A dry unmemorable read

I found the book to be dry and it failed to make the subject of investing interesting. It covers a lot of financial products, providing reasonable detail in terms of the numbers, but its dull. The chapters don't flow very well and I found myself struggling to recall what I had just read. <br /><br />I wouldn't recommend this as a introductory book to investing because it simply doesn't make the subject interesting like the motley fool series of books manages to. But it does give a certain amount of detail, that may make it useful as a reference text for the amateur investor.<br />

Better than Brilliant - this book has something for everyone

I got a copy of Michael Heppells second book as soon as it was launched and had read it in two days. With great real life examples, it was very easy to read, and plenty of practical ways to improve the service you give to your cients, that really cost nothing in financial terms (especially important for me as I work for a charity, and need to keep running costs as low as possible). Some of the ideas I already do, but it helped me think of ways to do these better. There were also many new ideas to implement.<br /><br />I love practical books that you feel you can implement straight away. Michael Heppell's first book was Brilliant, but I think that this one is even better.<br />

Excellent comprehensive overview of psychology

Following on from Tom Butler-Bowdon's previous volumes in the"50 Classics" series, this first class collection of summaries of key psychology books and authors continues in the same broad, accessible, but also in-depth, style. <br /><br />As the sub-title says, psychology is all about who we are, how we think, what we do. In other words, what it means to be human. Topics covered include the unconscious mind, happiness and mental health, the study of personality, motivation, love, creativity and relationships. <br /><br />With key"in a nutshell" comments, the author cuts to the essential message of each writer, while addressing more complex subtleties in the accompanying text. As with Tom's other books, there is a very wide range of carefully chosen authors. I had come across several here in an academic context, but in general the emphasis is on popular psychology,"Psychology for nonpsychologists" as the jacket puts it. The range includes RD Laing, Oliver Sacks, Fritz Perls, Ivan Pavlov, Eric Berne, to pick a few random names. The founding fathers such as William James and Sigmund Freud are covered, alongside over a century's worth of contributions right up to Malcolm Gladwell with his 2005 bestseller on the importance of first impressions and split-second judgment.<br /><br />There is a huge amount of psychological and self-development literature available these days. It can be difficult to know where to begin but each volume in the"50 Classics" is an excellent starting point."50 Psychology Classics" is another winner in the series and I wholeheartedly recommend it! <br />

Making things happen rather than talking about making things happen

This book is truly inspirational. Unlike many books about business and entrepreneurship, which are too often all about the theory, are full of soundbites and have little practical benefit to the likes of you and me, Andrew Mawson is someone who has done it and more to the point is able to communicate it in a highly readable and informative style. <br /><br />Witty and honest, the book charts his account of his experience - warts and all - establishing the Bromley-by-Bow Healthy Living Centre, which gradually over 20+ years has demonstrated how run down areas and deflated communities can change, if only we truly believe in the capacity of individuals and empower them to make things happen, then leave them alone to get on with doing it rather than prescribing how it should be done by textbook civil servants. <br /><br />Significantly, he identifies how the bureaucratic mindset endemic within the corridors of power, whether that be Whitehall, local government, or even much of the voluntary and charity sectors, with the obsession on process, procedure, policy, 'equity' and 'fairness', has not only undermined the opportunity for wide-scale social change, but actually exacerbated the problems and wasted billions of pounds of taxpayers money. Sobering stuff.<br /><br />Still, if you really want to make a difference, but think it is all just wishful thinking then this book will make you think again and give you the impetus to get going.<br /><br /><br /><br />

Invest in this book!

I have been investing for 10 years, sometimes successfully and sometimes with disastrous results. This book has given me the tools to assess my successes and failures. <br /><br />It would be a wise investment decision to buy this book. Not only will you always refer to it's content but you will be entertained while you are educated. It is a fun read delivering what some people believe to be a heavy topic - Psychological strategies and tactics of master investors.<br /><br />Invest in this book and watch your personal wealth grow.

