Intriguing look inside the head of a million-dollar trader

This trading-room memoir harks back to a group of novices whom experts recruited in the 1980s and - to fulfill a bet - trained to be traders. The training worked, according to the most successful student, author Curtis M. Faith. His memoir promises what any capitalist would love to possess: the secret to making money in volatile markets. Alas, Faith tells us, there is no secret. Successful traders analyze markets to find an edge, then remain disciplined enough to pursue that edge, even when their hearts and their guts try to overrule their brains. In spite of constant references to Donchian channels and Sharpe ratios, Faith assures readers that trading isn't a matter of using secret formulas but of applying time-tested wisdom. His tome is intriguing because it lets you inside the thoughts of someone who made $30 million as a trader (so no wonder he tends toward the self-congratulatory, though his anecdotes are entertaining). We recommend this to traders seeking an advantage and to those who want to watch the experts try to beat the odds.

Presentations can be career opportunities: here's how to do them

This is an ambitious book; it covers a lot of ground in relatively few pages. It is terse, opinionated, challenging and prescriptive. It is full of useful tips and checklists. It is written by someone who, you feel, has sat through - and given - a lot of presentations and thought long and hard about why a few are excellent but many so bad.<br /><br />It will do your presentations (and thereby your career) the world of good.<br />

Tremendously interesting and pretty instructive book!

This is a practical, readable and most of all tremendously interesting book from the field of communication skills and inter-personal relationships. Though it is written for general public and intended to facilitate our professional and personal face-to-face relationships, it can be extremely helpful for `business people' and all those dealing with other individuals or groups, such as tourist guides and interpreters. In the latter case, they will find the book instructive on how to carry out presentations and manage their groups more effectively.

The book describes various skills of controlling the audience's attention, among other topics. You can learn how to recognize (in)visible signs of a breakdown of attention of your audience, to `read' the body language of people in your tour groups, and to generally win more attention while guiding. You'll find here how to pick up signals as to how you are coming across, retrieve the situation if somebody is resistant, choose the right words to get results in any situation, and more.

The text of this book is written in a charming way with a lot of examples from everyday life, given in special 'boxes'. Each chapter is followed by a small test, so the reader can check out his understanding of the subject. Even though you might think of yourself as a persuasive professional, there is always enough space for further improvements. James Borg's book is here to help you in that direction, and not only in your professional milieu.

it is a transition handbook

I've just read this book and found it informative, authoritative, positive, practical and very useful. Whatever your background this book gives information and insights that can enable all of us to engage (together) with today's real and urgent challenges. No doubt some people will nitpick that it hasn't addressed population, or the developing world, or this or that, but if they do then I would say that they are missing the point of the book.

Good but short

This is intresting however large font and information repeated mean that you don't get a massive amount of information from this book. However the advice and background on the Dragon's is intresting. Ewan's econimics section is very good and if you like the TV program then you should like this book.

This book is a risk free investment of time and money

Traders, guns and money is an entertaining foray into the complex world of financial derivatives. Satyajit Das manages to take a topic, that has sent countless students to sleep in the lecture room, and make it engaging and yet informative at the same time.<br /><br />The real beauty of the book lies in the fact that the author has real world experience within the field he is writing about. Hence you do not just read about derivatives and the related formulas and theories. Instead you read real stories where derivatives were involved along with immeasurable amounts of arrogance, greed and money. This approach makes you feel like you a reading a Wilbur Smith book with all its excitement rather than a book on derivatives. Yet all this is achieved without dumbing down any of the anecdotes or watering down his language to fit a"target audience" while all the while never succumbing to peronal ego boosting. <br /><br />However, unlike many other authors that have tried a similar tact in regards to financial writing, Satyajit avoids the trap of getting lost amongst the stories. Throughout the whole book there is a clear and logical structure which is followed consistently. By the time any reader has finished reading this book, they will feel like an expert on derivatives who has been in the markets for decades. Though these decades of expertise are only gleaned in the short time it takes to read this book. <br /><br />Guns Trader and Money is easily the best book to open up the world of finance since Liar's poker was released almost two decades ago.<br /><br /><br />

Excellent Guide to Reviewing yourthinking around Wealth

This is an excellent book which helpe you review your thinking around money and all aspects regarding richness and wealth. Also along with the free hypnosis CD and exercies they are great at helping you change. An excellent book, money well spent!

This edition has the greatest literary introduction ever

Greatest explanatory introduction ever, in fact could be as important or good as the book itself, really does Engels justice.

Excellent book! The best I've read on the subject

This book is really good. It's very readable, in easy to find sections and he goes into a great deal of detail without lots of unnecessary waffle. He gives a lot of common sense advice and covers all aspects of property investing, not just the merits of doing it, but everything else, from finding property to becoming a landlord and the legal side of that. A very good read, highly recommended.

