Black-Scholes and Beyond

The book Black-Sholes and beyond is viewed as the best book for option pricing models, written by Neil A. Chriss and Ira Kawaller. It clearly presents the fundamental thinking behind the Black-Scholes formula and all of the underpinning assumptions. The author Chriss presents a logical case for the derivation of the BS-formula with an understanding of its ingredients and limitations. To flesh-out the BS limitations, Chriss presents 6 chapters on pricing options on Binomial Trees. Chriss' exposition presents trees as an alternative and powerful tool for the valuation of European, American, and exotic options. Trees are treated as a superset of tools to Black-Scholes and moreover as field of their own.

Chriss also presents a wealth of intuitive explanations to pricing options - explanations that help the reader gain a greater understanding of the limitations and problems that the current methods face. Often it is hard to find a text that presents in detail the shortcomings of a method or technique, but as any researcher would know, understanding the current limitations is fundamental to advancing the state-of-the-art. In this respect, Chriss goes way beyond any textbook available today.

For the first time, the basics on modern option pricing are explained ``from scratch'' using only minimal mathematics. Market practitioners and students alike will learn how and why the Black-Scholes equation works, and what other new methods have been developed that build on the success of Black-Shcoles. The Cox-Ross-Rubinstein binomial trees are discussed, as well as two recent theories of option pricing: the Derman-Kani theory on implied volatility trees and Mark Rubinstein's implied binomial trees. Black-Scholes and Beyond will not only help the reader gain a solid understanding of the Balck-Scholes formula, but will also bring the reader up to date by detailing current theoretical developments from Wall Street. Furthermore, the author expands upon existing research and adds his own new approaches to modern option pricing theory. Among the topics covered in Black-Scholes and Beyond: detailed discussions of pricing and hedging options; volatility smiles and how to price options ``in the presence of the smile''; complete explanation on pricing barrier options.

Black-Sholes and beyond is an in-depth look at option pricing models, fully exploring both the classical option pricing theory, as well as the current state of option pricing theory. There’s a fully walk through of the calculations and equations involved.

It seems like it is one of the best textbook on option pricing model. Hope it helps for someone who is interested in this topic.