Futures-market

Over the last few weeks the emerging markets have sunk in value, and everyone seems to be running away from them in an irrational panic. Those who should know better, such as professional investors, government officials and the media, seem as uninformed about emerging market fundamentals and prospects as the average person, and have contributed to some extent to the debacle. They are even contributing to a rise in protectionist sentiment.

Nobody can be expected to make rational investment decisions without historical understanding and relevant information. That Mr. Marber has opted to instruct us on the history of emerging markets and their vast potential in the context of an open, integrated global economy can only improve the current situation.

Peter Marber's book is a very welcome, refreshingly optimistic and thoroughly researched look at emerging markets, their development, and their bright future. His readers will emerge informed and armed with knowledge that will allow them to appreciate free trade and understand the forest, the trees and the extent of the investment opportunity inherent amidst the current panic.

Peter Marber has successfully squeezed into 272 pages an accessible, though not patronizingly simplistic, and well-researched account of how the world economy got to where it is today, and how we can capitalize on the opportunities of this historic moment. He combines history, a primer on investment strategies, and a hard-nosed look at the state of the developed economies and of political debate. The result is a coherent and convincing argument for political and economic engagement, at a time when crises in the world markets would seem to prescribe isolationism. This is not a Mobius-type distillation of snap-shots and one-stop shopping in emerging market investing, but a more in-depth and interdisciplinary look at the history of development. An intelligent analysis of current economic and political debates for ALL audiences.

Marber offers some considerable insight into the growing magnitude of emerging markets in the global economy, redressing the balance of the plethora of protectionist literature that would rather see Third World remain third. What is particularly refreshing about his approach is that he embraces the negative sentiment, potential risks, and shortcomings of emerging markets investing, and offers practical and forthright advice on how to make it work.

This is a good book. If you are interested in reading a book about reicarnation; the author did a good job in my opinion. Except for some amazing theories about how and why souls do reincarnate ( the author seems to have a Christian background; so, I found a few theories of his about reincarnation a bit outrageous... ) the experiences shared ( if true and not inflated ) are of the maximun interest. I really suggest people they should read this book as a "light" approach to this matter. So far, this is the best book I have read upon this subject.

Author explores regression, progression, and the astral planes. You understand now why Agent Mulder "wants to believe". This is a great book for anyone who enjoys metaphysics, hypnotherapy, and astral projection. Once I read this book, I never though about anything the same way...but it all made sense... My favorite book of all times!

Goldberg has a fast-talking wowy-zowy style on the radio that makes you suspicious that he is a charlatan, but I enjoyed reading his book.

He is a firm believer in past life therapy in which a patient experiences a traumatic past life event via hypnotherapy and is healed by re-experiencing it. He does not explain why this would heal someone but he claims that his patients are able to avoid certain negative habits or phobias and have improved relationships. He thinks it is the best psychological treatment.

Goldberg also claims to be able to show his patients their future lives through hypnotherapy. The future, from what can be gathered by the life stories of future lives, is much the same as reality is now: threats of nuclear war, clampdowns on freedom, class issues, warring civilizations, technological progress, relationship problems, enslavement, and good times too.

Apparently, we often go through several lives with the same souls who are in different incarnations. You may marry the same person several times or be a relative or friend or enemy to a person several times. Although you may mate the same person several times this does not mean that you'll like them every time you meet them. Perhaps they may end up abusing you in one life and loving you in the next. In other words, finding your "soulmate" may not be such a good thing.

Goldberg explains karma and I got the impression that it is not exactly a matter of a situation in which you murder in one life and are murdered in the next. One patient was raped in a former life and Goldberg comes to the odd conclusion that the soul was learning humility and submission in such a life. This conclusion partially makes the villian a teacher in a strange sort of way. A rapist in former life will be decent married man in another but still have problems with being domineering or manipulating.

Such a worldview may have adverse ethical repercussions, if no one is truly good or evil and no one is directly punished or rewarded. Anyway, I did not get the impression that karma was direct justice against evil actions in a past life from the many stories of the lives of his patients, despite Goldberg's defining karma that way from the beginning.

The stories are interesting even though there are probably too many of them. The overdose on far-out stories has a numbing effect by the end of the book.

