The title suggests an almost perfect blend for a statistics book: a “guide” for practitioners as well as researchers. However, I was a bit disappointed when I read it. The discussions are very narrative and detailed, extremely easy to follow, with little mathematical rigor. The author chooses to provide the reader with a detailed historical summary of bootstrap methods and to present only the results. There are examples in the text, which are again presented in the same way.
As a researcher and practitioner myself, I am a bit reluctant to agree that this book can serve both audiences. Rather I see it as a second companion to students and researchers, the latter mostly because of the extensive bibliography. Roughly half of the book is devoted to bibliography, which is generously updated in this new edition.
I think the book is excellent for reader who is starting to learn about the bootstrap because of the detailed historical background. However, the listing of results can make him/her a bit confused. Perhaps with an aid of another text that can be overcome. Overall, I have a hard time placing this book appropriately, as it has lots of stuff (at different levels), completely mixed. Perhaps it would best serve as a little reference book on bootstrap methods.
Ita Cirovic Donev is a PhD candidate at the University of Zagreb. She hold a Masters degree in statistics from Rice University. Her main research areas are in mathematical finance; more precisely, statistical mehods of credit and market risk. Apart from the academic work she does consulting work for financial institutions.