You can make him rich

The irritating thing about this book is that there is a grain of truth puffed up into an empty Rice Krispie of the kind of persuasive yet elusive waffle you might expect from someone who entertains with hypnotism and other stage tricks, psychological sleights of hand and deceits. Don't get me wrong - there's nothing wrong with his act, and he's a smart chap who can write easily and fluently, but this book mainly consists of a distillation of the kind of visualisation techniques that fill many a self-help book. The idea of concentrating on your goals is good - many of us waste time and energy by being unfocused and distracted, and single-minded purpose is indeed a trait of successful people. Focus does not guarantee you wealth, however - lots of office workers, children in sweatshops and nurses are focused. You need luck and opportunity as well. Another failing, which this book has in common with lots of business books, is that it doesn't give you practical, saleable ideas, it just reminds you that you need them. McKenna would no doubt argue that the rich aren't spoon-fed ideas, they take inspiration and run with it, but the people putting this book in the bestseller lists probably aren't the Bransons and SirAlan Sugars of this world, they're people who want to be rich but don't have the ideas or the opportunities and part with money they can ill afford so they can cling in desperate hope to this kind of piffle.

A Solid Introduction to Illustrating Problems and Solutions

<br />If you don't have any idea of how pictures can help you see more dimensions of problems and explain your solutions better, this is a good book to get you started. The book's main drawback is that it doesn't discuss how to integrate stories with pictures to make for more compelling communications. You'll have to learn to do that by reading books about storytelling to supplement this one.<br /><br />I consider myself to be not very good at creating pictures for either solving problems or communicating solutions. I was disappointed that the book wasn't aimed more at helping people like me who understand the principles but have trouble applying those concepts.

The Coaching Manual

This book is an inspirational guide about how to be a great coach. Julie has very clearly described how to successfully manage a coaching relationship, but almost more importantly she also shows you how to get a better understanding of yourself so that you can be the best coach for your clients. A fantastic handbook that i'm referring to daily.

A convincing and readable protest against the IMF

Stiglitz is just one of the many economists who have wriiten a book on anti-globalization. One of the main differences between him and many of the other writers, however, is that he is not against globalization per se, which makes the book a more satisfying and realistic read in my opinion. He believes that globalization (and more specifically, the move toward an open market economy) can help the developing countries and their people, as long as it's done in a controlled and gradual manner.<br /><br />The IMF is the main focus of his protestations in the book. Using the Asian currency crisis and the Russian market transition as case studies, he explains how the policies imposed by the IMF, which calls for rapid liberalization and privatization, have failed miserably, and in some case have even caused more harm than good. <br /><br />Stiglitz presents his case in a convincingly in a way which is relatively easy to understand. What he does well particularly is his ability to explain the causes and effects of economic phenomena in concise and simple language.<br /><br />What the book lacks however, is some proper documentation, which is really a necessity for a book like this. Without it, you'll get the feeling that what you're reading is merely the opinion of one person, however convincing his arguments may be. And he also tends to be too repetitive in his writings, which may distract and bore the feeling, or worse, give the impression that he is trying too hard to drive his point across.<br /><br />Ultimately, despite its shortcomings, this is still a great book on globalization, especially for those who are trying to make some sense of the whole debate and to better understand the underlying workings.

Tilting at windmills

In this tome Mr Mandelbrot lambasts the previous century's inadequate financial models but seems unwilling to admit that the field has moved on somewhat, and unable to offer a practical model of his own.<br /><br />Mr Mandelbrot shows how Bachelierian models fail to account for disastrous market drops which ruined many investors. He rubbishes two conventional assumptions: that each price move is independent of another and that their magnitude follows a Normal distribution. Skillfully constructed charts make plain the reality that a large market move is likely to be followed by another. More charts show just how badly market data fits to a Normal distribution: by this measure dozens of trading days in the 20th century were so unlikely not even one should have occurred in the lifetime of the universe.<br /><br />The author suggests we discard such woefully unrealistic theory and start again, taking fractals as our base. In a display humility atypical of the rest of the book Mr Mandelbrot admits to having no way to calculate price and risk in his proposed model, or even calibrate its parameters"Alpha" and"H" to the real world.<br /><br />The tragedy of this foray into fractal finance is in its pointlessness. What made 1960s financial models so unrealistic was the assumption of unchanging volatility. By late 90s anyone with sufficient computing power could drop this assumption and include real"volatile volatility" in their models. In modern theory, October 1987 was not a 22-sigma"not in the lifetime of the universe" event. It was a spike in the volatility process, as the models predict will happen from time to time.<br /><br />In fairness, the book offers many insights into what drives the markets, the trouble with fundamental valuation, rationality of market agents, flow of information, and more. I could recommend reading it for those insights alone.