I loved Ms. Grant's first book ONCE A PIRATE so I eagerly picked up THE STAR KING, even though I'm not a science fiction fan.

I surprised myself by being hooked by the first page. Jas and Rom are not the typical hero/heroine--they're unique and wonderful and fill this story from cover to cover. The outerspace/sci fi parts of this book complete the romance but never overshadow it. It becomes a lush backdrop to the developing story, characters and romance, creating a book that will be on my keeper shelf forever.

I'm begging Ms. Grant to hurry up with THE STAR PRINCE so I can read it!

I was up until 1:30am Christmas Eve, not wrapping presents but finishing The Star King. Susan Grant's first book, Once A Pirate is a delightful frolic in the sun; this story touches the depths of human emotion.

The Star King starts with a bang, literally, as Jasmine Hamilton fights to keep her F-16 fighter plane in the air. Shot down by friendly fire over the hot Iraqi desert, she has an out of body experience that leaves her awash with unexplainable emotion.

Rom B'kah's otherworldly perspective of the unusual woman with dark hair is one of meeting his destiny. He is in the midst of a battle of galactic proportions with life-threatening injuries and has just witnessed his brother's death. Her presence both encourages and dooms him, he survives because of her but the physical ramifications of lingering too long in a hostile environment make him an outcast from his family.

Susan's interpretation of an alien arrival into earth's politics is refreshing--for example no one automatically speaks our languages. And this story is above all a ROMANCE. She doesn't bog us down with boring technical data about how things work or lengthly descriptions of weird life forms with antenna eyes and suction cup fingers. Readers will find The Star King a very satisfying read with plenty of adventure, excitement and soul-searing love. I highly recommend The Star King and believe readers of any genre of romantic fiction will be enchanted.

I have always been a lover of SciFi and have recently gained interest in SciFi-Romances. But I'm pretty picky about what I like. I like aliens, good and bad. Starships and Spacetravel. Give me a good plot with some suspense, laughs, thrills and chills. Leave the weakminded heroines stuck in the 50s behind. I'll pass on the swashbucklers too.

Susan Grant has filled all the requirements in this book and more. Jas is an ex-fighter pilot. A very strong woman with a mind of her own and a yearning for adventure. She finds it on the ship owned by Rom from the Vash empire He's a stubborn and hardheaded ex-king. Together they get themselves into some pretty tight places but they fight and survive as a team.

This is the first of a trilogy. The series is excellent. Ms. Grant paints a detailed and colorful world. The SciFi gets equal time with the building relationship of Jas and Rom. I highly recommend the entire series.

Jack Schwager is a great author. He asks very intelligent questions and seems to have a deep though un-intuitive knowledge of the futures game. (See the CRT interview, overly analytical people mask intuitive traits). The William Eckhardt interview is incredible and should be re-read many times over. This interview alone is well worth the price of the book. I have one major gripe with the author however. Schwager seemed to have had a serious lapse in judgement by including some of the traders that he did. There is no doubt that all the traders interviewed in the book are of high caliber but some definetly cannot be thought of as "Market Wizards". Who am I talking about? Linda Raschke, Tom Basso, Charles Faulkner maybe even Trader Vic. Who is very underrated? Jeff Yass, the man is the best options player around. Druckenmiller, Trout, and Eckhardt are as good as it gets.These legendary names should not be sullied by the inclusion of the above mentioned traders. Schwager left out some amazing traders, what about the people at Kenzie, Niederhoffer ( I know he blew out), Louis Bacon, John Henry, Willem Kookyer and Grenville Craig? Anyone ever heard of Jullian Robertson? Please Jack, if you ever write Market Wizards 3, try to include all or even some of these people. Not traders that you speak with at "Omega" conferences.

What is this book?

Jack D. Schwager interviewed some of the best traders in 1992 and compiled edited transcripts in this compelling book.

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Who is interviewed?

From the currency market: Bill Lipschutz .

In Futures: Randy McKay, William Eckhardt, The Turtles, Monroe Trout and Al Weiss.

Various market times and fund managers: Stanley Druckenmiller, Richard Driehaus, Gil Blake and Victor Sperandeo.

