Option

Even if you no idea of what the financial markets are about DO NOT BUY this book. It introduces various things, but covers nothing in depth. The only positive aspect (for me) of this book is that the author discusses trading software and systems, but even this, like every thing else, is just a pointer to where one can find more information. If you want to learn about the market in general look somewhere else. If you want to learn about fundamental analysis vs. technical analysis, specific trading methods, or anything other than what a dope on the street could tell you do not buy this book.

If you know absolutely nothing about trading, this is a good place to start. However, don't expect to make any money without a great deal more work. Ms. Harris does a pretty good job of listing the things that need to be done before starting to trade, but doesn't treat any single topic in sufficient detail to really cover it. That said, this is still a pretty good book, as long is it is viewed as a study guide, and not the real text.

I have found this book somewhat simplistic and out of date. However, as a book written for the newcomers I think the author has covered the subject matter quite well and especially in pointing out the importance of extensive education required, a good trading system and money management skills. No illusion had been created in misleading the reader to think that making money in the market is quick and easy(as many other authors have done). This is very important.

As the author has stated: "You will learn about the existence of of concepts, but will not learn the concepts in depth. You will, however, learn where to look for information on each of these concepts, so that you may explore in-depth and develop your knowledge base further..."

It does NOT show you the nitty gritty details of "How to Trade Like a Pro". Like the cover: suitable for an intro book on the matter!

Amram and Kulatilaka have produced an excellent overview of the real options theory and practical application. The book helps recognize real options by giving lots of examples and provides with a clear description of a "four step solution proces". Yet, the book could do with a little more attention on the quants, especially in the examples. E.g. chapter 13 on Drug development states that "it was found that a drug (..) had a value of $14.6 mln using the real options approach". That's fine with me, but how exactly did you calculate that ?

It is a good introductory book on real options targeted at the audience of managers rather than experienced financial practitioners. Its contents covered financial options, binomial pricing and Black-Scholes model where the last ten chapters or so are case studies dedicated to applications of real options where it gives readers an idea how real options can be applied in diverse industries.

It makes a good and easy read for anyone who wants a quick flavor of real options without going through too much of the horrible maths that derivatives and real options seems to have !
I personally enjoy reading it from cover to cover.

This is an excellent book on the subject. It is the most readable and user friendly book on the market on Real Options. You don't need to understand Greek to tackle this book unlike the other ones. The author clearly explains the Black Scholes option model, the foundation of option valuation. They then illustrate how this model can be applied to non option business investment opportunities. The authors establish a real option framework to handle your business decision. It explores many practical cases in detail, so you get a good feeling for this approach. The authors also flesh out when it is better to use Black Scholes vs. Monte Carlo simulation in order to make a business decision.

There are 2 real option books: 1) Options: Perception Deception and 2) Option Volatility & Pricing by Natenberg. Maybe there are a few others; but the 50 I've read have been useless.

"How I Trade Options" I would re-title as "Why I Am Fabulous and A Couple Option Stories" There is not one method in this book that will put option profits in your pocket.

An example of his trading: Way back when Yahoo was going up $20 each day for weeks, he finally saw this pattern and bought some shares and sold within minutes for a $2 profit. Can anyone tell me how that adds to my options or trading knowledge? I know people that made a fortune on those Yahoo runups - and they weren't professional traders; and all Dr. J got was $2.

Buy the real options books I mentioned and leave this celebrity puffery for Dr. J's personal library.

Did you hear about when Amazon accidentally uncovered the identities of some of the reviewers and it was discovered that a lot of Authors were giving their own books numerous 5 stars reviews?This book in my opinion is a classical example of that,the book has no structure,no organisation.The author blows his trumpet a lot about his farcical NFL career (who cares).It is truly an awful book on options and I would be willing to give my copy away for free.I would give it 0 stars if Amazon would have given me that option,buyer beware.

This book was a disappointment. Talk about an ego. All full of himself when he carried the water bucket for the Chicago Bears.

Seriously, there is no useful information in this book about option trading. There is no strategy that you can apply. I would give my book to charity but whats the point.

I see Mr. Najarian in Chicago trying to look like Steven Seagal with the pony tail.

Pass on this book. Stick with Mcmillan or Fontanills. Even Schaeffer hits the mark compare with Jon Najarian. PS Why the "dr" label either trying to copy his successful father or imply he is qualified. Well not qualified in options books

This book is of no value!
Interviews irrelevant,system ideas presented light like smoke.
If you want to make money, instead of buying this book try to write one alike.
Don't make the mistake I did by buying it.
Period

The author was rather lazy in writing this book. He asked the "Masters" the same questions. You cannot ask the same question to people have different trading styles. The question of which futures should be retained or cancelled is really stupid. It doesn't help traders to learn something useful. Some of the "Masters" didn't answer all of them. And some answers were very confusing. I would prefer Schwager's Market wizards. This book is also overpriced. Fortunately, I borrowed it from the library. Not recommended!

