The Practical
Guide to
Wall Street


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The Practical
Guide to
Wall Street
Equities and Derivatives

MATTHEW TAGLIANI

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


Copyright

C

2009 by Matthew Tagliani. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Tagliani, Matthew, 1974–
The practical guide to Wall Street : equities and derivatives / Matthew Tagliani.
p. cm. – (Wiley finance series)

Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-470-38372-8 (cloth)
1. Stocks. 2. Derivative securities. I. Title.
HG4661.T34 2009
332.63 220973–dc22
2008039517
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1


To Nati, Sof´ıa, and Cosmo



Contents

Preface

xiii

A Comment on the Events of 2008

xxiii

Acknowledgments

xxv

PART ONE


What Is a Stock?
CHAPTER 1
Equity Fundamentals (Part 1): Introduction to Financial Statements
Introduction
Equity and Corporation
Introduction to Financial Statements
The Balance Sheet
The Income Statement
Statement of Cash Flows
Summary

CHAPTER 2
Equity Fundamentals (Part 2): Financial Ratios, Valuation,
and Corporate Actions
Introduction
Financial Ratios
Growth and Value
Bloomberg
Valuation
Technical Analysis
Corporate Actions
Summary

1
3
3
4
5
6
15

20
24

27
27
28
38
39
40
51
54
64

vii


viii

CONTENTS

PART TWO

Products and Services
CHAPTER 3
Cash Market
Introduction
How a Stock Exchange Functions
Exchange Structure
Order Types
How the Cash Trading Business Works

Communication
Purchasing a Stock in a Foreign Currency
Summary

CHAPTER 4
Equity Indices
Introduction
Index Construction
What an Index Doesn’t Tell Us
Valuation and Calculation
Replicating Portfolio
Trading an Index Portfolio
Index Changes
Index Dividend Points
Total Return Index Calculation
Multicurrency Indices
Equity Indices in Practice
International Indices
Summary

CHAPTER 5
Program Trading
Introduction
Explanation of a Sample Trade
When Is Program Trading More Beneficial?
Portfolio Analytics
Transition Management
Principal Trades
Summary


67
69
69
69
76
81
102
112
115
121

123
123
125
129
131
134
136
139
142
144
145
147
156
165

167
167
173
182

184
189
191
201


Contents

CHAPTER 6
Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)
Introduction
Trading Mechanics
Net Asset Value (NAV)
Popularity
Trading versus Holding
ETFs in Practice
Summary

CHAPTER 7
Forwards and Futures
Introduction
Calculation of Fair Value
Futures
Index Arbitrage
The Futures Roll
Exchange for Physical (EFP)
Basis Trades
Futures Contracts in Practice
Technical Comment on the Accuracy of Approximations
Summary


CHAPTER 8
Swaps
Introduction
Motivation for a Swap
A Long Equity Swap Example
The Swap in Detail: Definitions and Terminology
Calculation of Payments
Short Swap
Back-to-Back Swaps
Swaps as a Trading Tool
A Comment on Hedging
Swap Valuation: Accrual versus NPV
Currency Exposure
ISDA
Risks and Other Considerations
Summary

ix

203
203
205
207
208
212
214
214

217

217
219
223
233
240
245
254
259
263
264

267
267
267
269
272
277
279
280
281
286
287
289
293
294
296


x


CONTENTS

CHAPTER 9
Options (Part 1)
Introduction
Definitions and Terminology
Payoff Structure
Option Values Prior to Maturity
Quantitative Considerations
The Black-Scholes Derivation
Types of Volatility
Summary

CHAPTER 10
Options (Part 2)
Volatility Trading
Option Sensitivities: The “Greeks”
Implied Volatility Revisited
OTC and Exotic Options
Summary

CHAPTER 11
The Trading Floor
Introduction
Organization of the Sales and Trading Businesses
Other Groups
Summary

299
299

300
301
311
323
326
337
341

343
343
354
374
377
383

385
385
386
390
404

PART THREE

Economics
CHAPTER 12
Macroeconomics for Trading and Sales
Introduction
Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)
Overview of Macroeconomics
The Fed

Moving beyond the Big Three: Other Macroeconomic
Concepts
Other Variables

405
407
407
408
408
417
424
426


Contents

A Final Observation
Summary

CHAPTER 13
Economic Data Releases
Introduction
Preliminary Definitions
Principal U.S. Economic Indicators
Rest of the World Economics
Europe
European Economic Statistics
Asia
The Market’s Reaction Function
What the Market Tells Us about the Economy

