economics-times

There was a lot I could relate to in this book. As a twenty-something college grad with a useless liberal arts degree living in Seattle during the dot.com boom, I was in the same boat as Mike Daisey. I even applied for a customer service job at Amazon.com back when Mike did, but never heard back (after reading this book I realize I probably didn't quite meet the quirky/over-educated profile they were looking for). However, anyone who's ever done customer service will immediately relate to Daisey's tales of dogmatic training classes, unpleasant customers, metrics-obsessed micro-managers, and the wide array of characters you find inhabiting the CSR position.

Once Daisey is promoted out of customer service into the nebulous "Business Development" department, the book loses some of its steam. Not because there aren't more amusing tales of co-workers and pointless busy work, but because Daisey tries to turn his personal story into a commentary on the rise and fall of Amazon.com (if not the entire dot.com industry). When he discusses the folly of Pets.com, it's nothing we haven't already heard, nor does it bring any additional insight to the countless news stories and books on the dot.com boom and bust.

I also found his self-analysis to be a bit overdone. For the most part it didn't bother me, but by the end of the book he seems too determined to find meaning in his time at Amazon.com, when it is clear there is none.

It also struck me as ironic that he could find so much fault in Jeff Bezos and the Amazon.com organization. If anything, he got exactly what he wanted -- material to write and perform with.

Self-described Gen X slacker and dilettante (and now author and comedian) Mike Daisey responded to the following ad in the *Seattle Weekly*:
CUSTOMER SERVICE TIER 1: LAME TITLE - COOL JOB. He says "the rest of the ad mentioned good pay, flexible hours, and a 'hip and quirky work environment." Thus began his endeavours within our Host here at Amazon.com. In the beginning, he says, life in Amazon Customer Service "was half socialist boot camp and half college party dorm." He later was promoted to "Business Development." It is an often humourous glimpse within the belly of this beast - fleas and all. (I was going to say "warts and all," but then we're talking about Dog Years here - and there is some discussion in the book about employees bringing their dogs to work, and I'm going to talk about Pets.com in a minute - so I modified the metaphor.)
I don't know how true the information is - some of it would explain events that have occurred in this reader's experiences with Amazon.com. Hmmm. And his description of the Dot.com frenzy, especially the rise and fall of Pets.com, is entertaining and astute. Darn, I miss that sock puppet dog!

Alright, so Mike Daisey is one of the many who experienced the frenzied storm of life at a dot com. The reason I enjoyed 21 Dog Years so much is that it's about much more than that. If I were to take a stab at it I'd say the real kernel of the story is Daisey's relationship with work in general; Amazon is a bit of a red herring. He gives a genuinely funny accounting of how a guy from northern Maine finds himself temping in Seattle, disaffected and primed for the seduction of stock options and the chance to make history. This isn't just Daisey at Amazon. This is everyone 5+ years out of their liberal arts education and wondering just what the hell 50, 60, 70 hours of their life every week is worth. What are we trying to prove? What's really important? 21 Dog Years begs these questions as we follow Daisey on a most entertaining ride through dot com culture. This book is a treat you'll be trading amongst the cubes.

Ain't nothing like the real thing baby.

Don't waste your money on the Smitten version of Livermore's treasure. The Amazing Life of Jesse Livermore is highly recommended though.

You really need to read the 1991 reprint of the 1940 original. You can find copies at half.com, etc.

To help you bring the Livermore Market Key into focus substitute "one margin" whenever you read "3 points" and "two margins" when you read "6 points" and "four margins" when you read "12 points."

The charts ought to "speak to you" when you make those substitutes. You see Jesse was working with 10% margin and always used 3 points in relation to a stock around 30 points. Reading between the lines produces the above distinction.

Jesse Livermore's book, in my opinion, is the single all time best book ever written on trading stocks.

I have read many books on trading, 7 out of 10 ordinary books are written by people who are good at writing textbooks. They are good at talking theory, but when it comes to combat in the trading battlefield, they come short and leaves you unsatisfied.

Jesse walks you through important trading principles which he learned through mistakes himself. He walks you through the emotions, the struggles, the mistakes, together with the success. This is no textbook, but you will learn important principles from a man who has been through the trenches himself.

