Book excerpt: The market leading undergraduate investments textbook, Essentials of Investments, 8e by Bodie, Kane and Marcus, emphasizes asset allocation while presenting the practical applications of investment theory. The authors have eliminated unnecessary mathematical detail and concentrate on the intuition and insights that will be useful to practitioners throughout their careers as new ideas and challenges emerge from the financial marketplace. The eighth edition has been fully updated to reflect the recent financial crisis and includes a new chapter on Hedge Funds.