Summary

APPENDIX
Mathematical Review
Introduction
Functions
Compound Interest and Exponential Growth
Calculus
Random Variables, Probability, and Statistics
Summary

xi
428
429

431
431
433
436
456
457
462
466
471
476
480

481
481
482

483
487
494
505

Notes

507

About the Author

519

Index

521



Preface

hat makes a good Wall Street trader or salesperson?
There is no magic formula. Successful Wall Street professionals
possess a mixture of intelligence, common sense, attention to detail, business savvy, wit, presence, energy, enthusiasm, interpersonal skills, selfconfidence, as well as other attributes that are not only difficult to quantify,
but that vary from one person to the next. Market conditions and client demands are constantly changing and success speaks as much to the person’s
ability to do a job well today as to the ability to adapt quickly and effectively
to the ever-changing markets and the evolving requirements of the job.
In particular, success on “the Street” is not the result of a specific academic training. The men and women who work on the trading floor come
from enormously varied backgrounds. In addition to the many MBAs and
economics, finance, and business administration majors that one would expect to find, I have also worked with traders and salespeople who held

degrees in English literature, art history, astrophysics, and everything in between, including a few (all senior to me, I should add) with no university
education whatsoever.
Because the skills required for success on Wall Street are not easily
defined, or correlated to strength in a particular academic area, trading
floors have always operated on an apprenticeship model. Inexperienced hires
(typically recent university graduates or newly-minted MBAs) are admitted
to analyst and associate training programs based on an assessment of the
quality of the “raw material” they offer as a potential employee—brains,
personality, work ethic, and so on. They are then given a seat on a desk
as either a trader or salesperson where they develop their knowledge and
understanding of the business by actually doing the job.
Institutional finance is a broad and complex business and it takes years
to develop a clear understanding of the activities and interactions of all
the different groups around the trading floor, as well as the structure of
markets, the dynamics of trading, the relationship with clients, and the
unique language used among traders to communicate orders. The majority
of this knowledge is not gained through formal training seminars or classes
but through experience and informal explanations scribbled on napkins or
scraps of paper by more senior coworkers.

W

xiii


xiv

PREFACE

Given the fact that almost every major investment bank and brokerdealer uses this approach to hiring and training, the apprenticeship model

has clearly proven its merit. It is not, however, without its shortcomings
and it was my own experience with the inefficiencies of this model and their
consequences for both new hires and experienced traders and salespeople
that motivated me to write this book.

NEW HIRES
Under this apprenticeship model, there is a tremendous information gap
between those with actual business experience and outsiders: The only people who truly understand what happens on a trading floor are the ones
who are already working there. How, then, are potential candidates to
know whether a career in sales and trading would be interesting to them?
The glamorized and greatly exaggerated image of Wall Street offered by
Hollywood, or found in the gossipy, tabloid-style memoirs of some former
industry employees, while certainly entertaining, does not accurately depict
the day-to-day realities of a typical trader or salesperson in the equities
division of an investment bank. The surprising fact is that the majority of
applicants seeking jobs on Wall Street do so with as much, or more, misinformation about what they think the role will entail than concrete knowledge
of what actually awaits them.
The information gap also makes the recruiting and hiring process inefficient. It is difficult to effectively interview someone who, in practice, does
not speak your language and knows almost nothing about the job he is
applying for. One of the reasons why Wall Street job interviews contain
such notoriously obscure and seemingly random questions and requests as
“Tell me how many ping-pong balls would fit inside a 747.” or “Let me
hear you shout.” is that, if you cannot ask candidates questions specifically
related to the role, then it is only possible to get a sense for their skills and
qualifications in very roundabout ways.
Unfortunately, until now, even if new candidates have made a correct
choice and the sales and trading business is the place for them, there is no
way they can prepare in advance. Ask any trader or salesperson and you
will get a similar response: The Harvard MBA, the Princeton economics
major, the MIT physicist and every one of the other exceptionally bright,

hardworking, and talented young people that come to Wall Street are, upon
arrival on their first day of work, pretty much useless. It is not that they are
not capable; they have simply studied the wrong things, and for the most
part, lack applicable knowledge.
Without taking anything away from the enormous value of formal
education, the fact is that the standard academic treatment of finance