THis book is not for ordinary investors, but for traders with a bit of experience. For those who are full time traders, this book is a must read. It leaves the ordinary trading textbooks in the dust.

The only draw back is Richard Smitten bought the copyright to the original book (from what I know), and he removed 3 chapters at the end of the original book, and he replaced it with his own materials. I went through great troubles to get hold of the orignal book with the final 3 chapters intact(the juicy stuff).

Overall, a must read for traders. If you can find the original edition, buy it and forget the new edition by Smitten.

This is the best book I have ever read on trading, period! And i have read at least 20 of them. Even though this book was written more than 50 years ago (written in 1940!), it is still quite relevant today. (Which goes to show that nothing new ever happens in the stock market) It never ceases to amaze me how much wisdom Jesse Livermore has packed into almost every page of this book. I like to re-read this book every 6 months or so; to remind myself of the simple but un-intuitive rules of trading. Buy this book, read it several times and see the difference in your trading results. No kidding.

--Olu Emuleomo

This book is just another example of why non-statisticians shouldn't write books on statistical subjects. It's best-selling status confirms P.T.Barnum's famous phrase.

What the author does is use year-end prices covering 45 years to "prove" all sorts of useless things about various simple strategies centering around value investing. Forty-five data points, whether it be daily data or yearly data, is not enough (by more than at least a factor of ten!) to reach any significant conclusion about anything such as the financial markets, where any signal present is swamped by noise. But O'Shaughnessy is quite tickled that he's proven all the experts wrong with his measly sample.

What's even worse is that the spuriousness of his "profound" results is right there staring him in his face: he frequently comes up with numbers like 14.59%, with a standard deviation of 23.24% -- not realizing that this means the real answer is likely anywhere between -8.65% and +37.83%; in other words, it's consistent with a 0% return for that particular strategy. To compound the folly, O'Shaughnessy then goes on to continually draw conclusions based on differences of a few percent or less (a small fraction of the standard deviation) between competing strategies, not realizing that this is utterly meaningless.

On top of these fatal flaws, O'Shaughnessy also commits the most common sin of model testing: he fails to forward-test his strategy on data which the model hasn't yet seen. This just about guarantees that future results will disappoint, as indeed has been the case the last several years with the mutual funds which he launched based on the ideas in this book after its first edition.

I give it 1 1/2 - 2 stars because even a crummy strategy is better than none at all.

This book is for long term investors who want to rotate their portfolios once per year. Basically the author looked at several strategies ranging from low p/e's to high annualized growth rates and everything in between. He back tested the strategies from 12/31/1954-12/31/1996 he then would purchase the bottom 50 and the top 50 for that screening category and ranked the results. The highest strategy was Price to Sales ratio under 1, with high relative strength, this strategy returned a compound interest of 18.62% over the 45 year time span. Thus a $10,000 investment would become $12,999,698!

Now if I were you I'd just go to the library and check out the book since only the results are really the important part of the book.

Reed Floren

What Works on Wall Street? According to a study of 45 years of stock market data in a book called "What works on Wall Street" by O'Shaughnesy he came to the conclusion that some strategies would have produced greater returns than the S&P 500 whilst others produced less. He tested a range of strategies, re-balancing the strategies annually, with each strategy involving the 50 stocks which met the criteria for inclusion.

The worst strategy that you could have adopted was to buy last year's losers each year. The message is clear - losers carried on being losers. Sometimes the weak beats the strong, but it's not the way to bet your money.

The next ten worst strategies involved buying Companies on high multiples such as high price to sales ratio companies. These companies were generally on high multiples because they were thought to be high growth or sexy companies with lots of potential. They were the then current stock market darlings that investors were prepared to pay up for in order to join in with the latest investment fad or fashion.

As far as the best performing strategies are concerned, he found that the top 6 strategies all involved buying companies with high relative strength in combination with a value factor such as low p/e or low price to sales ratio. These companies were generally on low multiples because they were in out of favour sectors or old economy share that had been overlooked. By combining it with high relative strength (i.e. shares which were rising), these strategies caught those shares whose under-valuation was finally starting to be recognised by the market.