Written in pseudo-Market Wizards style.. consists of a questionaire/interview with some of the legends of this most recent generation. There is some bias towards mechanical systems, but the information discussed is beneficial to every trader. This is one of those books that you can pick up a handful (and more) of ideas to try out for yourself.

Sadly snake oil wins over real value once again. This is very seductive proposition but if you had applied it to real long term systems over the past year you would be BROKE.

All of the books in the "also read this" list are much better. Go there to preserve your capital.

Limited number of books on Money Management. This is destined to become a classic. Does an excellent job of surveying other money management approaches (Optimal "f", Secure "f", Martingale, Anti-Martingale, etc.) before plugging his favorite: Fixed Ratio. His arguments are persuasive.

Jones does an excellent job distinguishing between money management and risk management.

He does an excellent job of addressing and often dismissing irrelevant factors that often confuse the money management discussion. An example - Risk Of Ruin: Jones writes: "Basically my reaction is 'who cares!' Risk of ruin has absolutely zero practical application in trading."

A couple "wishes" -- Jones favors "simulation" runs to evaluate different money management approaches presented as spreadsheet print outs. I think with a little work, some of these examples could have been made a little clearer, and a little more interesting (i.e. display graphically?). But perhaps that is a good exercise for the reader?

Another "wish": provide more information on available software -- except maybe it isn't available?? Jones mentions, only briefly, but at least twice, a software program he developed that appears to help one utilize the Fixed Ratio trading method. There is no more information on this, no web site, no nothing?? I've heard of people "over-hyping" their products, but Jones goes to the opposite extreme and barely mentions it??!! This might be helpful to those of us interested in pursuing his methods further.

All in all, an EXCELLENT book!!

After meeting and talking with Ryan Jones at OmegaWorld conference in Vegas in 1999, and after he convinced me I needed his book(yeah right!), I bought it...and he was right, I do need this book. To correct you clowns who did negative reviews on this book claiming it was not a good trading 'method' or 'you can find the same thing in a probability book', YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON HERE. This book is not a trading system; it is a method for MONEY MANAGEMENT. If you don't know the difference between the two, then go back to school. This book shows you that trade size does make a huge difference in your day-to-day trading. It keeps you immune from annihilation. Thank you, Ryan; and thank you Larry Williams, and Murray Ruggerio, and all the others who spend countless hours helping us pros understand the nuances of trading equities. It's a good book, ladies and gentlemen. If you're serious about trading, then buy it!

I like this book because it uses some similar methods that I already incorporate into my trade. Using Elliot Wave to form a possible pattern in the near future and create a bias , and then using an indicator as a filter for an allowance of trade ("permission"). Kase develops a number of oscillators, stop variation and so forth that are custom to her and requires you to buy it from her webpage . That part is a bit annoying, especially when I doubt the indicators are any less useless than all the others out there. Nevertheless, this is a decent effort by a profitable trader and that alone is reason to take a look at it.

I ordered this book and then devoured it twice. I disagree with other inputs that the book does not provide details for the indicators. Ms. Kase is extremely open in disclosing the math and logic behind her technical indicators and her overall approach to the markets via statistics. With little study, one can easily derive her mathematical approach. The chapter explaining standard deviations was worth the price of the book alone. Having taken a post-graduate level statistics class, I found her explanation of standard deviations and statistics to be the best I've ever read to explain the math. You do not need to be a math whiz to understand her approach because of the easy-to-understand explanations. If you trade using standard deviations, this is a "must-read" book.

For any trader looking for real concrete answers and positive direction in technical analysis, this is the book to read! Ms. Kase is able to break down the main elements of the markets into easy to understand terms and logically explains how and why her approach and methods work.

Her impressive successful background and experience cannot be disputed; this shows in her work. There are many weak "black box" systems for sale out there - this is not one of them. The Kase indicators and methods to trading in the markets are not limited to specific periods in time, nor are they limited to specific markets; this is the fundamental basis for their solidity and amazing accuracy.

Her "Dev-Stop" and "PeakOscillator" are excellent tools! I highly recommend this book and the fine work of Ms. Kase to any trader serious about trading using technical indicators.

The first edition was for a while the only book on the subject. As such, it had to be the best. But, at that time, RiskMetrics VCV approach was the only approach. Jorion analyses this approach in detail, and derives many results (for example, attributing risks, etc.). He then implies by omission that they work for other methods, they don't. He also implies by omission that RiskMetrics is the absolute greatest, it isn't - it's probably now the weakest method. Surveys show that now only 10% of banks worldwide are using this method - and the numbers are falling.

There is nothing about coherence, the problems with VaR, the fundamental problems with using it to allocate risks to portfolios...
There was no reason to bring out a new edition.

This book takes a statistical approach to risk management, but the approach is dated.

Risks of many products such as exotic options and credit derivatives cannot be adequatley measured by value-at-risk (VAR) conventional methodology.

