Street

This book describes the events and how the stock market came into exsistence.It mentions the events that has fuelled the market booms and busts , the regulations and new rules that were placed after each bust to prevent another bust and the great people involved -- just reminds you that their is nothing new under the sun especially what is happening in the stock market now .I recommend this book to anyone interested in the mechanisms in the stock market and how the booms and busts have created a stock market that has created wealth and admiration all over the world

If money interests you, then you should read this book. As a Wall Street professional I was enthralled by this easy read about the history of Wall Street. Mr. Gordon does an excellent job of taking us from Wall Street's unambitious start as a northern line of defense for a wilderness trading post to the its role as the most powerful stretch of pavement on Earth.

Some of the unique things you will learn include

1. Who invented modern capitalism (hint: Tulips, 1700th century)? 2. The establishment of our federal tax system 3. What structure made NY city the US's largest city 4. Wall Street's first and greatest speculators 5. The creation of the Federal Reserve System

Gordon does a great job of introducing us to the most powerful people the world may have ever known. The most notable include JP Morgan, arguably the world's greatest banker; Hetty Green, the richest (and most paranoid) woman in the world; Charles Merrill, the man who brought Wall Street to Main Street; and Michael Milliken, the world's most famous Wall Street villain to wear a toupee.

The story of Wall Street is truly extraordinary. Its history is littered with courage, greed, jealousy, genius and lots of stupidity! John Steele Gordon does an admirable job of hitting all the salient points while making the journey enjoyable and memorable. Buy this book and read it!

Even though I have another book on the history of Wall Street in my reading stack, I picked up a copy of the book just because John Steele Gordon wrote it. Many of you will recognize his voice on NPR and in American Heritage. In fact, Mr. Gordon's article is the first section I read when I receive the newest copy of American Heritage. Mr. Gordon always spins a surprising story each month and this book is no different.

Mr. Gordon covers 350 years of history in just 300 pages, however, don't let the title fool you, it really only covers Wall Street until about 1995, not 2000 (a minor quibble). The book contains many interesting stories along the way such as how Chase Manhattan started off as a water company and why Merrill Lynch was named after two brokers, not one (I didn't realize that).

As always no book on the history of Wall Street would be complete without the Erie Railroad, the "Scarlet Women of Wall Street." Mr. Gordon relives the Erie tale with relish! I could almost see Daniel Drew laughing as he printed additional shares of Erie stock as fast as Commodore Vanderbilt could buy them. The rest of the players of Wall Street take their turn in the book, including J.P. Morgan, Fisk and Gould, Joe Kennedy, Alexander Hamilton, and a few women such as Hetty Green also appear.

Gordon takes time to explain many concepts about how the stock market came to be today including stories on the first corner in Wall Street history to the most recent, the Hunt's brothers attempt to corner the silver market in 1980. Mr. Gordon also explains that each time a player uses the market to their advantage, the invisible hand of Adam Smith pushes the market to correct the "wrongs."

Though it is not one of Mr. Gordon's main points in the book, he does point out throughout the book that the "Robber Barons" of old had many friends/allies in government that turned a blind eye to their schemes.

This book is filled with the history of people of Wall Street, not numbers! Pick it up, you'll find that Mr. Gordon's cornered the market on the history of Wall Street!

The second of five Vicky Bliss mysteries, Street of Five Moons is one of Elizabeth Peter's best. Well, in my opinion the whole Vicky Bliss series is excellent. But in this novel, not only do we revisit the beautiful and brainy Vicky, but we meet the handsome and suave Sir John Smythe. The quick wit and banter of Vicky and Sir John is extremely entertaining. I literally laugh out loud when reading these novels. As for the plot, after discovering a forgery of a piece antique jewelery on a corpse, along with a scrap of paper with five cresent moons drawn on it, Vicky decides to go to Italy to investigate. An amateur sleuth, Vicky searches numerous areas until at last she gets caught. Will Vicky survive? What will transpire between Vicky and Sir John? You have to read this excellent book to find out.

