exchange

If you want a primer on technical analysis, this is a great way to start. Patterns in all markets repeat themselves, and watching these simple patterns can help to make you money or preserve capital that you have at work.. You can buy thicker, more expensive books on T/A, but I find these simple well defined patterns much more valuable and easier to understand and apply.

If the current round of corporate accounting fraud hasn't awakened you up to the usefulness of charting, maybe this book will. After having tried a pure fundamental analysis approach in my investing for years, someone finally convinced me to look at charts, which I considered to be the same level as reading tea leaves -- au contraire. After spening the past two years studying technical analysis, I am happy to report that this is one of the better books on the subject, and inexpensive, too. This book, along with websites like TradingMarkets.com, will give you a fantastic basis in technical analysis.

You can spend thousands on get rich schemes that are confusing, or dangerous, or far worse.

But the TA techniques are the standard and written by a standard in TA.

The charts are antiques but the knowledge is as current as today. (E.J. Korvette is one of the charts :)

Anything you learn from the book would be confirmed as correct today by an TA professional. And, it is quite readable to boot!

This book has good insights into the Wall Street of the 1960's. This was the period of time most similar to the present (not identical) regarding the boom in tech stocks and new issues. Brooks has some interesting insights into the players in that period of time and what went wrong.

"The Go-Go Years" is a largely a collection of New Yorker magazine articles (and some pieces written especially for the book) by John Brooks, who in it covers a crucial period in the history of Wall Street, the 1960s, which includes the rise of conglomerates, mutual funds, and hedge funds, i.e. players at the heart of our economic situation today. Reading this book is instructive for that alone.

But the book is far more than a prescient account of today's market forces. It's a vivid rogues gallery of people who rode the tides of fortune, had their days at the crest of their profession, and then fell back. Some, like stockpicker extraordinaire Gerald Tsai, the first Asian to rise to NYSE prominence, were undone by fortune and circumstance. Other less savory characters had only themselves to blame.

There's an early look at Ross Perot, described vividly at the book's outset as losing a half-billion in a single day (April 22, 1970) and more or less shrugging it off. Perot's priorities were solid and he knew what he was about. Not so Eddie Gilbert, "The Last Gatsby" as Brooks calls him, who parlays small victories into outrageous defeats, dragging along a coterie of privileged friends into more and more nefarious investment schemes. Brooks sees Gilbert's get-rich-quick attitude as too emblematic of Wall Street in the 1960s, and his narrative never tires of pointing these out.

Brooks' elegant prose has a way of leaping out at you without disrupting the narrative flow. About the trend for all investment strategy to come unglued: "The dumb money could take bitter comfort in the company it had among the smartest of the smart money - or former money." On Tsai: "...so swift and nimble in getting into and out of specific stocks that his relations with them, far from resembling a marriage or even a companionate marriage, were more often like that of a roué with a chorus line." On the numerous bailouts undertaken by the Street as the '60s went sour: "Save the broker in order to serve the customer: it was Wall Street's version of the trickle-down theory."

Brooks's writing feels timeless. His is a lapidary style of almost accidental eloquence, blending facts in a seamless way as he tells his tale. It's like Roger Angell's baseball writings for the same magazine - I kept thinking about Angell's great essays in "The Summer Game," which focuses on roughly the same period as "The Go-Go Years," albeit on a different sport.

While Brooks's disapproval with Wall Street in the 1960s is obvious, and his genteel liberal disdain for a status quo that allows the market to manage itself shows up now and again, he never loses his focus on the people, and allows them to breathe in his narrative. He doesn't quote from them much, but he obviously spoke to many of the principals at length and weaves their insights into the story. As much as the then-nascent trend toward conglomeratization bothers him, he allows himself to show some sympathy for one of its more outrageous practitioners, Saul Steinberg, who in one of the best chapters finds himself thwarted by the bluebloods while attempting to acquire Chemical Bank. "I always knew there was an Establishment - I just used to think I was a part of it," Steinberg says.