The book found that over long periods, adopting the following rules would have proved to be more profitable than buying the S&P 500: Low price to sales stocks out-perform the higher p/s stocks. Low price to cash flow stocks do better than high p/cfl stocks. Low price to book stocks tend to perform better than high p/b stocks. Other conclusions reached in the book are as follows: Price to sales ratio is the best single value ratio to use for buying market beating stocks. Last years biggest losers are the worst stocks you can buy. Last years earnings gains alone are worthless when determining if a stock is a good investment. You can do four times as well as the S&P 500 by concentrating on large well known stocks with high dividend yields. Relative strength is the only growth variable that consistently beats the market.

Buying Wall Street's current darlings with the highest price to earnings ratios is one of the worst things you can do.

Other lines from the book: Growth investors believe in a Company's potential and think a stock's price will rise with its earnings.

Value investors believe in a company's balance sheet, thinking a stock's price will eventually rise to meet its intrinsic value.

The S&P 500 tracker strategy is a strategy making disciplined bets on large cap companies. This strategy is just one of hundreds of strategies which could exist. For example another strategy might be to measure the performance of all stocks that begin with the letters h,l,m,n, and p. There are many other strategies which have given higher returns in the past than the S&P 500 strategy, some for no logical reason, others with a certain logic. Examples of logical strategies include a disciplined small cap strategy, or a disciplined low price to sales strategy or a disciplined high yield strategy etc. Some of those strategies also performed more consistently than the S&P 500 strategy, ie with less risk.

For example if in the 1950s the editors at Dow Jones had decided to revamp the index buying the 50 stocks with the lowest price to sales ratio, then the Dow Jones Industrial Index would be at 4 times the level of today.

People want to believe the present is different from the past. The price of a stock is still determined by people. As long as people let fear, greed, hope and ignorance cloud their judgement they will continue to mis-price stocks and provide opportunities to those who rigorously use simple time tested strategies to pick stocks. Names change, industries change. Styles come in and out of fashion, but the underlying characteristics that identify a good or bad investment remain the same.

I am a former United States Border Patrol Agent and I read this book while working the fixed positions we often manned along the Arizona-Mexico border. I was so moved by this story, I cried. I cried as I read this book, right there in my Border Patrol vehicle on the very line separating two very different worlds! This book is an easy read and can be taken a little at a time. Its impact is incredible and your heart will be broken. It is a must read! I am not compromising my stance on immigration laws here, I am just expressing my heart-felt pain for some of what the beautiful people of Mexico must face in their lives. God bless!

Brilliant read, by a heroically courageous soul. If you are aspiring to learn more about Mexican reality, read this book. Highly recommended.

This book is a must read for anyone who cares to understand Mexico's border life. Pieces of his stories will haunt you for days, months, or years. He writes in such a manner that innocently seeks your mind but in the end it will garner oh so much more. I only wish he could then tell us how the other side of Mexico lives or can live with such abject poverty (In Mexico, over 40 million out of 90 million live in poverty--17 million live in severe poverty, NAFTA, ye all shall be free..).

I found the book to be a reasonably enjoyable read, however I must say that the author's high opinion of himself seems to shine through on almost every page and really put me off. We don't want to know about his boats, wealth, etc... just the story would do.

I read a different version, and the cover had just him on the front with a really self satisfying grin. And there were NO photos in the book to relate the story to!

Could have been much better.

This book is so closely aligned with Jim Clark's view of the world that the real drama of software development is lost. Clark claims he's not a whiner, but he spends page after page downing SGI and Microsoft. I would rather that he had spent time focusing on the lives of his programmers, in the way that a far better book, Show-Stopper!, by G. Pascal Zachary, did. In Show-Stopper!, real tension and non-stop action builds as Windows NT is built. That book has little to do with Bill Gates, but instead hones in on the intimate life details of David Cutler and his NT crew. In contrast, Netscape Time has ever redundant and tiresome themes, which if eliminated, would have halved the size of the book. Clark takes credit for founding the company but then, humbly at least, admits that Marc Andreesen and his NCSA crew are the real genius behind Netscape. Maybe someone will write that story in more detail sometime.