My mother introduced me to Elizabeth Peter's writing and suggested I check out a book from the library just to test her out, and I was certantly glad that I put my toes in the water...because I'm hooked! This was my first Vicky book (though out of order...thankfully it's not horribly essential to read in order) and I loved it, and read it twice in a row. I've gone on to read the entire series...but in the order: 2, 4, 3, 5, 1 and have found each book equally wonderful. Her characters are so complete, and I find myself falling for the crafty yet humorous Sir John Smythe :)

It's been awhile since I've read a book that I've taken such delight in. Vicky Bliss is a methodical detective much like Mary Russell from the Laurie R. King series. In "Street of the Five Moons", Vicky meets her match in "John Smythe", secretary to a nobleman and art collector, who bears a strong resemblance to Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey. His playful evasiveness is a delightful foil for Vicky's determination. Every so often I think I would like to try writing fiction and then I read a novel by an author like Elizabeth Peters and think, "Ha!" Peters describes Germany and Italy like she's a longtime resident of Europe and, like Audrey Niffenegger, Peters alludes to more than a few literary classics.
"Street of the Five Moons", like many series' second books, seems stronger than the first installment and has more compelling characters. Vicky's asides to the reader are also a fun device.
I look forward to finishing this series and strongly recommend "Street of the Five Moons".

This book is okay its really gory and kinda nasty with all the killing and stuff. When the evil doesn't kill Jason i thought that was the end but it wasn't! I really luv this book. its kinda freaky and scary though, cause the evil talks to her inside her head and stuff.

Unlike his Goosebumps novels and The Babysitter series, this one is much more violent. This is #10 in the Fear Street Sagas. It is the story that began the entire thing. Hear Sarah's true story. The Evil inside her that controls her body and forces her to kill.

BEWARE!!! A lot of violence and gore! No one under 12 should read this one! It will keep you up for fear of nightmares.

I have read this book twice!! If you are a fan of R.L. Stine's work, then this book is a MUST! If you have read the cheerleader novels (The First Evil, The Second Evil, The Third Evil & The New Evil) This book will explain where the evil came from and why it does what it does. All and all, this book is about the supernatural, love, hate, and what all his books have in common... death. If you have read this book.. then I strongly suggest the cheerleader sagas. This book is about a woman who loses her best friend due to a tragic boating accident, who marries into a family (the Fears) she has heard are witches, which are cursed.. mysterious deaths soon will follow with a supernatural twist.. You will NOT be able to put this book down.. I guarantee it!! Buy this book!! Borrow it!! Do whatever you can to read this book!! You won't regret it!

I used to be a fan of R.L. Stine since his Goosebumps Collection and recently purchused this book. In two words....Utter Dissapointment. I just couldn't bear the fact that the author couldn't take the time to develop a good story line, but instead you could find every three pages somebody being torn to pieces by rats or dying on some freak accident. It is not one of the author's better works, instead try some of the earlier sagas.

In A New Fear Nora and Nicholas escape from the Mental hospital and get on board a ship where several strange things happen. After the boat sinks Nora and Nicholas survive and Nora throws the amulet in the water. After a couple of years Nora dies and Nicholas goes out to find out about his family which is back in Shadyside. When Nicholas arrives all he has is debt so he starts working and a lot of people who have came in contact with him get hurt and die. Ruth makes him marry her but he really doesn't want too all he wants in the power. At the end he finds out Ruth is pregnant with his son and then the book ends. Read the book! Its great!

Fear Street Saga: The New Fear was absoutley great! I mean at the beginning it was great, especially about when Nora was trying to save her baby. And when Nicolas is trying to make his fortune to when Rosalyn, and he meets Ruth, and her evil doings.

Read this book. It is great

Like all the books in the Fear Street Sagas, this one is predictable, but that does not mean it isn't an interesting read. Amy Pierce is visiting her Aunt Angelica (Simon is not in this book at all) and her cousins (Julia, Hannah, Robert, Brandon and Joseph) while her mother tends to her father who was injured in the war. The book gets right into the evil in the beginning, when Angelica shows Amy that she too has special powers. After that there are the usual 36 deaths (all gory). If you wanted to read more about Angelica and her family, then you might want to read this one.

I think R.L.Stine's 'House of Whispers' is the best book I've ever read. (well I haven't read the new Fear Street Senior series yet, but I will soon!) It's about this really beautiful women with black hair and green eyes. Angelica Fear. She have evil powers and most people say the Fears' are cursed. Angelica's cousin, Amy Pierce doesn't believe that but she is going to stay at The New Orleans, The Fear Mansion because her father was hurt badly in war and her mother went to see how he was doing. Amy senses that something is going wrong in the big mansion and in the end, she is very dangerous.

Read this book. All Stine's fans' will enjoy this book. I bet you.

Terrific book. It was scary,exciting,myserious with a touch of romance. Totally recomend this book. READ IT!