Traders who play several markets: Tom Basso and Linda Bradford Raschke

"The Money Machines" such as: CRT (Chicago Research and Trading), Mark Ritchie, Joe Ritchie, Blair Hull and Jeff Yass.

Psyschology: Zen and the art of trading (person didn't want his name mentioned), Charles Faulkner, Robert Krausz.

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I didn't recognize many of those names, probably because of these reasons:

* The book was written in 1992.
* I'm not into really into trading.

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Nevertheless I think the book is a great learning experience. You won't learn how to trade from this book but it gives you insight into the trader's psyche. I like learning about people who have been successful, (think Leader's & Success page, of IBD) since I feel it motivates me to learn more and work harder towards reaching my goals.

My favorite chapter in this book is entitled "Closing Bell" and it is a recap of all lots of trading advice mentioned over and over by these trading experts. I feel reviewing this chapter over and over is worth the price of the book.

Reed Floren

Insightful interviews with the greatest traders & investors of our time. This one is much better than the Money Masters books. Market Wizards taught me that success in trading was more than just luck, as the efficient market people would say and my finance classes at Brown taught. There is skill, education, and a level of learned maturity involved.

This is another book I re-read constantly to get inspiration and tips to succeed as an investor. I like this one better than the first book, since it's more applicable to today's markets.

As a trader who had read tens of trading books, I still found this one interesting and helpful. I like its variety of content (that the author introduced a lot sentiment indicators like CBOE Put/Call Parity + Volatility Index, RYDEX Mutual Fund Flows, Volume indicators for QQQ and S&P 500 Depository Receipts), plus the author's writing style and integrity (the author did quoted frequently from other writers). Some technical tools like MACD, ADX were discussed, but only briefly. In fact, I like Chapter 12 about trading psychology and money management, Appendix D favorite quotes the most.

To conclude, if you want to read an intermediate to advanced level trading book, and that you are appreciative of logical and contrarian trading, this one is for you.

p.s. I like Mark Douglas, Bernard Baruch and Jesse Livermore very much. As the author does appreciate these "gurus", I admit that my positive comment may be a little bit biased.

Big Trends in Trading really helps you understand what makes the markets tick. Headley gets right to the bottom line, which is helping investors make more money with a better understanding of the best ways to put your money to work. Headley highlights some key indicators that look beyond the news headlines to gauges of investor sentiment and key sentiment indicators that help you see where the markets are heading over different time frames. And in my experience, that can make a big, big difference in your portfolio. What's more, he also offers some very specific ways to spot the best stock opportunities, as well as stock and option strategies designed to help make money in different market conditions. He definitely doesn't "dumb it down" - the material is detailed, with complete information on results from the various trading strategies spelled out.

Price Headley successfully combines his obviously well-tested market analysis and trading theory with practical step-by-step guidelines in this compact, yet amazingly complete trading treatise. There are so many real gems contained in this small book I can only urge beginning and advanced traders alike to grab a copy and read it...several times over.

Headley introduces a few unique and intuitively appealing indicators for determining market trends, stock selection and entry-exit techniques, as well as his considerable insights on working with more well-known indcators like the VIX, Rydex and put/call ratios.

I was particularly impressed with his work on directional options trading and his superb treatment of the type of money management and psychology that is absolutely critical if one is to develop consistent success at trading. I suspect that even long-term professional traders will find much that is new, or at least refreshing and useful, in these pages and I certainly won't be surprised to see "Big Trends in Trading" join the short list of must read classics in the years to come.

I decided to reread this book after 20 years to see how accurately it represented the experiences of the past 20 years. How nice a surprise I received when I found that the broad themes were beautifully portrayed against the background of the prior agricultural and industrial economies. This long term perspective made the articulation of the future vision clearer.

Particularly impressive in retrospect is the description of a forecast for mass customized products. The customer "will become so integrated into the production process that we find it . . . difficult to tell . . . who is the producer." One might be reading about someone ordering a computer on the Dell Web site.

Almost equally impressive is the appreciation of how electronic connections will establish horizontal connections. "Even a partial shift towards the electronic office will be enough to trigger an eruption of social, psychological, and economic consequences." "It promises to restructure all human relationships and roles in the office as well."