A mind shift of great importance

Sir Ken's insights are slowly leaking into schools. We are finally understanding the extent of the damage brought about by competitive, risk adverse school environments. At the centre of his approach is a belief in really valuing human capacity in its fullest sense, both in ourselves and in others.<br /><br />Sir Ken has inspired so many educators and organisations through his truly deep insights into how we will ultimately solve the world's problems through collective creativity. So if you are a teacher and know that you want to bring a change of emphasis to your students, and develop open create school climates, then this book will be a perfect resource. Written in 2001 - more relevant than ever in 2008. <br /><br />This book is equally important for all other types of organisation as well.<br /><br />For a good insight into this topic watch Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk -"Do Schools Kill Creativity"... literally hundred's of thousands of people have!

So so

The lack of structure is definately a problem, especially if this was your first exposure to Six Sigma. I bought it as a supporting reference manaual to some materials I had from a structured inhouse training course. As a supporting guide to other reference materials it does have some use.

From the point of view of a software developer...

I thought this book was a good introduction. <br /><br />I liked the informal tone, and the simple language especially. The examples used are easy to understand and the same examples tend to get expanded as you sweep through the book. This is a big help as some other books tend to create new examples for each new subsection. Thus making it difficult to see what new variables are being introduced...<br /><br />As the description says, covers basic Forwards, Futures, Swaps and Options - and for Options, covers BlackScholes and Binomial pricing theory. At no stage does it claim to be a comprehensive reference for these techniques, but thats fine for people like me.<br /><br />I haven't read a lot of similar books to compare and contrast with this one, but I certainly felt it was worth the money...

Not for Startups

This book appears to be very much aimed at management figures within existing companies writing internal business plans. For startups, its not really suitable, very confusing and irrelevant in many repects.

Does what it says on the tin

Being new to NLP I was lent this book by a friend. I like the informal style and approach. Having struggled with the concepts in other texts I found this book direct and straightforward. The real learning comes in trying out the techniques. I found that by being completely honest with myself I really began to see some significant shifts in my approach to things that had been 'issues' Having now bought my own copy I like to dip back in when I feel the need. As I get more confident I may well buy other books on NLP too but I think the authors hit the nail on the head enough for me to get started

Six stars!

This book describes Buffet's investment principles and decisions in a clear, brief and very good way. Especially interesting is the discussion of the tenets that guide Buffet's purchases and the analysis of some of Buffet's investments, following these tenets. Buffet is the most succesful investor of the last decades, so studying his decisions and philosophy is, according to me, one of the best things an investor can do to learn about the business. This book offers an excellent opportunity to do so.
(By the way, if you really want to know how Buffet operates, reading the books of his masters, Fisher and especially Graham, is a requisite too!)

