exchange

This is a Fraser reprint of "The Theory of Stock Speculation" by Arthur Crump, apparently an Englishman, written in 1874-5, published around 1900-1901.

Style is difficult at times, with long paragraphs, words and phrasing of that period. But this is very worthwhile reading - trading psychology; intermarket analysis; economics; history.

E.g., first ticker of sorts, via telegraph, was started on 11/13/1851, between the London stock exchange and Paris. I did not know previous to reading this book, that France had to pay war reparations to Germany for the Franco-German/Prussian war just before this time, perhaps the originating source of motivation for the heavy WWI reparations demanded by France and others, of Germany after WWI, leading to WWII. This info is just one of many, many interesting items in the book.

But, this is not a history book, its a treatise on the pitfalls and dangers of speculation.

It is amazing to me that so much was known way back then, about trading psychology, trading tricks and scams, markets, public versus professional results, panics, etc.

This short book compactly contains most of what any current books on trading psychology contain.

Virtually every one of its 114 pages seems to have multiple pieces of trading wisdom worth quoting.

Does it apply to current speculation, trading and markets? Definitely!

This book covers oil futures, options and OTC derivatives. The similarities of derivative markets means that really any energy trading executive can learn from this book - the principles are the same regardless of the underlying commodity. Strongly recommended for people moving into trading, or with an interest in the energy derivative industry. This book is easy to understand and assumes no prior knowledge of derivatives or oil.

Was very pleased with the material contained in this book. Although I am a beginner in the natural gas trading field, I found Sturm's book both easy to understand yet challenging in its scope. A great deal of emphasis is placed upon various hedging techniques and many helpful diagrams are included to portray the trading flow. Overall a very unique and insightful book for beginners and for those with years of experience in trading natural gas.

Trust and Reciprocity is an exciting compilation of cutting-edge experimental research into the bases of social cooperation. The editors and contributors are prominent and distinguished contributors to experimental and interdisciplinary approaches to modeling cooperation.

The editors quickly identify the central problem of cooperation: while all gain from cooperating, each individual has an incentive to free-ride on the good will of the others. No cooperation takes place unless the free rider problem is successfully addressed. Ch. 2 presents compelling evidence that face-to-face communication alone is capable of sustaining cooperation in small groups, especially when the task is repeated several times. Moreover, if experimental subjects are allowed to fine shirkers, at a cost to themselves, they do so, despite that fact that purely self-interested subjects would never engage in such activity.

There is a fine computer simulation (Ch. 7) that beautifully illustrates the capacity of agent-based modeling to generate interesting hypotheses concerning human behavior--in this case, the synergistic relationship between cooperation and conflict. The experimental chapters of of uniformly high quality, and quite illuminating, including a chapter on the development of trust and reciprocity in children.

The theory side of the book is less successful. Several authors say that the experimental results "contradict game theory." This is simply incorrect. Like mathematics, game theory can be more or less useful in modeling a phenomenon, but it cannot be "wrong." Indeed, all of the experimental results are based squarely on game theory as a tool of experimental design.

More important, despite ample evidence that trust and reciprocity cannot be explained assuming selfish individuals, the theorists in the book attempt repeatedly to assert just that. According to the authors, altruistic behavior is caused by mistakes in reasoning! The major theoretical chapter in the book (Ch. 4), for instance, is an exposition of Robert Trivers' concept of "reciprocal altruism," which is just long-term self-interest. The experimental results on reciprocity are incompatible with this concept, unless one assumes that subjects simply are ignorant and mistake-prone in their behavior. Numerous experiments show that this is decidedly not the case. In Chapter 6, we are told that subjects are only altruistic because they are afraid that the conditions of anonymity in the experiment are highly imperfect--despite the fact that the evidence for this is extremely weak (one study done in 1994, which has not been replicated, using a dictator game, which is not a social interaction or a social dilemma), and the evidence against which is virtually overwhelming. Later in the chapter we are told (p. 162) that people cooperate in one-shot games because they confuse them with repeated games, with which they are more familiar. This argument is specious, however, because many experiments reveal that people are quite capable of distinguishing between one-shots and repeated games, and cooperate much more in the latter than in the former.

So this book will not win any awards for social theory, but it is deep and rich with highly insightful descriptions and analysis of human behavior under conditions where trust and reciprocity increase well being. The Russell Sage foundation, which underwrote the research and preparation of the volume, is to be commended for a job well done.

Terrific explanation of a time many have forgotten, when Wall Street nearly collapsed not from scandal but from hubris, incompetence, and just plain sloppiness. Remember when the markets were closed on Wednesdays so firms could process their paperwork? How about Ross Perots adventure to conquer the street? Me neither. Unless you lived it, you'll never get closer to knowing how many times the whole ballgame nearly came undone.

I was amazed to learn this isn't really a book, but rather a computer program. I like the screening feature the best. Well worth it.

Pecora, Ferdinand. Wall Street Under Oath. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1936.
An insider's look at the "Pecora Investigation" of stock market operations during the 1920s, as written by the Counsel to the United States Committee on Banking and Currency. Pecora's comprehensive investigation, which subpoenaed some of the most prominent financiers of the age and asked them to explain how they made their fortunes, led to the enactment of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

I only only finished 77 pages of this book. It was by far the best book about Warren Buffett. I had read "The Warren Buffett's Way" and "Buffettology". Bill, a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder

In "Wealth by Association" John Edmunds and John Marthinsen show how the world can move forward to a single global currency. Not only will such a world save on the hundreds of billions of dollars annually wasted today on foreign exchange trading transaction costs, and on avoided currency crises and on avoided currency inflation; the assets of the world will grow because of the elimination of currency risk.
If the decision makers of the world could read this book, they would push much more rapidly toward a single global currency. The concepts in "Wealth by Association" are not rocket science, as the authors show how the U.S. Dollar and the old German Mark are/were "common currencies", as is now the euro.
Bravo for "Wealth by Association"
morrison bonpasse
President
Single Global Currency Association
Newcastle, Maine
www.singleglobalcurrency.org

A full-length science-fiction work with a Christian attitude, aimed at young adults aged 11 through 17. ... "Is there more to life--not just in space, but on Earth--than meets the eye? And what of that mysterious power [Meena] is gradually discovering--called love?" ... The book affirms that "Even a child who takes up a prophetic task can save the world."