It's not a connect-the-dots style history of Wall Street in the 1960s. It's too episodic for that. But if you are studying the facts and figures of the Go-Go Years and want a deeper look, or simply enjoy the human drama all-too-often overlooked in American business journalism, "The Go-Go Years" is a book that has only appreciated in value over time.

Wiley Investment Classics typically fall into two categories, fascinating troves of banking wisdom that are well-written and insightful, and painful diatribes that while full of good intention are best put on the shelf for display. "The Go-Go Years" is definitely the former - this is an incredibly well written book about what has really become one of the forgotten times in American financial history. While the booom of the 1920's and resulting crash, as well as the excess of the 1980's are frequent subjects of many financial authors, Brooks has picked a relatively infrequently discussed portion of our financial history, the booming 1960's and the resulting crash of the early 1970's.

There are many outstanding sections of the book; the introduction to Ross Perot in the first chapter, the history of Gerald Tsai and Fidelity, the rise and fall of the conglomerates, the description of the back-office and its staff, and finally the description of Wall Street that begins Chapter 5, which is without question the best description of the area ever written. These few pages (104 - 111) are simply an outstanding piece of prose.

There are just too many good things about this book to fit into a 1,000 word review. Too many of the lessons from only 40 years ago are maddeningly similar to the lessons many dot-com and IPO investors are learning now, and the structure and actions of many Wall Street establishments are all too easily explained with this simple peace of previously "missing" history. If you are up to date on the current view of the 1929 collapse, and the bull market of the 1980's, then this is the book that goes a long way towards filling out the major events that shaped the markets in the interim.

Go read this book.

Favorite Excerpts:

"Goaded by stock underwriters eager for commissions or a piece of the action owners of family businesses from coast to coast - laundry chains, soap-dish manfacturers, anything - would sell stock in their enterprises on the strength of little but bad news and big promises." - Brooks (page 28)

"Some accused him of being a habitual liar; they forgave him because he seemed geniunely to believe his lies, especially those about himself and his past." - Brooks (page 63)

"In the nineteen twenties, Wall Street's last great era before the present one, it was a kind of super university as well as a marketplace." - Brooks (page 105)

"'We were all sheep,' one of them would admit, sheepishly, years later." - Brooks (page 120)

"A smooth operator with a streak of the gambler; a company more interested in attracting investors than in making real profits; the resort to tricky accounting; the eager complicity of long-established, supposedly conservative investing institutions; the desperation plunge in a gambling casino at the last minute; the need for massive central-banking action to localize the disaster; and finally, reform measures instituted too late - we will see all of these elements reproduced with uncanny faithfulness in United States financial scandals and mishaps later in the nineteen sixties." (page 125 - 126)

"Economics have never been my strongpoint" - Salinger (page 273)

The terms "Upheavals" and "Market Shock" should not be used to describe the subject matter in this book since it consists entirely of slow, gradual changes in demographics. These changes are only discussed in the most general of terms. There is not one chart or graph in this book. The lack of a timeline makes it impossible to do any serious financial planning. Most of these changes will not have a major effect on the U.S. economy until after most of us are dead and buried.

Unfortunately, the financial advice in this book is very limited, consisting mainly of common sense items, such as, "Learn to broil a trout." The useful information in each chapter can be summed up in one sentence: Chapter 1: Americans are aging. They will need health care and retirement homes. Chapter 2: Science is cool, but make sure that a lot of people will pay for it before investing. Chapter 3: Mutual fund fees are too high. (Also contains the crazy theory that all funds will collapse when people figure out they are not FDIC insured.) Chapter 4: One day, white people will be the minority in America. Chapter 5: The Japanese are getting older, too. Chapter 6: Europe needs Euro-denominated junk bonds. Chapter 7:China has a tough row to hoe. Chapter 8: The crime rate will rise. Chapter 9: There's that global warming thing.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical trivia. On the one hand, I read every page in this book. On the other hand, I don't expect to ever make a dime off of anything that I learned.

We all see the changes that are taking place around us (such as the graying of America). This book takes those changes and puts them into perspective with actionable information. I kept slapping my forehead and saying, "I know this, why didn't I see where it leads?" Buchholz makes sense out of our everyday observations and puts them into economic context.