Key insights related to:

(1) Companies needing to take on full responsibility for the consequences of their actions on society and the environment;

(2) Companies becoming much more important social institutions of change;

(3) Information moving to the center of major decisions;

(4) Government spreading its influence so that business and politics become inextricably entwined; and

(5) Institutional ethics coming to more closely reflect social ethics.

In fact, this is the first book I have located that sees the business organization as the critical institution in making ecological, moral, political, racial, sexual and social change, as well as the usual transactional ones.

The fundamental vision of humanity as seeking a more appropriate civilization that is built around individual choice in coordinating social interests is a remarkably accurate description of the evolution of the free market democracies over the last 20 years.

Realizing how hard it is to forecast anything, one comes away with a remarkable appreciation for Alvin Toffler's fundamental estimation of human potential. He took that understanding, tied technology to it, and found the answer quite well.

After enjoying this remarkable book (for the first time or) again, I encourage you to consider how these same human characteristics will take us forward in the future. How can you facilitate this felicitous development?

Make your actions and those you cooperate in serve everyone's best interests!

This book attempts to explain the both the nature and the process of the technological revolution that has transformed the world's social and economic systems. To quote Newt Gingrich, US Speaker of the House of Representatives, "Alvin and Heidi Toffler have given us the key to viewing current disarray within the positive framework of a dynamic, exciting future... The Tofflers correctly understand the development and distribution of information that has become the central productivity and power activity of the human race.... In the Third Wave, the Tofflers moved from observation (found in earlier works such as Future Shock) to creating a predictive framework They placed the information revolution (from circa 1990) in an historical perspective, comparing it with the other two great transformations, the agricultural revolution (beginning 8000 B.C thru around 1700) the industrial revolution (beginning around 1700 and still spreading across world society in an ever slower movement) . According to the Tofflers, we are feeling the impact of the third great wave of change in history, and we are, as a result, in the process of creating a new civilization." (Preface to Toffler's Creating a New Civilization)

It is the collision of these concentric waves, and the turbulence created by the interaction of these waves, ie the resistance of industrial-based organizations to information-based systems, that accounts, in their view, for much of the seeming social, political and economic disorder. In short, this book seeks to postulate a paradigm that explains the entire scope of the Information Revolution. It succeeds in this goal as perhaps no other book written to date. For this reviewer, The Third Wave is as thought- provoking as we approach the year 2000 as the book The Greening of America was in the 1970s.

I was recommended this book by a collegue. This is a very influencial book in terms of 'future thinking'. I'm told that one should read Future Shock first, but I started w/ Third Wave and managed along just fine.

As was stated by another reviewer, it shouldn't be a must-read b/c it requires vast patience at times to get through tome of information he writes about the first two "waves", but it is worth-while checking out if you're interested in seeing how someone in 1980 could have accurately predicted many events in the past 20 years.

Being 22, this book did open my eyes quite a bit though, and I've bought several copies to give to friends b/c it was pretty influencial to me.

Robert Reich has an amazing mind. He seems to [pull] up information and to organise it into different patterns and perspectives. Every page has something of value. His previous book called the Work of Nations redefined the pitfalls and advantages of globalisation. In this book, which is pitched at a lower level, you sense the same divided attitude toward success. As an unashamed winner in the great global game, Reich has seen the benefits it can bestow a person, while ripping apart a person's life and their community.

I like the mixture of personal and global in his thinking. He comes at problems from many different angles. He shows how global forces penetrate everything and the impact on himself.

Unfortunately, like many analytical thinkers, Reich has no real solutions, but he has redefined the problems of a work-driven society on an individual and a global level. It is a starting point to help society move on.

Robert Reich provides a convincing answer to one of the central paradoxes of modern American life - everyone talks of seeking balance and their willingness to tradeoff less income for more time for family and leisure, and then finds themselves working longer and harder. After reading "The Future of Success" you realize we are not so irrational. Contrary to other Amazon reviewers, I came away from this book lamenting that I will need to abandon recent efforts to focus less on work (at least until Reich is back in power with a Democrat administration).