Would you spend twenty dollars to spend about 8 hours listening to Jim Clark reminisce about starting SGI and Netscape? Then buy the book.

For those familiar with the struggle of trying to accomplish something innovative, you will find his story strangely familiar. For those trying to innovate something on the Internet, you will find this book very encouraging. For those who read between the lines, you will find that it's not about the money, it's about "getting it" and being right, and money is the proof statement in this brave new world.

Clark's direct no-nonsense style can be in your face at times, and you can see why the dense just couldn't get it, because no one likes being shouted awake from a deep sleep. But like most prophets, Clark sees no profit in beating around the burning bush. It seems to be a trait of the innovator.

There is some real insight buried among the stories, as well as advice on how to deal with VCs and dilution of equity, problems many of us look forward to having.

This should be an audio CD, since it is more of an epic poem than a book. It would be great to have a DVD version with addition points of view and multimedia. Netscape made the Internet a multimedia experience; it would seem only fitting that a book by its founder would do the same.

This is the best book (funny and practical and savvy) I have ever read on the subject of women and marriage and men. IN it you hear the voices of women from all walks of life, from all over the country and of every age. They are wise as is this book. A real page turner and a great introduction by Judge Judy! How can you miss!

I loved this book because it gave some insightful methods of making a little spare change to put aside for a "rainy day." I have noticed however that a lot of people say that it teaches women to deceive their husbands. Perhaps the people who feel that way did not read the book very thoroughly because they obviously did not see the part about what men do in times of divorce. Its jut like the author of the book says, your husbands are more than likely deceiving you, why not protect yourself? The main people who say that this is deceitful will be the ones who wil be in need of such a nest egg one day. I give much praise to the author for a wonderful book! i just hope more women have the guts to take the excellent advice found in the book.

It's not about cheating your husband, it's about having a little money that you can call your own. It's about not having to account for every penny you spend. It's about what you deserve. Been married 40+ years and wish I read this book long ago. Last week I took my daughter, daughter-in-law and all my grandchildren out for breakfast with MY money. It really felt great!

I found this book to be inspirational but unrealistic - unless you are a type "a" workaholic"- then it's o.k. I bought this book several years ago and have read it a couple of times and the impression I get every time - compulsive, obsessive and unrealistic

Welcome to Don Aslett's high-paced world! This and other books by Don Aslett have helped me, a mother of a 4-mo. old and a 2-yr. old, get my act together, get tons more accomplished, and be a far happier person. This book focuses on a common sense approach to time management and revives the idea that hard work can be highly fulfilling and joyful. Gone are the endless attempts at lists and complicated schedules I have seen in many approaches to time management. If you are creative, have lofty dreams, or have had bad luck with typical approaches to time management, this book is for you.

If you're looking for a book on how to accomplish more without making any effort, then don't buy this book--you'll be disappointed. If you want practical guidance from someone who's a real producer, however, you'll be pleased. Much more practical than the usual time management book, Mr. Aslett gives sound advice on how to accomplish more with your time, advice that he obviously practices himself. He sometimes offends people with his directness, but I always enjoy reading his books, which are always packed with humor as well as good sense.

The book covered some of the real-time technology that TIBCO and other IT firms developed. But it is outdated. The environment now in year 2003 is very different.

If there is one business-oriented IT strategy book on the rather esoteric (and somewhat unglamorous) subject of "middleware infrastructure," this is it! In this book, Vivek Ranadive makes a compelling business case to CEOs, CIOs and CFOs to invest in event-driven real-time infrastructure, citing success stories from leading global financial companies including Goldman Sachs and Nomura.

This book inspired me to start a company called KnowNow; I have bought a copy of the book for every executive who has joined my company to inspire them, too. The Power Of Now is a business-focused treatise on the use of publish-subscribe technology in creating highly responsive business processes. Though I agree with the reviewer who claimed the writing style is somewhat dry, I do think it is the most compelling book I've read that makes the case for IT strategists to transition to infrastructure that supports real-time applications.