Preface

xv

specifically removes from consideration most of the contribution provided
by the sales and trading division. In order to model the complexities of
real-world finance, certain simplifying assumptions are made: investors are
assumed to be perfectly rational and markets are modelled as “efficient,”
meaning that the price of a stock incorporates all available information
about the prospects for that company. If that were the case, there would
be very little that a salesperson or trader could contribute to the investment
process. What is more, the first assumption of virtually any stock valuation
or derivative pricing model is that there are no trading frictions of execution
costs. However, it is precisely these frictions that are the primary sources of
revenue for the trading floor. The details academia excludes are actually the
bread and butter of Wall Street.1 While in recent years many universities
have taken steps to give a more “real world” focus to their curriculum, this
is still, in most cases, a nascent effort.
Perhaps the most glaring example of the inefficiency caused by outsiders’
lack of basic trading floor knowledge comes from the experience of Wall
Street’s summer student interns. Summer internship programs are considered
to be the highest-probability route to a Wall Street job for undergraduates

and MBAs and admission is extremely competitive, with acceptance rates at
tier-one institutions of as low as 2 to 3 percent. Students prepare intensely
for their 10-week programs, during which they rotate through various desks
on the trading floor, sitting beside the traders and salespeople, doing small
jobs, and learning about the business in the hope of making a good enough
impression to receive a job offer for the coming year. For students interested
in a career in financial markets, there is really no better learning opportunity
than to sit on the “front lines” of finance at a top tier investment bank and
watch firsthand how the institutional traders and salespeople actually make
it all happen.
Unfortunately, for many students, this opportunity is largely wasted.
On arrival, the typical summer intern has so little idea of what happens
on the trading floor that they spend most of their summer just trying to
orient themselves. Their time with traders is squandered asking very basic
questions that could be easily learned from a book, much to the frustration
of busy front-office employees. Many interns finish their summer rotations
with little more than some vague notions of what they have been told, a few
notes or handouts, and the sense that something very important was going
on, but that it was beyond their reach.
The logic behind the Wall Street apprenticeship model is that the subtleties and nuances of real-world finance can only be learned through experience. The inefficiency in the model is that, without an organized presentation
to guide them, new hires and summer interns spend a great deal of time and
effort learning basic concepts, and it is only after many months of working
that the more refined understanding begins to develop.


xvi

PREFACE

In many ways, mastering the skills necessary for success in sales or

trading is like learning to drive a car: there is simply no other option than to
get behind the wheel and do it—slowly at first, and then gradually building
up confidence, picking up speed, and taking on greater challenges. Where
the problem lies, and what this book endeavors to solve, is that, if working
in institutional trading and sales is like driving a car, historically there has
been no driver’s education course or handbook of road rules. New hires
have been arriving on the job without knowing what the gas pedal, brake,
or steering wheel are for and having never seen a street sign in their lives.
What few books have been available were designed for experts and were as
useful as a physics text on the thermodynamics of engine combustion would
be to someone learning to drive.

EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONALS
Many firms provide employees with opportunities for additional professional development, though for the most part, beyond the initial training
programs, learning is done on an ad hoc basis and in a fairly disorganized
manner. Some traders and salespeople take it upon themselves to be a student
of the business, and extend the breadth and depth of their understanding
as far as possible. Most, however, assemble what can best be described as
a “mosaic” understanding of the sales and trading business: based on the
combination of a number of small pieces of information picked up from
various places over time, they put together a broad picture of the activities
on a trading floor which is fairly complete, but only from a certain distance.
Drill down more closely and you will find that there are often significant
holes in their comprehension and many areas are lacking in detail.
So long as a trader’s or salesperson’s activities remain limited to his or
her primary area of expertise, this lack of a more granular understanding of
other products is generally not a problem. In recent years, however, many of
the traditional distinctions between groups within the equities division have
been blurred or outright eliminated. Traders and salespeople whose experience had been limited to one area have to contend with the full spectrum
of equity and derivative products including single stocks, portfolio trades,