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).

A cornerstone guide on how to trade for a living

I cannot believe how good this book this is. This book will define whether you are a trader or a gambler.
The author is very honest in sharing her past mistakes and there are various little sections in basic human psychology that spur you on and give you confidence in your general life.
She will tell you went to trust your gut instinct - and remind you that sometimes greed will give you what feels like a gut instinct.
Highly recommended book. I cannot stop reading it (in between looking at my real-time price screen!!)

Great stuff. Not so for dummies

Despite this being for"Dummies" it's incredibly detailed and covers just about everything that one needs to start trading with Technical Analysis.<br /><br />It begins with market basics and I came off reading this with no previous knowledge of technical analysis besides what I had been told by a friend of mine who trades. <br /><br />It follows through to cover dynamic and momentum indicators in as much detail as you'll need. It doesnt pay to go too into things since indicators INDICATE and do not REVEAL. They give the most likely possibility of what will happen but that's where stop losses come in.<br /><br />It teaches you early on that money management and long term survival are key. For the price, this is the best technical Analysis book out there. You mat not understand something at first but if you soldier on, things will start to become clear. <br /><br />SUGGESTION: Read the entire book BEFORE you begin to trade. Read it twice to re-affirm all the knowledge but careful with following it TOO closely. Especially if spreadbetting where the candle formations are created artifically and do not show TRUE market sentiment at the time. Very sueful for CFD and real Share Trading though. You may want to get INVESTING IN SHARES for Dummies too and for a whole trading system to start off with, buy COME INTO MY TRADING ROOM by Alexander Elder. very inspirational for the novice trader.

A Gold Mine of Stock Investing Ideas!

William O'Neil, who started a successful financial paper known as Investors Business Daily, wrote How to Make Money in Stocks. Decade of research, critical thinking and common sense has helped O'Neil to create some very powerful ways of investing successfully. <br /><br />This book isn't about getting rich quick. It takes time, study diligence and patience coupled with controlling ones emotions to become an excellent investor.<br /><br />I have read many books, magazines and articles on investing in stocks, bonds, mutual funds and more over the years. O'Neil's ideas are some of the most solid and consistent I have found to apply to the stock market. <br /><br />In the book he teaches his CAN SLIM method of investing. Looking at these indicators are powerful ways to find the right stocks. CAN SLIM stands for:<br /><br />C = Current Quarterly Earnings per share: The Higher the Better<br />A = Annual Earnings Increases: Look for Growth<br />N = New Products, New Management, New Highs<br />S = Supply and Demand<br />L = Leader or Laggard<br />I = Institutional Sponsorship<br />M = Market Direction<br /><br />There are other great ideas in the book such as: Nineteen Common Mistakes Most Investors Make, How to Cut Your Losses, When to Sell and Take Your Profit and much more. <br /><br />As a side note, this book doesn't invest much time discussing mutual funds...but this is a book on stocks...not mutual funds.<br /><br />How to Make Money in Stocks is a gold mine of ideas!<br />