The dualistic title of the book comes to refer to the nature of the roaring stock market of the 80's and 90's as well as what was being shoveled to fuel that market. The book may not break any new ground but does an excellent job pointing out how price increases fuel further speculation; driving up prices still further. As price and speculation feed upon itself there is tremendous pressure not to be left behind. Analysts are pressured not to say anything bad about a stock; the media is pressured to be cheerleaders and not fault-finders; and corporate executives find creative ways to make their companies more profitable than they really are. The result is a price bubble and when it bursts people get hurt.

Maggie Mahar, a financial journalist since 1982, writes a coherent study of how the bull market came to be, what fueled it, and what can investors do now. It is up-to-date book and truly enlightening. Much of the material has been covered in financial journals and newspapers but never in such a concise manner; and you'll soon discover many surprises that you probably didn't know about the bull market.

I finished Bull! in two days, and I enjoyed every page. The problem that I've had with most books on economic history or investing (and particularly those, such as this one, that include considerable economic detail) is that they are miserable to plow through, and are invariably filled with dry and seemingly superfluous detail. This book is different. Mahar mixes witty anecdotes with incisive analysis, and her claims about investing are offered in intelligent often playful prose, surrounded with a copious amount of recent historical material. Even well known stock-market figures--like Warren Buffet--look new here: we get a sense of why they acted as they did, and often a hint of what they may have been thinking. Recommended for anyone interested in learning more about investing, uncovering what the last bull run was all about, or meeting some of the major Wall Street players that were made into near-celebrities.

I read Bull! when it first came out, sometime last Fall, and I recently re-read it after I saw Warren Buffett recommended Bull! in the 2003 Berkshire Hathaway annual report. I enjoyed it even more the second time, and it has led me to rethink some of my investment plans for 2004.

Bull! does not pretend to predict the investment future (no book can do that, and everyone--including Buffett--has made, and will continue to make, some investment mistakes) but for any reader interested in an intelligent, historically sound account of the most recent bull run--and what it means for investing in the future--I suggest that you take a look at Bull!.

Here is 1940s Port of Spain, Trinidad. Miguel Street is a melting pot at the ends of the British Empire, which, during WWII, is already on the ebb. Naipaul's first written and third published book tells the stories of Miguel Street's characters from the point of view of a young boy. Each of the stories are illuminating portraits of the limitations of colonial life. If you're looking for parables about poverty or racism, you won't find them here. Instead, you will find Naipaul's genius penchant for telling sad stories with great humor; and, rather than lessening the sense of the tragedy, Naipaul's humor makes it that much more impactful. Those who are also fans of Paul Theroux will recognize than the later writer used "Miguel Street" as the DNA for his "Hotel Honolulu."

I picked this book up because of writer Paul Theroux's praise of Naipaul's writing, though the impression I had of Naipaul, as a person, was dry and stuffy and rude. But this book has none of that flavor, and instead has a lot of humor. It's written in a clean and crisp style, and the dialogue is perfectly placed and sometimes hilarious. It's a collection of stories, but they all take place in the same area, sometimes with the same characters wandering in and out. So it's not really a normal collection of "short stories." But still, I can't heap praise on everything Naipaul has written. His "A Bend in the River" is highly regarded, but I couldn't tolerate the boring and stiff writing in that book.

A beautiful portrait of the inhabitants of Miguel Street located in a derelict corner of Trinidad's Capital Port of Spain. Set during World War II, the story is narrated by a precociously observant neighbourhood boy. The mood shifts from sweet melancholy to anarchical fun as we discover the lives of Popo the carpenter, Man-man staging his own crucifixion, Big Foot the bully or the lovely Mrs Hereira in thrall to her monstrous husband. An amusing and poignant book.

New York City at a time when seeing a horse and wagon was so common-place that Marco, walking home from school had to think of something better to tell his dad when he got home. And, oh, what sights he saw! right there on Mulberry Street. Elephants, Eskimos, airplanes dropping confetti, and "a Chinese boy, who eats with sticks." It was great for a little boy in the late 30s in Northern Minnesota, and little kids love when I read it here in California in the 90s. It gives a feeling of Lower Manhattan that can be still found in the city today, though the horse and wagon might be harder to find. Wonderful imagery!