The subject of credit derivatives is comprehensively - and well- covered in "Credit Derivatives and Synthetic Securitization" by Tavakoli.

Good Book for sophisticated investment analyst

Is there a list available with all the errors in the book? Does anyone know where to get it?

What a pity. The first practical guide to the implementation of real options - that I have found at least. Copeland and Antikarov are to be congratulated on finding the gap in the market. But, alas, this book has been so badly spoiled by the endless number of errors: reflects badly on the authors and publishers and also on all those acknowledged at the front of the book who had an opportunity to comment, but obviously did not read it properly. On the positive, there are many useful ideas in this book and it has greatly increased my knowledge of the subject.

Content : A
The book enables the reader to understand the world of real options without having to take a course on stochastic calculus, which is good because otherwise Real Options would be too hard to sell to management. The book is rich on examples and presents the building blocks of almost every combination imaginable. More case studies though would have been a big plus.

Presentation : F
You absolutely should not read the book without first [knowing] the corrections.... There are so many errors everywhere - in formulas, calculations and text (a total of 177 for 350 pages of relevant content !!) - that I could only shake my head in disbelief. Quite obviously, nobody has made even a half-baked attempt to proof-read the book.

I guess I'm spoiled by Martin Schwartz's excellent book Pit Bull. I was expecting a trader's autobiography something along the same line with The Day Trader, but what I got was the first 130 pages of Borsellino talking about what a tough guy he is and about his mafioso father. After that he dips into a high-level discussion of the changes to the commodities and NASDAQ exchanges over the years. There is virtually no mention of trading technique or psychology, outside of the constant tough guy braggadocio, which is pretty sad to hear from a 40-year-old guy. And definitely don't buy it if you're looking for trading advice or techniques. There is none to be found. If you want a nice biographical read about a trader, read Pit Bull or Reminiscences of a Stock Operator instead. Borsellino simply doesn't write well enough to keep this one interesting. The story wanders around too much and is too repetitious.

While the title has disappointed some by leading one to think that this book contains the secret strategies of a successful day trader (it does not), I found this book to be perfectly appropriate for teaching everyone about an often overlooked concept and the one thing that kept him in the trading game: heart.

Through the lens of this notion, Borsellino gives folks a first-hand look of what it takes to make money in the S&P futures pits of the Chicago Merc. Much more than that, "Big Italy" gives you a no-holds-barred account of his humble beginnings and some of his more interesting episodes as a day trader on the Merc. The best story I ever read was about how he was able to earn over $1.3 million dollars on one trade...in about 1 minute! If you want to see what its like to be on the other side of the daytrading fence (the very profitable side) take a look at Borsellio's "The Day Trader". Also useful is an interview he gives in "The Best: TradingMarkets.com Conversations With Top Traders". There he discussed order flow and support and resistance from a pit trader and a pc-based traders point of view. Some useful nuggets there.

The book is not a tech how to book but in all fairness the auther doesn't claim it as one. This book is more of an autobiography and in that category it is a 5. The auther brags about himself at times but anyone who is that successful has a right too. Excellent read well worth the time!

I found this book very patronising, just do what you are told and you will get better. Very light on for details of any type. I would recommend Saibil if you just want the mainstream medical info. If you want alternatives to use either with or without maintream medicine try Atkins Vitanutrient Solution (yes the diet guy) or Berkson's Healthy digestion the natural way. They both offer a wide diversity of alternative treatment

I found this book very disappointing. I have had Crohn's Disease for 17 years and have read all the books on Crohn's Disease. I found this book very disturbing because in many instances, Dr. Gomez claims that when the Crohn's patient "cleaned" up their life, they became well. This not only implies that it is somehow the patients fault for getting ill but also that they can control it. Unfortunately, the disease does not work like that. I feel sorry for the Crohn's patient who reads this book and thinks that all they have to do is take their medication live on the straight and narrow.

I've just read this book and felt that it was fairly helpful, especially if you have just been diagnosed and are looking for ways to minimize the nasty symptoms of crohn's.

I had one problem with it. I've had crohn's for eighteen years and am something of an expert. Every crohn's sufferer Iknow avoids too much fibre as it acts like glass to our poor inflamed guts. Dr Hunter at Addenbrookes recommends a low fat LOW FIBRE diet as treatment. Whilst pears, apples, cherries, mango, melons and pineapple may be fine, other fruits such as citrus and bananas may cause further problems.

With vegetables, spinach, carrots & sweet potato, should all be fine, but onions, tomatoes, potato skin, and really anything high in fibre should, I believe, be avoided. To ensure adequate nutrition, peel all vegetables, avoid fruit and vegetables with pips and seeds or remove carefully, or try eating in pureed form or as soups.

Finally, if you have very severe crohn's or have had it for any length of time, this may not be the book for you as it deals with the basics and implies that there is a successful treatment for all, which unfortunately, isn't always the case. If you are looking for reassurance and support after a few hard years of recurring disease, this may not help.

However, a good, varied book, written by one who actually has the disease for once.