Great to listen to in the car

Seeing as there are mostly reviews for the book here I thought I'd add one about the audiobook.<br /><br />The CD lasts about an hour and is read in a jovial interesting manner that sounds very professionally read by Templer himself.<br /><br />I've listened to the CD a few times now and it fits perfectly into my journey to+from work.<br /><br />I have flicked through the paperback version from a colleague, and this abridged version seems to distill the information as you may do making notes.<br /><br />For me the great thing about the audiobook is, inevitably I wouldn't remember half of the rules (at least!) having read the book, which is too cumbersome to read over periodically. however I find myself listening to the audiobook regularly to keep the rules (which as another reviewer has pointed out not really 'hard' rules).

How to Get Rich

I found this an unpleasant read at the best of times but once I discovered I was a) too old to get rich without enlisting the services of a much younger partner and b) too impoverished to even fall into the category of" comfortably poor" I found this book unpick-up-able. This book is the closest I have ever come to repeating my experience as a six year old eating calf's foot jelly. Over forty years later I still keep a respectful distance, due to the repulsion of the olfactory memory. But only too aware that for some it is an acquired taste and a delicacy. Dennis is definitely the reading equivalent of calf's foot jelly in my estimation, sharp, sour with a bitter unforgetable aftertaste.

Entertaining and educational, ideal for beginners

Its supply and demand, of course;"Freakonomics" established the market for popular economics paperbacks and this is one of several such books that have appeared recently. The pedagogic approach is very different from Levitt and Dubner's research-based original, though. Frank is an economics lecturer and despairs that students, even when they study economics, don't end up understanding much about it. Shockingly, surveys suggest maybe all those graphs and equations actually confuse ex-economics students. They often perform worse in answering everyday economically-related conundrums than the general populace! What this says about the competence of his teaching colleagues or the quality of the expensive undergraduate economics textbooks that pile up in university bookshops is left to the reader to decide. <br /><br />Franks' approach is to ask his students to explain questions he puts to them (or they come up with) which represent little case studies of socioeconomic interaction. Why is there a light in your fridge not your freezer? Why do mobile phones cost less than their replacement batteries? Why do some bars offer free peanuts? Why are CD and DVD boxes different shapes? Why do women wear high heels? And so on. By pondering these, students should start to understand the basics of economics. All great fun and you genuinely end up beginning to"think like an economist", soon even challenging Frank's own sometimes simplified answers (...surely the aim of any pedagogic text). There is some theory underlying it but, as an ex-economics student myself, I thought a few graphs might actually have helped explain some concepts. <br /><br />Nonetheless, cost-benefit analysis, opportunity cost, the tragedy of the commons, price-sensitivity, market segmentation and"behavioural economics" are some of the ideas entertainingly explained through example. The"economic naturalist" is therefore focused on fieldwork rather than abstract theory, but there is perhaps more to the title than that. Frank also draws, through for example the case of the elk's excessive antlers the link between evolutionary biology and economics and suggests that Darwinism was in part based on the ideas of Adam Smith's"Wealth of Nations". <br />

READ THIS BOOK if you care about your family and yourself

If you are conscious about your eating habits, and you probably are if you are looking at this book, then this will be an interesting read. Some things might not be totally new, but it certainly clarifies some things.<br /><br />The examples given are focused on the U.K. food market, but it certainly translates to Europe in general.<br /><br />There are some things you can easily change in your eating habits and the book is not too idealistic. In fact it helps to set realistic goals and even if you don't want to change anything ... at least be aware unless you want to stay ignorant.

An excellent, readable account

I found this very short book (169 pages plus notes) very helpful in understanding what the"credit crunch" is about--what caused it, what the current imbalances in the financial system are, and how it may unravel. It starts further back in time than I would have expected (the 1950s to 1970s), but does this to explain the regulatory and financial stage on which the bubble of credit was born. Financial and economic terms are explained, without dumbing things down. Really excellent.

brilliant ****

This is deffinateley one of the best books i have read in a very long time.<br />It has taken me months to finish books of this size before but i just couldnt put this down, i finished it within 3 days, only then because i had to stop myself reading the whole thing in one go.<br />Its quite an insight into the industry, admitedly i expected it to have alot of celebrity gossip, but its still definately very interesting an di think if it was full of gossip it wouldnt be as much of a read.