My favorite book out of the ten I read is And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss. I liked this book because after you read it your imagination is running wild. It is a book about a young boy's imagination when you can't stop it from running like an Energizer battery. After the story was over I couldn't stop thinking about more things to add to the young boy's story to make it even better. It is a great book for this project because you are really tapping into your childhood and your young imagination. I think everyone should read this book to see the magic of being a child. If you like Dr. Seuss books this is one you will really enjoy. It is fast pace and it rhymes to help the story be more fun.
My stepmom thought that this book was very creative because it was full of imagination. This book made her laugh because all of Marco's ideas were very silly and fun. She thought that it read at a very fast pace. She also loved the pictures and drawings because they kept changing as the boy's thoughts kept elaborating. The words rhymed from line to line keeping her interest throughout the book. Lastly, she shared that Dr. Seuss is one of her favorite authors of all time.

The main character in this book is named Marco, and he has a slight problem with an over-active imagination. Every morning when Marco leaves home to walk to school, 'Dad always says to me, "Marco, keep your eyelids up and see what you can see."' We meet Marco when he is on the way back from school and all he's noticed 'was a horse and a wagon on Mulberry Street.' Marco isn't too proud of this observation, "That can't be my story. That's only a start. I'll say that a ZEBRA was pulling that cart!"

Slowly and surely the story changes, now the zebra is pulling a chariot, now it's a reindeer, next it's pulling a sled and before you know it, he's got two giraffes and an elephant pulling a big brass band with a trailer attached on behind going through town escorted by the police. Marco gets so excited about this 'story that no one could beat! And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street!' But when Dad asks him what he sees he replies '"Nothing" I said, growing red as a beat, "but a plain horse and wagon on Mulberry street."'

The story is told in rhyme, as you might be able to see from some of the quotes I used. The story flows wonderfully, just like all of Dr. Seuss' works. The pictures are wonderful as well. The way all the animals are smiling and seem pleased that they get to pull these things is just really cute. The colors used are really nice, and the pictures are really bold and bright.

Personally, this is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books because I really like Marco's imagination and how he is always telling 'such outlandish tales... turning minnows into whales'.

Loggie-log-log-log

If you've ever received an insistent telephone call for an investment opportunity that is guaranteed to make you a lot of money from someone you do not know at a brokerage firm that sounds, well, impressive if not familiar, you will want to read this book. The bucket shops and chop houses that employed cold-call cowboys pitching plausible, fraudulent, can't miss ground floor opportunities to the gullible, the greedy, and the insecure were not just a toxic waste product of the last bull market. An internet search of SEC Litigation Releases shows that greed and naivete are (surprise, surprise) in evidence today. Nonetheless, penny stock peddler Louis Pasciuto's rapid rise and fall on this crooked avenue of Wall Street does say something about the past decade's willingness to believe impossible things.

Some of this territory has been visited in fiction (BOILER ROOM, New Line Cinema, 2000), but author Gary Weiss' true account of Pasciuto's world has it all: cash, sex, drugs, gambling, violence, humor. Did I say cash? Louis and his barely out of school buddies were pulling in a hundred, sometimes two hundred thousand dollars a month in the 1990's peddling dreams and phony hopes. Weiss is at home writing about this hard-boiled, street smart world. He captures the dialogue, the profanity, the ironies, and the simple money lust energy that drives it all. He gets inside the relationship between Louis and Charlie Riccotone, a violent, small-time extortionist with a slippery veneer, who comes to represent the Mob's influence in this world as he worms his way into Louis' life. Made for television scenes standout: Raucous teams of telephone pitchmen selling 'hot' new stocks; Louis and friend Buddy on sex and drug benders; a broker thrown through a plate glass window; a party boat adventure that goes badly wrong; Louis hiding his stripper girlfriend from his soon-to-be-his-wife sweetheart; and tense sit-downs with Guys of a certain reputation to arbitrate disputes.

In recent years the securities regulatory environment has gotten tougher, the press more investigatory, the public more suspicious. At the end of this fast-paced story corrupt enterprises go out of business, and people go to jail. A lot of people: Bad Guys, a mentor, and friends. Pasciuto's cooperation with the Feds lands him in the federal witness protection program. Where this young man goes from here, Weiss can only guess. It has been quite a ride and Weiss does his readers a service by taking them back all the wiser from this enlightening descent into the muck.