Economics is not seventeenth century physics

As someone who is deeply interested in underlying ideas particularly philosophy - including the philosophy of science - I found this book interesting. Having obtained 'A' levels in chemistry, mathematics and physics, I opted to read for a degree in mechanical engineering. This necessitated studying a number of subjects most of which were effectively branches of mathematics and physics. I reviewed the book"Engineering Mathematics" by Stroud on this site but I studied much more mathematics than found in that book in my second and third years. I spent a considerable amount of my time learning how to solve advanced differential equations.<br /><br />When I left university, I joined an accountancy firm and as mentioned under my review of the book"Economics" by Lipsey, I slogged my way through"Positive Economics". I remember about 25 years ago saying to the economics lecturer in the canteen that much of economics that we were doing reminded me (conceptually) of some of my engineering problems in e.g. statics and fluid mechanics and I said that it could probably be mathematicised in a similar fashion. One week later my lecturer brought in several books that were more advanced than what were we required to study for an accountancy examination and showed me that I was right. The advanced models were all based on equilibrium analysis and therefore differential equations could be used. <br /><br />By the time that I came to read this book, I had recently read Robert Heilbroner's"The Worldy Philosophers" which I have reviewed on this site. The last chapters of this book had discussed new methods of researching in economics including the possibility of devising 'experiments' to illustrate things such as buying and selling behaviour. I had also coincidently reread both Adam Smith's"Wealth of Nations" and Charles Darwin's"Origin of the Species" and several popular books on evolution, complexity theory and chaos theory. As an accountant, I had also been researching into complex mathematical modelling software packages that can be used for developing complex business models and can go well beyond what Excel can do - although it can be used in conjunction with Excel.<br /><br />When I began reading this book it immediately made sense to me that the nineteenth century economists had tried to base economics on nineteenth century physics (or rather on seventeenth century physics) and by regarding prices and so on as obtaining equilibrium they believed that they could then model the situation in the same way as many (simple) mechanical systems can be modelled. Thus calculus can be applied and the problem becomes one of solving a series of differential equations. (QED).<br /><br />The trouble is that economic systems don't necessarily tend towards equilibium. Advances in mathematics e.g. complexity theory and chaos theory have demonstrated that there are systems in economics, physics and elsewhere in which equilibrium isn't necessarily even aimed at let alone reached. Some systems can end up permanently out of equilibium. Many processes in economics are analogous to to complex phenomena such as the weather or evolution. Models of increasing complexity can now be studied on powerful computers.<br /><br />This whole subject is a very interesting, intricate and cross-departmental one and I seemed to come across this book (whether through serendipity or not I don't know) just at the right moment when I was the most prepared to absorb the information. Given the problems that we are now experiencing with our financial markets and within our economy it is imperative that we get our models right.<br /><br />I enjoyed reading this thoughful and well written book.

Professor Tufte writes simply excellent books.

These books appeal on so many levels. They are informative, interesting and entertaining. Beautifully produced and very well written. One hardly notices one is being educated.

Bono could save more lives if he gave all his money instead of just his opinion

To honest, I am being a bit naughty.<br />I havn't read the book.<br />I think I will buy one soon.<br />When I have enough money.<br />Anyway.<br />I am sure the guy who wrote this book is really good, and is really sincere.<br />and I do believe that celeb's like Bone-o and Bob the n.. do loads of good work putting their face about, and giving their words. They probably even make quite good donations, which I am sure would be size-able in comparison to what most of us could give.<br />However, as most things, how much you give is relative to how much you have.<br /><br />If all the celeb's like Bone-o and Bob the N.. (or sponge Bob) gave all of what they had, only keeping enough to live on, and used the money to set up self sufficient economies, or a global self sufficient economy, then, most of the problems in the world would be sorted.<br /><br />I think i am not the only one that gets p*ssed off listening to multi millionairs telling us poor people to give away all we have (which, some of us do.)<br /><br />I wonder how much of the money made from writing this book, as well as other books on the market written by other authors, is actually used to help set up self sufficient economies, and writing the many wrongs that have been done in the history of our crap greed based world.<br /><br />It's about time capitalists, used their amazing talents to create revenue (through capitalizing their assets which are skills) to save peoples lives.<br /><br />Anyway, good luck to all.<br />I hope you all enjoy reading, and giving what you can to change the world in a positive way.

