respective hangers-on--the Hamptons have been a scene of constant collision among the established old guard, New Money, and the local families who farmed and fished the region for generations. In serving up three centuries of Hamptons history, Steven Gaines introduces a host of colorful characters including Jackson Pollock, Ron Perelman, Lauren Bacall, and the Bouvier Beales of Grey Gardens infamy. Philistines at the Hedgerow is a mesmerizing feat of storytelling--a book that takes us behind the privet hedges and rolling sand dunes and brings vivid life to the curious passions and personalities that animate the Hamptons.
"I've been reading the strip for a decade, and now I view the world through RJ and Verne colored glassess . . . . This outdoor odd couple holds up a fun-house mirror to our obsessions.".
For those in a hurry, this: - To align an AI’s goals with our own, we must build-in alignment from the start. - To keep an AI honest, we must build-in honesty from the start. - To get an AI to understand anything, we must invest it with something of what it’s like to be conscious. In this book, a theory of consciousness is cast into an AI architecture that allows interventions in concept formation by design. For the rest of you, who enjoy reading and mulling things over, this: Can a computing device appreciate the smell of coffee on a Sunday morning, or contemplate the Earth as seen from the Moon, or worry about inflation and the price of fuel? Not without being conscious and understanding the world. And one can't be done without the other, surely? In this book, Carter Blakelaw uses a theory of what makes us conscious to present a machine that will genuinely think for itself. Not only that, but once he has his machine, he looks at how to ensure its interests align with our own, and how to keep it honest and true (alignment and hallucinations being two of the biggest issues in AI). Discover what he discovers about the machine, about our world, and about us.
It is perilous to be a Catholic in the Ireland of 1735, and almost more than can be borne for fifteen-year-old Padraic Fitzbrian. Nearly 100 years before, Lord Protector Cromwell of England had put down the Irish rebellion—confiscating lands, killing priests, outlawing the Mass and prohibiting education of any kind for Irish Catholics. Padraic and his two friends, Liam and Rose, are in their last year as scholars in the forbidden and risky “all-weathers” classroom under the hedgerow. Fiery Padraic, whose family lands had been seized so long before, chafes under the injustice as though it were yesterday, making trouble for himself and those around him. Liam, as determined a patriot, holds the hope of being able to fight for his people’s freedom in an entirely different way. And warm-hearted Rose, gifted with pluck, is also—thankfully—rich in good sense. Behind the scenes, a mysterious figure called the “Kestrel” stirs the fires of Irish identity, and Padraic longs to do as much. Harmless adventures mount into dangerous trouble as the three young people strive, in each new difficulty, to take hold of the faith and patience that brings freedom amidst the worst tyranny. Gloria Whelan is a National Book Award winner for Young People’s Literature and author of many books, including The Miracle of St. Nicholas. Living History Library Quality Softcover, $14.95 Ireland 1730's AD, Ages 12-up, RL 5
Rare is the opportunity to chat with a legendary financial figure and hear the unvarnished truth about what really goes on behind the scenes. Hedgehogging represents just such an opportunity, allowing you to step inside the world of Wall Street with Barton Biggs as he discusses investing in general, hedge funds in particular, and how he has learned to find and profit from the best moneymaking opportunities in an eat-what-you-kill, cutthroat investment world.
