"The Quants", explores the history of quantitative finance on Wall Street, focusing on the rise and fall of quants – mathematicians who apply complex algorithms to financial markets. The excerpt examines the origins of quant investing in the 1950s, tracing its development through the creation of groundbreaking models like the Black-Scholes option-pricing formula and the efficient-market hypothesis. The excerpt further details how the quants' influence on Wall Street led to the creation of hedge funds, the proliferation of derivatives, and the near-collapse of the global financial system in 2008, highlighting the dangers of overreliance on models in the face of unforeseen events. The excerpt emphasizes the role of human behavior, particularly panic and greed, as a key factor in financial crises, ultimately suggesting that while quantitative models can be powerful tools, they cannot fully predict the complex and unpredictable nature of financial markets.