ETFs, futures, swaps, and options. This challenge is even more exaggerated
for new transfers into the equities division from other asset classes who face
a steep learning curve but lack a formal process by which to ascend it.
Buy-side traders working at hedge funds, mutual funds, pension funds,
endowments, retail brokers, and investment advisors face a similar challenge.
While many have ample experience and product knowledge, often obtained
during previous careers as Wall Street traders or through a construction of


Preface

xvii

their own mosaic, there are others who lack a detailed understanding of how
the sales and trading business works. The lack of opportunity to obtain the
“Wall Street Education” that comes from working on a trading floor means
they often work at a significant informational disadvantage to their brokers,
which can be a source of friction. Of particular importance are the cases
where this lack of understanding manifests itself in a disagreement over how
to calculate a fair price or what are reasonable expectations of the broker:
It can be extremely difficult for parties with conflicting economic interests
to come to an agreement without an independent reference.

WHY DO WE NEED ANOTHER FINANCE BOOK?
So clearly the way traders and salespeople acquire this large, unstructured
body of knowledge is inefficient, but why do we need a new book? Don’t the
hundreds of existing finance books already explain everything a trader or
salesperson needs to know? The answer is, strangely enough, no. While there
exist books covering almost every aspect of academic and applied finance,
the genre of “Introductory Institutional Finance,” which best describes the

contents of this book, has somehow not yet emerged.
In the existing finance literature, the words “introductory” and
“institutional” have been treated as mutually exclusive. Books targeting
the institutional (i.e., “professional”) investor tend to focus on sophisticated
pricing and risk management concepts appropriate only to those who are
already experts in their field, while introductory texts provide personal financial planning advice or trading strategies (“How to Get Rich Trading
XYZ”) relevant only to the retail (“nonprofessional”) investor.
A useful illustration of the dichotomy between the retail and institutional viewpoints comes from the concept of liquidity, which measures how
many shares of a stock can be bought or sold in a given period of time
without significant impact on the price. Due to the large size of institutional order flow, the concept of liquidity is ubiquitous in the activities of
the professional trader and salesperson; it is the most fundamental factor
in the analysis of risk and the first consideration in the execution of every
client or proprietary order. For retail investors, on the other hand, liquidity
is almost irrelevant due to the small size of their orders. However, despite
its preeminent importance in institutional finance, liquidity considerations
receive scarce attention in the existing literature because these books are
written for professionals who, it is assumed, are already well versed in such
a basic concept.
In writing this book, I have attempted to fill this gap in the literature.
My intention is to provide the introductory explanation of the fundamental


xviii

PREFACE

workings of the trading floor that I was looking for when I began my
career, and that new hires have asked for on countless occasions since then
(and continue to ask for). It is also meant to serve as a reference text for
more senior traders and salespeople for those situations where they find it

necessary to patch over a particular crack in their knowledge. This book does
not pretend to be a substitute for what is learned through an apprenticeship
on Wall Street. Success as a trader or salesperson requires an understanding
of the subtleties of markets, risk management, and client relationships, which
can only be learned through experience. My goal is to provide a logically
structured and detailed presentation of the basic terminology and concepts of
equities sales and trading so as to soften and shorten the steep learning curve
that new arrivals to the equities division have traditionally encountered.

OVERVIEW OF CONTENTS
This book provides an overview of the front office sales and trading business of a typical Wall Street investment bank or broker-dealer. In selecting and structuring the material to include, and the level of detail to
present, the primary criterion has been the probability that the reader would
find the information useful in practice, either in a front-office environment
or as a buy-side client. Anything I would not expect of the trader or salesperson sitting next to me on the trading desk, or that would not significantly
benefit his or her job performance, has been omitted to ensure the reader
is not distracted from the relevant material. The presentation and pace of
the book are based on my own experience explaining this material to both
junior and more senior professionals over many years.
Throughout the book I have made an effort to introduce, wherever
possible, the language and terminology used by traders and salespeople in
practice. Not only is there a great deal of vocabulary that is unique to
the trading floor, but the correct use of that language, down to the tradingspecific interpretations of the prepositions “for” and “at” is essential for such
a fast-paced environment where it can easily mean the difference between a
successful trade and an expensive error.
So that the book is accessible and useful to the broadest possible audience, the prerequisites have been kept to a minimum. The reader is assumed
to have no particular familiarity with finance or economics beyond what
could be considered the commonsense understanding of the dynamics of
supply and demand. (Specifically, that an increase in demand, or scarcity
of supply, for any good, tends to drive the price of that good up, while
a decrease in demand, or excess supply, leads to lower prices.) However,