Only just a beginning

What this book discusses are futures and other highly leveraged financial products which are sum-zero games. This means that if you make a profit then someone, somewhere, makes a loss. It also means that the longer you play the game the more likely you are to run into a prolonged losing streak with serious financial consequences. To be able to stay in the game your trading strategy needs to be superior to the majority of other traders who are also playing. Many are professionals with access to considerable computing power and the ability to constantly analyse in depth such factors as entry and exit points and profit expectancy. The expertise of the other players means that the man in the street is likely to enter these markets with both hands tied behind his back and discover it is a very easy way to lose money!<br /><br />Even the author of this book, Van Tharp, doesn't demonstrate that he is a successful trader. Consequently, it is not surprising there is no evidence that the ideas he puts forward actually currently work over a meaningful time scale. It is obvious that Van Tharp has researched the subject in depth and this is impressively reflected in the book which makes for interesting reading. However, it is important to realise that this book primarily reviews the work of others rather than calls on his own personal experience. One of the major drawbacks of that is trading strategies which have been successful in the past cease to be so once they are in the public domain and simply to repeat them is rarely a recipe for success. This is particularly true of the trend following techniques he advises. <br /><br />To have any hope of achieving what the title of this book suggests depends on two ingredients. The first which is essential is the ability to select stocks that are more likely than not to move in your favour. It is here that the book is especially weak. More of that in a moment. The second which is highly desirable is to bet on these stocks in such a way as to maximise profit but at the same time to minimise risk. This second ingredient is bound up in what is known as position sizing which is a rabbit which Van Tharp pulls out of the hat with a great deal of panache. Clearly, from the number of 5 star ratings this book has achieved, both in the UK and US, readers are impressed and reflects how easily Van Tharp has been able to convince people who have little or no understanding or experience of these markets and who are not in a position to evaluate this book objectively.<br /><br />What Van Tharp says about position sizing is fundamentally correct. However, it is important to realise that to work out the figures you must have a history of profitable trading. If you don't then this book will be of little practical help to you. Nor will it help you to make your trading profitable. If, however, you are already trading successfully then this book deals with the subject of position sizing at too superficial a level to be particularly useful. You will also need to look elsewhere. Van Tharp directs the reader to his own website, for which this book acts largely as a platform, where further information is available at significant cost. An alternative is the bibliography which is a little goldmine! <br /><br />As far as the most important aspect of trading is concerned, that of stock selection, Van Tharp suggests it isn't possible to forecast how stocks will move and consequently it is largely pointless to try. He therefore attaches minimal importance to stock evaluation and selection. His advocates keeping control of a portfolio by using trend following techniques and stop losses which are well known strategies that weed out the losers while allowing the winners to advance. By their nature they produce a large number of small losses and a few large gains. In the right hands they can be sensible strategies but Van Tharp implies they are inherently capable of achieving a profit. Basically, all you have to do is to use any one of a variety of stock selection strategies, which one is not especially relevant, apply to it the stop loss principles and also the appropriate position sizing and maximise the profits. Wonderful - a free lunch. If only it was that easy!<br /><br />Van Tharp gives examples of how position sizing affects profits. The models were back-tested using a trading strategy that involved breakouts and stop losses. The strategy was employed very successfully by a group of traders in the 1970's. His best model demonstrates a compound annualised profit of 23%. This appears to be attractive until you apply the strategy to different time frames and to different markets and realise that it is now just as likely to produce similar losses. Position sizing techniques haven't stopped working. What has happened is whereas in the past the strategy selected stocks that were more likely to advance than not, now it doesn't. Too many people are on the bandwagon and have eroded away the advantage. <br /><br />The simple fact is it is impossible to trade these markets successfully without stock selection expertise, irrespective of how good the position sizing strategy might be. Position sizing, itself, will not produce profits. All it can do is to maximise an already profitable trading strategy. The bottom line is that this, in turn, depends on being able to select stocks that are more than likely to perform in your favour. There is no free lunch! The question of selection and bet size are comprehensively and authoritatively dealt with in the book"Commonsense Betting" by Dick Mitchell. Although written for the race-goer, the principles are the same and clearly explained by someone who, unlike Van Tharp, speaks from practical experience and success.

Inspirational

Computer books are supposed to be dry, informative, occasionally entertaining if you're lucky - but they aren't supposed to be inspirational! And yet that's just what this book is - I picked it up and literally couldn't put it down. As a managee I'd just love to have my managers read it. If you're a manager you should definitely read it unless you only aspire to be a pointy-haired boss!

Excellent guide, simple and well-written

Great guide to sales, simple and well-written. Any sales person could learn from this, and any professional who wants to become better at selling their ideas, even internally, could learn a lot. The only sales book you'll ever need.<br /><br />

let the truth be told

After 10 years myself in the investment banking industry, I have but one suggestion for you all... burn this book. Its going to do us all out of a job!<br /><br />It is a very unconventional book about investing because its an easy read and explains concepts in plain english. Its the kind of common sense stuff that Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham have touted for years but few seem to listen. <br /><br />Mr Oldfield has explained to me quite simply why when I invest directly in good companies I out perform the index but when I give my money to a fund manager more than often I underperform! <br /><br />I suggest reading this together with"how to make money in stocks" by William O'Neil and"the intelligent investor" by Benjamin Graham. Its all you need as an long term investor to do well.<br /><br />

Demystifying the Hedge Fund Industry. An Educating and Impressive Account of What It Takes. Brilliiant!!!

Finally a book from a top industry's insider (Morgan Stanley has just bought into his hedge fund and the author has 30plus years of experience at this bank) on an industry that has U$1.8 trillion under management and still draws so much money, talent, hype and attention. <br /><br />I am amused to read the stories/anecdotes that are so widely recycled around without actually making a reference to the original source that this book is. Highly educating and enlightening (if such word can be applicable in the context) work that is guaranteed to become a finance classic.<br /><br />It is very rare that I find a book written in such a style and in such great language, full of knowledge and ideas, first-hand experiences and inside information, that it is so hard to put down. Exceptionally stimulating and motivating intellectually, this book is a treasure.