The first third of The Future of Success struck me as familiar territory, and I almost abandoned the book. That new technology is changing how work is organized and rewarded has been exhaustingly covered elsewhere. I am glad I stuck with it -- this section does lay the groundwork for the new and powerful arguments that Reich makes later.

I found Reich's Personal Choice chapter the most entertaining-- his skewering of time management self-help books is particularly effective. His ridicule of the simplicity movement is amusing, but less compelling - I don't think it is necessary to go so far as trapping small animals for one to make useful choices that simplify one's life.

I believe the time is not yet right for Reich's social policy suggestions to receive wide reception. Popular opinion today is still intoxicated by recent new economy success stories, and worships self-reliance. Hopefully enough people will take the time to read the whole book, and I think we will see these ideas gain influence as political and economic conditions evolve over the coming years.

While reading this outstanding book, even as one of the globally oriented "geeks & shrinks" of Reich's new economy elite, I'm suffering the severe income instability he forsees for most of us. So maybe his words resonate harder with me. But his musings will hit home with many people. Put this book on a pedestal with The Wealth of Nations, 1984, Future Shock, The Age of Paradox.

This book is totally relevant and should be required reading for everyone in a position of power. Even if Dubya rarely reads a book, he should read this one! Forget that Reich is a Democrat. He doesn't bang his drum until near the end -- and by then you're tempted to agree. Just ask Sen. Jeffords.

Dateline 2000: the Seattle riots. The Presidency & Senate split down the middle. Dateline 2001: race riots in Cincinnati, Ohio and Oldham, England. The haves vs. the have nots. It will get worse. And to think we're all responsible for the mess -- and the solution.

If the Unabomber had been as lucid as Reich, we'd have listened. He wouldn't have needed the bombs to get his point across.

Do us all a favor. Read this book! And tell your representatives to.

I have read several options books and they are mostly theoretical or geared towards option market makers. This was the first book I read that I felt was practical. The beginning of this book is very simplistic and explains everything from what an option is to how they are priced. I found it a little to easy, but if you do not know anything about options then this would be a great place to start. The second section and strategy section are the best I have seen for the practical retail trader. I found it very interesting how market makers make markets and how it may effect the retail trader. This was also the first book that I have read that made volatility simple to understand. The best part was the strategy section. The book is divided into bullish, bearish, flat market, and volatile market strategies. I found this to be a great reference tool. This book should be on the self of every advanced retail trader. I have seen the author, Michael Williams, speak in New York and found him very knowledgeable, but even more importantly an excellent teacher. I would rate this book 4 1/2 stars because I am already familiar with options and the beginning is introductory. This book is for the retail client that wants to take advantage of options and the leverage they provide. I would rank this book for beginners to intermediate. For an advance book I would recommend Natenberg's "Option Volatility and Pricing". These two books together are all you need for stock options.

...well, almost! Reading this clear and concise book makes me feel that even a math-phobe like me can master the options market! While reading the explainations of what an option is, to the lingo, to postions, I never felt that I was in over my head...or that it was written in a way that was determined to go over my head! It's simplicity was refreshing and empowering, and I find that I go back to it again and again as a reference point.

Who knew I'd ever get excited over a book about options trading?

Finally, a book about options that is understandable and helpful. The book has been reprinted so the errors that the other readers referred to have been corrected. I loved it!

I must say that the book is interesting and well written. Even better, it is not very long. My major problem with it, however, is that it is overly simplistic. In many ways it is similar to Elliot Wave Theory, for whatever value that may still have.

The author takes a basic truism and extends it to illogical conclusions. As anyone who has ever looked at a chart will know, market trends are always marked by countertrend moves. For example, a stock may go up for two weeks, then suddenly go down for 3 days then go back up again. The auther calls this three day swing a reaction swing. So far so good.

He then espouses that, if you count back from the start of the reaction swing to the beginning of the trend, you will learn the exact number of days that the trend will continue after the swing ends, the "reversal date." Further, you can also learn the price where the trend will end or the next reaction swing will occur by subtracting the price at the start of the trend from the price at the start of the reaction swing. Adding that number to the price at the end of the swing will tell you the price where the trend will end or the next reaction swing will begin, and you already know the day on which it will occur.