because modern finance is inherently mathematical, it is necessary that the


Preface

xix

reader understand some of the basic concepts from calculus, probability,
and statistics. Fortunately, our interest is only at the conceptual level: The
reader must understand, to use one example, that the mathematical definition of the derivative measures a rate of change and can be interpreted
as the slope of a line. It will not, however, be necessary that the reader be
able to actually calculate the derivative. An appendix is included with a brief
overview of the relevant mathematical concepts for those readers in need of a
refresher.
A final observation is that, while the book is written from a U.S.-centric
perspective, the structure of the equity sales and trading business globally is
quite consistent and the concepts presented here can be easily extended to
international markets, making the book relevant for both U.S. and international readers.

LAYOUT
The ordering of the material across the whole book has been carefully chosen so that, to the greatest degree possible, terminology and concepts are
introduced with an appropriate motivation and readers with no previous
experience will be best served by reading each chapter in sequence. At the
same time, the structure of each chapter is designed to be a self-contained
unit and readers with more experience can go directly to the chapters that
interest them.

Part One: What Is a Stock?
The book begins by analyzing the most fundamental question about equities:
what is a stock and what determines its price? We look at the first of these

questions in Chapter 1, where we present the basics of financial accounting
and the contents and structure of the standard financial disclosures made by
companies (Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and Statement of Cash Flows).
In Chapter 2 we look at various valuation methods used to determine the
fair price to pay for a share of stock. While both of these subjects are amply
covered in many other texts, the focus here has been to narrow the scope of
the material down to those concepts and terminology of greatest practical
use to the average trader or salesperson.

Part Two: Products and Services
The main body of the text, consisting of Chapters 3 through 11, covers all
of the major equity and equity derivatives products. Each chapter focuses


xx

PREFACE

on a particular product or service (with the exception of Chapter 11, which
summarizes several) and the ordering has been deliberately structured as a
progression from simple to more complex products. The material can be
divided into four sections, each of which centers on a particular concept:
1. Single Stocks: The first section (Chapter 3) focuses on the “cash” market for single stocks and provides a considerable amount of detail
about market conventions and the relationship between salespeople and
traders, much of which is directly applicable to the trading in other
products.
2. Multiple-Stock Products: The next three chapters look at equity products that incorporate multiple underlying stocks. This includes equity
indices (Chapter 4), program trading (Chapter 5), and exchange traded
funds, or ETFs (Chapter 6).
3. One-Delta Derivatives: In this section, we encounter our first true derivatives, but restrict our focus to those that directly replicate exposure

to the underlier (so called, one-delta derivatives): forwards and futures
are covered in Chapter 7, and equity swaps in Chapter 8.
4. Derivatives with Variable Delta: In the last section (Chapters 9 and 10),
we look at options, which have a varying sensitivity to the movements
of the underlying stock (delta not equal to one).
The final chapter of Part Two is Chapter 11, which contains an overview
of the various other groups that are either on, or interact with, the trading
floor, and the services they offer.

Part Three: Economics
In the last section, we look at the interrelationships between economic data,
market movements, and investor behavior from the point of view of the
trader. Chapter 12 presents an overview of the structure of the economy and
introduces some of the important terminology and concepts from macroeconomics. This then allows us to focus in Chapter 13 on what are some of the
most important, market-moving data announcements—the daily economic
data releases. We present an overview of all the major U.S. releases, their
source, and what they tell us about the economy and an analysis of some
of the factors that determine the market’s reaction to these announcements.
We then present a brief overview of the most salient data points for the rest
of the globe. We end the chapter by reversing the direction of the inference
to look at how certain market indicators can provide useful insights into the
current state of the economy.


