In an approachable, non-technical manner, Risk Takers brings eight modern financial derivatives situations to life, fully exploring the context of each event and evaluating the outcomes. Primer on Derivatives; Employee Stock Options: What Every MBA Student Should Know; Roche Holding: The Company, Its Financial Strategy, and Bull Spread Warrants; Metallgesellschaft AG: Illusion of Profits and Losses; Reality of Cash Flows; Swaps That Shook an Industry: Procter & Gamble versus Bankers Trust; Orange County: The Largest Municipal Failure in U.S. History; Barings Bank PLC: Leeson's Lessons; Long Term Capital Mismanagement: "JM & The Arb Boys"; Amaranth Advisors LLC: Using Natural Gas Futures to Bet on the Weather. For all readers interested in financial derivatives, options, futures, and risk management.