Upon recieving this book I read it in approximately 3 hours. Not exactly harecore information. The book is too general. I expected to find some deep insight in to the working mind of a millionare. As well as some valuable info on running a successful business. As a small business owner I wanted more in terms of "how to", all that was delievered was basic reasons as to why people that work for others are not "filthy, stinking rich." If you are a serious business person, who's time is your most prescious asset, don't waste it on this book. No offence to the author, but in my opion this book is written on a third grade reading level.

As a CPA, I enjoyed reading this book as it summarizes how I have lived my life and how I recommend to my clients that they should live their lives.

The book is very easy to read, with stories from the author's real life experiences, which makes it fun and interesting.

I have developed a successful CPA firm using ALL of the methods and recommendations Herb Kay writes about. I highly recommend that any entrepreneur ready to start a business, or already in business, reads this book.

...I thought it was a fun, breezy read, and the message he gives about owning your own businnes and being self-employed really rings true...

I enjoyed this book. Alot. If you really want to know what you need to do to make the big money, you could do worse than this book.

Did Murray Sperber ever learn to think critically? If he tried to talk tough with Bobby Knight using sports jargon he would be laughed out of the room! Who knows more sports jargon and has all the winning cards, the dumb jock or the arrogant book worm?
Sperber argues that scholar/teachers are outdated but a rank/tenure committee can count papers or books or cites where as only the worst and best teachers have a record.
Ironicly, coaches are one of the few teaching species that have a demonstrable record which is why Knight could get away with anything.
Grade schools have discouraged teachers in droves by trying to justify raises using test scores and bias evaluations. Should research universities turn into popularity contests and experiments in test taking or should the public trust traditional proven methods of retention and promotion?

First, the premise - Prof. Sperber argues that many Division I schools are shortchanging undergraduate students. He cites:

* Chasing research dollars and "publish or perish", so that * Professors don't teach undergraduates - they get lectures.. * Unless they are honors students, who do get quality education. * To make up for this, universities promote fraternities.... * And big-time athletics, with beer companies paying part of... * the freight, with resources sunk into athletic facilities.

I went to a Division III school (Pace University in NY) so I never encountered this. But, I can see how this works - the University of New Hampshire has invested its money recently into athletics facilities (after reviewing market research). And, more than a few people in the state have noticed - so they may find this book providing an explanation for these actions.

The book does get quite repetitious with its premise, and it also ignores Division II schools completely (focusing on the differences between Div I-A and Div III (which do not award athletic scholarships). That would have provided a more complete test of this theory. Finally, one might ask why he chooses to teach at a large university, if it is really that bad.

Professor Sperber was the biggest critic of the recently deposed Bob Knight - but he is only mentioned in passing here, which another respondent lamented. My guess is that he didn't want that to be the raison d'etre of the book, and have it overshadow the book's message. Besides, he already received enough death threats.

All in all - a compelling read. Even if you don't accept the book's premise, you may find at least some parts resonating. Or, at least challenging.

This latest effort by Prof. Murray Sperber, who made himself almost famous recently by taking the semester off from Indiana University to avoid the Bobby Knight cauldron, should be read by every concerned layman, university president, trustee, faculty member and investigative journalist. Sperber's larger theme -- that universities have abandoned undergraduate education for research while pushing the college kids toward beer-and-circus seven-day weekends -- is well illustrated. He also notes how university administrations have sharpened their accounting methods to make it harder and harder for anyone to keep track of how much XXXX money --- I almost said beer -- they actually pour into their intercollegiate programs. Reviews in major publications have run from warm to enthusiastic. Sperber's one-semester sabbatical from IU seemed to me like overkill a few months ago, but now that the IU president himself has sought off-campus shelter I don't think Sperber was off the mark at all. His book is a bull's-eye. His earlier seminal work -- College Sports, Inc. -- could have been titled The Emperor's New Clothes. It's worth reading today. I understand he has another book in the works. If enough people read what he says and then talk to each other then perhaps the system could be shamed into the radical change it needs. That includes a return to needs-based scholarships and the end of the one-year athletic scholarship that is plainly a salary for work.