Interesting questions interestingly answered

I ignored this book when it was first published, but turned to the revised version recently in the hope that it would give me some insight into mainstream economics, (having recently started a course in business economics). It hasn't been a great help for that purpose, but is a great - and easy - read all the same. I found it particularly illuminating to see how an economist looks beyond correlations to seek causation. For example, in what is probably his most controversial chapter, Levitt identifies the effective legalisation of abortion in the US in 1973 as being the cause of a fall in the crime rate 15 - 20 years later. Having established this correlation, and posited an explanation - access to abortion meant that a whole cohort of kids that would have been most likely to grow up to become criminals were not in fact born at all - he searches for ways to test it. He did so by looking at those states where abortion had already been legal, by establishing correlations between abortion rates and the subsequent fall in crime rates and by identifying that the fall in crime happened amongst the late teens rather than older age groups. <br /><br />Levitt and Dubner were clearly aware of the potential distaste that this deduction might bring, but presented their findings clearly and courageously. Other areas of study include the identification of cheating teachers and Sumo wrestlers, the economics of dealing in crack cocaine and whether (pushy) parents can actively influence the success of their children. In many cases, however, and particularly while reading a chapter on parents' choice of names for their children, I did wonder whether the same conclusions would be made on the British side of the Atlantic.<br /><br />The revised (2006) edition includes some material not included in the first edition, including forty pages of material from the Freakanomics blog, as well as clarifications and revisions.<br /><br />As to whether this is a truly a radical use of the science of economics, however, I know not - it may well be that other have analysed data of this type in similar ways in the past. Nonetheless, Levitt and Dubner ask - and answer - some interesting questions, and if economics is not routinely used in this way perhaps it should be.<br /><br />

A joy to read

This is a thought-provoking book: the problems of the poorest countries are deeply and cogently analysed and explained, and appropriate policies proposed. It has the added virtue of being written in simple and refreshingly straight-forward language. There is much that is absolutely original here.<br /><br />The one comment I have is that Collier bases some of his policy prescriptions on the assumption that the only way to develop is through export, which seems to suggest export-led growth and large projects. There is nothing about micro projects and the need to work with the poor to alleviate poverty through the provision of appropriate/intermediate technology. <br /><br />I e-mailed him about this and received a rapid and courteous reply saying that he did not have space in the book to cover everything and that he agreed that exporting only makes sense as a growth strategy for some countries and that he has no fault to find with the micro approach. <br /><br />He also suggested I might write this review; so I did.<br /><br />PS I also thoroughly recommend the lecture on his website.<br /><br />

Excellent foundation for investment

I've long suspected that a bit of effort and intelligence are enough for understanding the main areas of finance and investment. One doesn't actually need to pay"experts" to make your investment decisions for you. The jargon is only something you need to learn, it does not have to present an insurmountable barrier. Before attempting to understand the financial pages or specialist books on trading, I bought this and was not disappointed. Working through it slowly and methodically and then returning to the more complex areas and following up the handy links and references provided, I feel much more confident about this whole area.<br /><br />This is in no way a"get rich quick" book and actually helps to guide one away from such risky attitudes. Nor does it provide advice on savings accounts or the specific market or company that is best for you. It is an education on the world of finance: the markets, players, companies and instruments involved in the flows of capital which maintain the business world, and much of the economy, around us. It shows how most people (you don't have to be at all wealthy or super-brainy) can get involved in this system and, with a bit of patience and common sense, can significantly benefit from it. Armed with the basics and knowing who to deal with and, equally important, who to ignore, anyone should be able to improve their investment returns having read this.<br /><br />The different kinds of investment are concisely explained and the limitations of some of the more hyped areas become obvious. Some of the mystery of futures trading is resolved, and one can follow-up pointers if interested in any particular area. The terminology used by companies in their financial reports and by the professionals who analyse them starts to become clear and all this jargon is explained again in the invaluable glossary at the back of the book, a place I kept referring to. <br /><br />What emerges is the way money from savers and investors is used by Banks, Insurance companies and Pension funds to provide funds for new companies, established companies and companies wanting to expand and, as the author points out, how this wealth-creation is not just a good thing for individuals, but for society as a whole. I've already started to notice mistakes in the media, for example a recent TV drama's misunderstanding of the way hedge funds work and one sometimes gets the impression that there is only a dog-eat-dog mentality and little control over what happens in the markets. Undoubtedly there are problems and excesses but, getting closer to the subject and learning how it actually operates, can help to remove the prejudices and misunderstandings some people have about finance and about capitalism.<br /><br />One fact alone has made this purchase a good one. I realised, when reading the section on pooled investments, that I had lost money on"With-profits policies" thanks to persuasive financial advisers and their commissions from insurance companies. That little piece of education has saved me hundreds of pounds in the future and makes this book a high-return investment in itself.<br /><br /><br />