This is a terrific story about the intersection of needs and desires between criminals, Louis Pasciuto et al, and their victims. It rings true in every aspect. And, this I say after spending a career in wall street as a stock broker, albeit one who worked for reputable brokerage houses. A part of my business career also put me in contact with people who used these kind of chop shops to promote stocks whose ascendance benefitted greatly those on the inside of the game. Yes, trashy behavior by trashy people, but one should not lose sight of those in government and other societal institutions who perpetrate even larger frauds on the public; the ponzi scheme aspects of the social security system come to mind along with the recent problems the catholic church has experienced with Gay priests. Add to this the recent problems of financial fraud in the Washington DC teachers union, committed against its dues paying members, along with the recent insider dealings of the Board members of United Labor Life Insurance company, a union owned entity, where insider actions led to a breach of their fiduciary duties, in a major way, and it becomes abundantly evident that corruption knows no one source.

In my travels I also learned that the SEC and other regulatory bodies, while having many dedicated and honest people, often let larger crimes go unmolested while restricting themselves to smaller fish that they "can fry" within their budgets. That is they often pursue the "honest guys" who make administrative mistakes while letting the larger frauds continue i.e. the egregious accounting scandal at WorldCom perpetrated by Bernie Ebbers and his minions. Where was the oversight?

A positive for "Born to Steal" is that it's darkly funny and easy to read, and will receive wider exposure by being made into a successful movie. In this vein the more investors can learn about stock fraud the better. I would council everyone to read Manuel Asensio's, "Sold Short: Uncovering Deception in the Markets."

Also, the tendency for readers and reviewers with a preconceived mindset to see "corporate greed" behind every illegal action speaks clearly to the anomaly of the human condition; that on the one hand most wish to see themselves as morally virtuous while retaining an unquestioned capacity for self deception. Furthermore, it could be averred that just about everyone has a price when it comes to their complicity in a deal where "something for nothing" seems in the offing. These subsets of the most human of conditions do not restrict themselves to corporations, big business or wall street. One who holds to that notion just hasn't availed themselves of the vast trove of historical data and anecdote which would expose this self-contradiction.

A good read for the summer!

I'm in the investment business but this book amazed even me. This is a story of a Staten Island teenager who signs on at a chop shop set up to bilk customers of their money. While poorly educated, Louis Pasciuto finds he has a knack for selling and can easily talk these people in to investing with him. But since this is a scam where the brokers make massive money and the customers lose, it's hardly investing at all.

Giving an uneducated 20-year-old massive money is dangerous. As he doesn't trust banks, he develops a better use of him money, spend it. Spend it on toys, women, trips, and drugs until eventually his monthly living expenses are so high he has money troubles that end with a mafia guy entering his life for a monthly taste. Now that's a whole other problem.

Louis Pasciuto's personal history is a perfect overlay for a demonstration of how the mafia infiltrated the investment business. Stories of mafia guys coming in and slapping their brokers around for money are unsettling at best. As always, this doesn't end happily.

I strongly recommend this book for an entertaining educational read of what can go wrong in the investment world. For further info on this subject, see the DVD, Boiler Room with Ben Affleck for another perspective of this 1990s phonemen. Although starting a little slow, once you are engaged in reading this book you cannot put it down.

As a recent alumnus of an Ivy League business school, I naively/arrogantly expected to find Wall Street Words of minimal use and really only purchased it because of a desire to switch careers from consulting to investment banking and a subsequent need for a reference tool in research.

To my pleasant surprise, I have found it almost indespensable. It is always within reach when I read the WSJ and I find myself consulting it regularly.

I think that the 1-star review below is quite unrealistic. While I would agree that there may be a couple of terms missing, for my money it's still the best book out there of its type. NONE of these books are exhaustive. Remember, this is neither a text book nor a course, just a reference guide.

All up, an excellent reference guide that will answer most, if not all, of your financial terms and definitions questions succintly.

Wall Street Words, a reference book for the contemporary investor, affords a succinct, yet extensive explanation of the terms used in today's market. Author Dr. David L. Scott has directed his book toward the financial populace at all levels of expertise. The book is written practically, orderly, and aptly as it defines Wall Street's lingo. In addition, numerous financial tips contribute in-depth examples of many of the terms. I hightly recommend Wall Street Words as an excellent guide for A to Z investors!

I am currently studying for the Series 7 stockbroker exam. The study manual often introduces terms with little or no explanation. The glossary in the study manual only covers a small fraction of the terms used. Before buying this book, I would have to list the terms, stop studying, and find explanations. Sometimes, I would have to waste precious study time calling into my trainer to discuss these terms.

Now, I have all of the definitions I need right at my finger tips. This book has been a great supplement to the Series 7 study material. I no longer waste time struggling with terms I do not understand. I do not have to waste valuable time on hold calling into my trainer to get a better understanding of terms.