You will never regret getting this book

You will never regret getting this book - and more than likely someone will want to steal it from you! I've been working as a programme and project manager for nearly 10 years now. And have the expected professional accreditations (prince2 and pmp) - yet this book has still made a lasting impact with me. Being a contractor means you are entirely responsible for your own career progression and whilst I've always learned something from my various roles, however no other PM book has so accurately captured the fundamentals like this one! But please don't write this book off if you've loads of actual experience. It really focuses upon the human / behaviours which will make the difference. So many times I've been frustrated with my clients or customers for scope creep or lack of definition - and this book discusses this at some length. The impact of this book is really overwhelming. I only wish I had read this when I first bought it in 2005 at an airport to pass the time. Had I read this book two years ago I have no doubt I could have been more effective and happier about the projects I was managing back then. <br /><br />However, now, just one week after reading the book, my current client has told me that hiring me was the best decision she's made for this programme in the 18 months she's been directing it. I was amazed and know that it's almost certainly because of the impact this book has had on my approach. It really won't matter where you are in the food-chain of project management - this book will be a huge resource to you. Just buy it! Enjoy!

A worthy investment

I'm not an entrepreneur and have no intention of becoming one (at least not yet!), however I found this a fascinating and inspiring read. You don't have to be in business to benefit from the advice dispensed in this book, it can be applied to people's day to day lives as well, which is what makes it really great. <br /><br />It's an eye opening read and makes you think about the world, and yourself, differently. After all, entrepreneurs see opportunities where you and I see everyday things and the more you read about them, the more their mannerisms and philosophies begin to rub off on you. So if you're looking for an injection of inspiration and motivation in your life, look no further.

Two words- BUY IT!

For anyone who's serious about their financial health, this is a must read. Easily explained, graphically delivered so that you know the importance of being on the right hand side of the quadrant if you want to be financially free. Essentially, these are the main points of the quadrant:<br /><br />E = employee = you own a job<br />S = Self-employed = you control a job<br />I = Investor = Money works for you<br />B = Business Owner = Business Systems work for you<br /><br />Its surprising how many people don't understand these simple concepts and they continue to go about their lives unhappy about their 9-5 job, wanting more money or more time.<br /><br />It's simple to follow the advice in this book and change the patterns you are in. RK is proving to be one of the best Financial Freedom Gurus of our time!

ok as in introduction, but other texts provide more depth

I bought this book after having read, and enjoyed immensely, Edward Chancellor's"Devil Take the Hindmost". Chancellor's text is a very readable book which serves as an excellent intoduction to financial speculation and bubble-mania. I bought Galbraith on the expectation of some greater insights - Galbraith's book on the Great Crash of 1929 is after all the definitive work on that episode. What I got was an introductory essay on the subject with a few, but not enough (at least for me), acute words of wisdom from the great man.

I should have noted that this book is described as a primer. Neverthless, this is 100 page book that could easily have been fitted into half that with a proper font and pagination. One shouldn't judge a book by its length, rather its quality, but I have to say I was expecting rather more for my money.

All that said, Galbraith's book is an interesting read and his insights into the popular linking of money and intelligence in particular are well articulated. He also resists the temptation to say"I told you so", one of a very few who could rightly claim the foresight to do so.

This is not a bad book, merely an introductory essay. For the interested reader I would suggest jumping straight in with The Great Crash, or turning to Devil Take The Hindmost for a popularist, but nevertheless scholarly overview.

An inspirational book

I am a freelance coach and trainer and have been looking for a book to inspire and re-invigorate my approach to training. I have found the book I've been looking for in 'How to Run a Great Workshop'. The author utilises her knowledge of Neuro Linguistic Programming, language patterns, accelerated learning and Brain Gym and combines this into a cohesive whole. With the aid of this book I'm confident that not only can I run a great workshop but that I can also ensure that my workshop participants will meet the learning objectives, because the learning is of course the real outcome.<br /><br />This book is not only full of great ideas but they are ideas that I can put into practice. I look forward to sowing the seeds and watching them take root and grow!

SOLID, ENJOYABLE READ

An excellent book which offers a good insight into the LBO business and the workings of Wall Street during the 1980s. There are some serious amounts of money involved and some very amusing characters - It almost reads like a comedy when detailing the exploits and excess of the chairman of RJR Nabisco with his fleet of company jets and"superstar" cronies.<br /><br />Essentially, it reads like a thriller and although a little confusing (and perhaps too detailed on the history / background in parts), it is nevertheless a solid, enjoyable read and a 'keeper'. Recommended<br />