A rare book on the economy that is actually interesting and fun to read. Buchholz has taken a very clever approach to making his point (with mini-novellas) that are both insightful and well researched. And humourous. Raises some serious concerns about the not too distant future that we should all be looking at as we contemplate our next investment.

This is a great administrator's book, it walks you through every step of Exchange Server. I can literally start from the beginning and set up an Exchange environment. I would, however, not recommend it to those unfamiliar with NT or networking.

This book came in handy many times while setting up, optimizing, administrating, and fixing Exchange Server 5.5. This is a great reference tool to keep by yourside at all times. All the important topics are covered and it was nice to get a quick lesson on ASP at the end of the book. Truth be told, this book got me started on programming in ASP.

For an introduction (and a very solid one at that..) to the workings of Exchange Server 5.5 - then look no further. This book has it all. Exchange 5.5 is legendary for the amount of configuration that can be done (the volume of property sheets in this product can be staggering) - this book guides you through the quagmire and leaves you feeling all the more confident about managing an exchange 5.5 environment. Indeed - after spending some time with this book and 5.5 managing exchange 2000 is a breeze...

If you're looking way to heat up your nights, look no further than POWER EXCHANGE! However, this is NOT for the faint-hearted reader. Carefully heed the publisher's warning that this is an 'Anything Goes' title, which includes almost every type of sexual act -- anal sex, bondage, discipline, domination/submission, fisting, multiple partners, oral sex and whippings are frequently explored in POWER EXCHANGE.

Schoolteacher Annie Cavendish is ecstatic with her new lover, Mark. He's the perfect lover, but will learning more about his private life drive Annie away? Mark Hanson is a stockbroker by day and a dominator by night. He's been searching for the perfect submissive, and believes he's found her in Annie. She's a newcomer to the BDSM scene, but her eager reactions lead them both down a sinfully erotic path.

Will Annie be able to blend her long-held moral views with her emerging sexual desires? Will Mark see her as more than his perfect slave, but as his soulmate? Will you be able to read this book without spontaneously combusting??

POWER EXCHANGE won't be every romance reader's cup of tea, but it is worth an evening's reading. Some parts of the book left me a little uneasy, but it was Madeleine Oh's writing skill and characterizations that earned POWER EXCHANGE four roses. The secondary characters weren't merely background figures; they allowed the reader to witness Annie and Mark's growth, both as individuals and as a couple. Minor editing errors might be noticed by picky readers such as myself, but they did not detract from the novel's overall appeal.

While this book cannot be classified as a straight romance, it is guaranteed to leave you breathless. Ms. Oh delivers strong characters in a well-written novel, coupled with a smorgasbord of sexual activities. Read quickly, for the pages might burst into flames, and you won't want to miss a moment of POWER EXCHANGE.

-- Julie Shininger, [...]

If you've ever had a dominant/submissive fantasy, this is the book for you! It shows how a dominant man brings a submissive woman with plenty of doubts into his world with hot erotica and hot dialogue. The ending disappointed me, but the rest of the book blew me away. I loved it and will read it over and over.

Excellent erotica. Not to sweet and not to harsh. Well developed characters and great plot. Extremely likeable dominant male character and submissive female character. No "evil" characters.
Well written

I really like this book and would recommend it to anyone who is especially just starting to eat a low fat/low sugar diet.
It may not be "gourmet" food, but it is great tasting, easy to prepare food...and you can find all the ingredients in your local markets.

One of the best parts of the book, believe it or not, is the information in the beginning pages on how to substitute low fat ingredients for fattening ones! You probably would never think the low fat substitutes could taste so good but THEY DO!!!

Try the book, you won't be disappointed.

I have tryed several recipies from this book, all were very good. The cherry pie filling is especially good! Its hard to find deserts to make that my husband can eat that taste so good.