Preface

xxi

Appendix: Mathematical Review
The Appendix provides a brief review of the mathematical concepts necessary to understand the material in the book and relate intelligently to others

on the trading floor. There is a common misperception, particularly among
students, about the level of mathematical understanding relevant to a job on
Wall Street. Because many of the most recent areas of development in finance
have been mathematically complex, many applicants have the mistaken impression that by studying concepts such as stochastic calculus or probability
theory, they will dramatically improve their chances of being hired. While
more mathematics is never a bad thing—like speaking more languages or
knowing more history—the effort expended to learn more esoteric concepts
provides rapidly diminishing returns to the vast majority of trading and sales
roles. In practice, the most useful mathematical skill is a facility with mental
arithmetic: the ability to think clearly about numbers and quickly compute
accurate approximations particularly under pressure. The job of a trader or
salesperson much more often requires that they provide an “on the spot”
estimate of, for example, how much 69,000 shares of an $84.10 stock is
worth, or how much a 0.15 percent move equates to on an index level of
641.21, than virtually any other type of calculation.
Note: Throughout the text I use the terms investment bank and broker-dealer
to refer to the financial services firms that provide equity and equity derivative sales and trading services to clients. In light of the sweeping changes in
the industry that occurred in the latter part of 2008, many of these companies should be properly called “banks.” Readers should interpret the words
“investment bank” and “broker-dealer” as referring to those parts of banks
that provide these services.
AN IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION: The contents of this book represent my own views of generally accepted market practices in the
pricing, trading, and risk management of a variety of equity and equity derivative products, in the context of the institutional client’s
business. The information is a blend of objectively verifiable facts and
subjective opinions that, while undoubtedly influenced by my professional experience, are entirely my own and should not be interpreted
as representing the policies or practices of any of my employers, past
or present.
I welcome any questions, comments, or feedback on the book. Readers
can contact me at




A Comment on the Events of 2008

he changes that have occurred in the global financial markets while this
book was being written were unlike anything experienced since the Great
Depression. The loss of confidence triggered by the deflation of a speculative
housing bubble brought the market for short-term lending to a standstill,
jeopardizing the solvency of financial institutions globally. Governments
and central banks around the world took unprecedented actions including
bailouts, nationalizations, and stimulus packages worth trillions of dollars.
The consequences of these interventions will not be fully understood or
appreciated for many years.
This uncertainty has raised many questions about the future of the
financial services industry with gloom-and-doom prognostications of the end
of Wall Street. While perhaps representative of the sentiment of the moment,
these concerns are greatly exaggerated. The painful lessons learned about
credit risk, leverage, and speculation will undoubtedly change the industry,
but the recent market conditions are no more an indication of the end
of financial services than the imploding of the technology bubble in 2000
spelled the end of the Internet. The industry will evolve and improve, but
the trading, pricing, and risk management of the products described in this
book will remain largely the same.

T

MATTHEW TAGLIANI, CFA
November 2008

xxiii




Acknowledgments

here are countless individuals who have assisted me throughout my career and to whom I hold tremendous gratitude. While they have not been
directly involved in the making of this book, which has been a rather solitary effort, they have helped to make it possible either by directly enhancing
my understanding of the business or simply making the environment where
I have worked and learned more enjoyable. Particular thanks go to Geoff
Craig, Sam Kellie-Smith, David Russell, Craig Verdon, and Ben Walker,
who provide me with my current opportunities to continue developing professionally, and to Guy Weyns, who kindly reviewed several chapters and
made many helpful recommendations. Special thanks also go to Bill Gerace
and Bill Leonard, who were instrumental in the development of my critical
thinking skills.
I am greatly indebted to all the people at John Wiley & Sons who
made this book possible, particularly Bill Falloon, Stacey Fischkelta, Emilie
Herman, Joan O’Neil, Todd Tedesco, and Laura Walsh.
The writing of this book consumed most of my evenings, weekends,
vacation time, and holidays over a period of slightly more than two years—
the time and effort required to bring it to completion having far exceeded
any of my initial estimates, which I now see were wildly overoptimistic. That
I should, for so long, voluntarily sacrifice what little free time I am afforded
outside of my day-to-day work as a trader to pursue this project could be
considered somewhat deranged, certainly masochistic and, at the very least,
a bit imbalanced.
However, that my wife Nati should not only tolerate such an extended
period of my virtual nonexistence, but actively encourage, support, and
motivate me along the way is simply beyond explanation. While I spent my
time reclused in intellectual La-La Land, she brilliantly managed the very
real-world responsibilities of raising a family and managing a home, while
keeping me free from the distracting realities of daily life. This was no small

feat, considering that between starting and finishing this book, we relocated
to the United Kingdom and added a second child to our family roster.
Hers has been a truly superhuman effort which, quite frankly, I haven’t the
vaguest idea how to repay.

T

xxv