Sorry, life is just not that simple. The diffieulty is demonstrated by the fact that even in the author's carefully selected examples, his "reverse count," the count back from the beginning of the reaction swing, often goes back to a differing places. Sometimes it goes back to the beginning of the previous reaction swing, other times to the beginning of the trend and still others to the beginning of a reaction swing in a previous trend.

As I read this book, I was often asking myself, without any apparant answers, "Why is he counting back to there?"

I've got to say that if this really works, I am extremely jealous because everyone except me is getting outrageously rich without doing any work. One can easily spot a "reaction swing" or countertrend movement. Image how great it would really be if all one had to do was wait a day or two into the main trend's resumption, and know with confidence that the new trend will last 11 days and will rise or fall respectively, esactly 10 points.

Anyway, if it works for you "Congratulations."

I would like compliment Mr. Crane on the clarity with which he explains the "Action/Reactiion" phenomena in commodities and stocks. I have found this book to be most illuminating and it has greatly improved my understanding of the manner in which one should identify segments of a market move. I have studied the Delta system and learned from Joe DiNapoli and both are extremely good, but I can honestly say neither gives me the confidence and or the trigger points as well as this method. I find his unique method of combining Time, Price and Pattern can strengthen the predictability of future market moves. In my opinion this is probably the single best trading book I have ever read on technical analysis. It's a real "where the rubber meets the road" type book that I think most traders will find credible.

Something I read, in the first part of this boo, really made me think. Mr. Crane said "If 80% of traders lose money, I don't want to look at the markets in the same way they do." All these years I have been studying and using the same indicators as everyone else, but I never really understood the market behavior...until I read Advanced Swing Trading. I found Elliott Wave to be confusing and Gann too subjective. While techincal indicators served me well, I was always entering the market late and exiting early. "Advanced Swing Trading" opened my eyes to a whole new understanding of how to trade the market. John Crane's method of projecting Time and Price, is precise and very easy to understand. And then he adds the confirming patterns to tie it all together. While I am primarly a short-term trader, I was amazed by the accuracy of the long-term projections as well. I have been trying to master the art of swing trading for the past two years and have had marginal success...until now. Since I learned to use John Crane's Reaction swing technique, the results have been stunning. I highly recommend this book to any trader, whether you look for long-term moves or short-term swing trades, this book has it all!

This book is a typical Toffler mishmash of speculation and rambling incoherencies. Even if you can get through the first few chapters, it's not worth whatever mark-down price the stores are offering it at. Suggest you read the work of more cogent futurists.

Simply, the most comprehensive and clear view of the possible future I have ever experienced. I read the book in 1992 after having it sit on a bookshelf and collecting dust for over a year. I waited too long! This is one of the most powerful studies of the future which we are now experiencing. Many of the phenomena taking place around us are foreshadowed in this comprehensive and easy to read volume by Heidi and Alvin Toffler.

Clearly, they have looked into the future and given us a road map through which to navigate the post cold war information society which has grown like a virus out of control.

From economic boom (unparalleled post world war II economic expansion) to the rise in religious fanaticism and terrorist activity (including domestic terrorism as witnessed by the Federal Building, the World Trade Center and the attacks on numerous women's health clinics)to the acceleration of the information-communications driven economy ( the internet and its impact on wealth creation was no surprise to Powershift readers).

While many of the things that are foretold in this volume have come true, the open ended nature of those things is what makes reading this now so compelling. The advice and knowledge to be gained here is still valid. We are only in the top half of the first inning but the runs are being scored like mad!

This book serves as a great underpinning of understanding of the dynamics of the new world. Read this and you will be fascinated and energized by the possibilities of the future. The reading is easy and the writing is tight enough to give you the basic ideas and to allow your imagination and view of the future take flight.

I was fortunate enough to have been given this book to read almost 15 years ago. I was unfortunate enough not to have taken full advantage of the information inside it. I basically predicted Walmart's advance using the lowly Barcode, and the current problems that we are experiencing in the middle east due to fundamentalism - not moslem fundamentalism or christian fundamentalism, fundamentalism as a result of our fear of the inevitable pace of change as it increases evermore. The book is still relevant and I find my self quoting it and Mr. Toffler in discussions with friends and family on world affairs.