The recipes are for "normal" food (as opposed to the kind of cookbooks that offer extreme ingredients that you must move to Manhattan to aquire!). He has loved every single thing I've prepared using recipes in this book. Lots of variety, great nutritional info, and easy preparation. He's a Type I diabetic, and has been for over 40 years. Before I started cooking for him when we married 4 years ago, he had no idea food that's good for him could be GOOD, too! And, this cookbook was one of the first I used to prepare new recipes for him that didn't require modifications to keep his blood glucose in control.

this is a great book. O'Higgin's book on buying the Dogs of the Dow was a good book, and it made sense: buy quality when it is cheap. Well, Miller's book makes sense, too. In fact, it makes so much sense, that you wonder "why, of course, that's the way to make money". This book reminds you how important dividends are (some 70% of stocks' returns over the past 50 years), and how significant compounding can be. ("yeah, yeah, yeah" you say, but how about 20+% annual return per year on an investment in a solid, low risk company? Miller tells you how.) Though this is not the kind of book that appeals to day-traders, or "hot stock" investors, it is the kind of book that should appeal to smart investors.

"Single Best Investment" is an intelligent, easy to understand and yet a rather entertaining book that should be of equal interest to a wide spectrum of investors, from beginners to professionals. Based on a common sense approach of time value and compounding, it guides investors toward creating portfolios that will result in consistent returns without playing the market. "Single Best Investment" is one of the few proven and effective strategies that make sense to investors around the world and will never go out of style.

This is an important but easy-to read book that argues that the single best investment is in stocks with rising dividends. It hits a layer of real bedrock, providing a long-term fundamental perspective that is a great antidote to the information overload that is typical of investment information today. Applying this approach is a low risk way to create a "compounding machine" that relentlessly grinds out income and capital appreciation over the long-term. It is a book both for both beginning as well as experienced investors, and is well-written and organized with excellent summaries at the end of each chapter.

This is a really good book!

Pentland communicates in complicated jargon that only Gurdjieffians understand. Thus, only Gurdjieffians will have any use at all for this book.

this is a very good book worth exploring. an earlier review gave this book two stars and made reference to this material having lost its freshness. not true. the ideas are the same and still allow the reader to think more carefully about life.

it is alway easy to find excuses not to read...don't ignore the truth.

Lord Pentland directed the Gurdjieff Work in the US for a great many years until his death. This book offers some of his insights collected at group meetings, where he was responding orally to queries from people of varying levels of understanding. His responses are NOT "formative ramblings", as one reviewer of limited understanding suggests, but flow directly from Lord Pentland's presence in the moment of response. This is a wonderful book, particularly for those involved in the Gurdjieff Foundation who are familiar with the formof a group meeting. Those who are not may be put off by the format, unless they take the trouble to establish a contemplative state in preparation.

If you have never written a covered call of any kind this work might be helpfull to you. If on the other hand you have experience with type of investment then this booklet covers only the most basic covered call information, it has nothing new and nothing that is specific to ETF's. As an experienced call writer I was very diappointed in the content of this booklet.

The thoughts discussed in this book are nothing short of revolutionary in terms of investment strategy and expected return implications. This book was obviously written by a practitioner who really "gets it". Mr. Kadavy explains his arguments and tactics in a very easy to understand manner -- much thanks for the cutting-edge piece which will certainly change many investors' portfolio strategies and returns!

This book was written for investors that are new to covered call writing and want the diversification they can get from ETFs. I just wanted to throw my two cents worth in, because the reviewer who said the book wasn't of any value because he's an expert call writer obviously missed the point. The description of the book clearly states that it is for those of us who are new to this. Didn't he bother to take time to read the book description? I might agree that if you are really an "expert" at this already, you probably don't need this book. But a real expert would have read the book description to see if it made any sense for him to buy it. All I can say is that I'm very glad I bought two of Kadavy's books about covered call writing (also bought "Covered Call Writing Demystified"). For those of us who bought all of the wrong stocks during the bubble and watched them go down, the combination of buying diversified ETFs and writing covered calls on them should be good for solid returns way into the future. This book will tell you what it is all about and how to do it too in a way that you can understand and work for yourself without some broker churning your account.

The book was absolutely intrigueing and compelling just to learn about the inside workings of the metals and oil business. Needless to say, I worked at this company for a short period of time... I did not see any of the implied pimping of secretaries or traders prostituting themselves for a deal. The author has gathered much information on the sequence of events, but found that he was presenting this story, not as a reporter, but a snotty bitter little man. Marc, did not have shifty eyes, and to say at 6ft, his presence was that of a tall and looming personality, makes me believe that this author is of short stature. There are many good and charitable things this man and his company have catered to, but not once did i see anything listed in this book. The people I worked for and with at this company, were a group of the nicest and most professional people I have worked for. I have since to find a company that performed in such a refined and distinguished manner. They werent the whores Copetas has implied them to be. My being a secretary there, I took quite offense to the pimping of the staff for info. This is business, but just someone working by a different set of rules. Broke some, now cant come to the country whose rules he broke. Unless, the Pardon sticks. And wouldnt that be something to really irk this author a little more than he already seems to be. His being a "journalist", I was surprised by his unprofessionalism in giving the facts. All the facts, and not his opinions.

The brevity of Copetas' book allows it to be mercifully readable. On the other hand, Metal Men is so condensed that federal prosecution of Marc Rich (who managed to become a Spaniard in order to avoid extradition) and Pincus Green (who became a Bolivian for the same reason) is difficult to follow. The best sections of the book are the juicy nuggets that leave the reader whetted for more information. This is especially true when Marc Rich's relationship with Henry Kissinger and Kissinger Associates is discussed. Marc refers to the good doctor as "K", perhaps an allusion to Franz Kafka's narrator in the book Schloss. How appropriate. Clearly there was, and perhaps still is, much mutual benefit in the relationship between two master players who operate at the same level in their respective games. Copetas would not be faulted if he enlarged on this particular topic. One might wish for more background on the peculiar relationship the wholesome country of Switzerland has had with mobsters, white collar crime of a certain calibre, and kleptocratic despots over the past decades, if not centuries. The enchanting Canton of Zug emerges as an especially infested banana republic within a national governmental system that sees all money as created equal, and equally welcome into its banking system, regardless of provenance. This is a far cry from the Switzerland of alpine cheeses, pure air, teutonic ski bums, and clinics for the super rich. More the Gnome Switzerland of secrets and Croesus grade wealth and grey teflon coated bureaucrats. Then there hints at generally unreported connections, such as a strong, if not well known, presence Swedes in Thailand. Swedes in Thailand ? We would like to know more. Perhaps additional insight into the underworld of international arms trade, which figured in some of Rich's dealings, as with the Ayotallah Khomeni. Somewhere in here we expect to find the thread of Iran-Contra, but that subject, too, is left to mere suggestion. Considering what Mr. Copetas appears to know, but has edited out for the sake of brevity or marketability, there is a much larger and more enlightening book waiting to be composed from his files. One doubts that such a work would be welcomed with open arms by much of the political establishment, but by golly it would make eye opening tome.

Mr. Copetas has written a highly readable and informative book. No doubt much of the information is true; however, the author appears to rely heavily on government documents for the prosecution of Mr. Rich when it come to writing about Marc Rich himself. Without Mr. Rich's input much of the book is open to speculation. The U.S. "justice" system is notorious for magically changing allegations into facts and hearsay and second-hand information into evidence.

I also noticed the copyright dates and found it interesting that the same political party was in office both times and that members of both of these administrations, privately, have a vested interest in the oil business. Which prompts me to ask: Is Marc Rich a corporate criminal, did he defraud the country and evade the law, or is it a case of sour grapes with a private vendetta being carried out in a public forum? I question, too, the fact that Mr. Rich was indicted while Oliver North ran for public office after committing virtually the same "crime".

It's mentioned that greed was a huge motivator and this I don't agree with. Profit is simply the by-product. Currently, I'm paper trading and honing my skills. Last December I placed a June DJIA put option costing me 2,100; in March, when the Dow fell I liquidated my option for 263,000. The excitement that's felt while everyone else is wringing their hands is incredible and the money was plowed right back into trading. Money is a marker, and trading is a test of skill and competition against yourself more than anything.

Mr. Rich, in his business dealings, reminds me of J.P. Morgan when he started out; and I would willingly relocate to Switzerland and become a lehrling, so persuasive is Mr. Copetas' writings.