exchange

this is a handy reference to have with you when you are out. however, it is neither comprehensive nor exhaustive.

This is the pocket version of the American Diabetes Association Exchange Diet Plan. Although it is not comprehensive, it does give examples of enough foods in each category to be able to determine the exchanges for other foods which are not listed. Also contains a section on Combination foods and Fast foods.

This is a very nice hardcover book that talks about the people, the stocks, and what went on in 1929 at the dawn of the stock market crash. Blumenthal follows numerous popular brokers, celebrities and everyday people as they stuggle with the uncertain market. Blumenthal also goes into details of why the stock market was so popular in the 1920's and explains many important stock market concepts as well. I used this book for a project,but have to admit that at times it was a bit dull. The intended audience might find it very boring, but nonetheless, it was a fairly good book.

This was a great book that I loved reading. I am into history and this book gave lots of details about the stock market crash that made it easy to understand. I think lots of kids will like this book if they give it a chance.

The title of the book suggests no bias or agenda for the work. It simply adopts the title of a very broad and complex area of commerce as it's own name; The Stock Market. The book offers a basic understanding of many aspects of the 'Market'in a way that the un-initiated can understand. Anyone looking for help in selecting a sure path to riches will be dissapointed. Anyone seeking an understanding of the basics, and how various aspects of the 'Market' relate to each other will be rewarded.

This book deliveres knowledge and understanding without bias. It can serve as general reading material or as a reference. It prepares the reader to select and understand other material.

New editions appear when the 'market' changes enough to warrant new material. The content is up to date without being padded by trendy but useless material.

Cliff Critchett
end of review comments

Although this book is an introduction as well as a reference, some knowledge of stock market is assumed. The author often uses technical terms without defining them in the chapter(although there is a small dictionary in the back). If you have traded once or twice before, you should know at least some of those terms.

Trading can be a rewarding endeavor, this book is geared for the intermediate student of the markets who has at minimal a basic understanding of the markets. I reccommend this book over the numerous ones i have read and digested on trading, which includes making and losing money. This is one of the handful that stands out. Not in any particular method though it has a few that i have used profittably, but more in an understanding of the markets and some insight into making one's own trading system. The thought process into making one's own system(s) and following it is where i feel many people lack, and most traders are losers. This book shares some insight into various systems that if followed blindly you will never make it, but if seen as a thought process into developing a system one can stack the odds into one's favor in the hopes of turning out more winners than losers.

Although the author has "legendary" status in the trading world, every now and then one comes across biting criticisms of him and his work. One reason for this I'm sure, are the little inconsistencies which occur in his ouvre.
For example, up until the publication of this book, he had written a few, which in hindsight, were all about longer term trading.
It now seems he has been trading short term for years.
Also, he says in Long Term Trading that he trades bonds and the S&P, and yet other quotes I've seen attributed to him say he trades the stock index only.
For all that, this is a tremendous book. Very easy to read but the devil is in the detail.
My only criticism is that at times the editing is very poor, and a simple literal when discussing trading systems can turn a winning system into a losing system.
Also his results were attained using Omega/Trade Station and when the same systems are tested using a different software, the results can flucuate enormously, sometimes invalidating the original system tested. This point seemed to surprise Larry but is one he should have been aware of.
However, it is undoubtedly the best book on trading I've read.

As an avid trader and student of Larry Williams, I can say that without a doubt that this is the culmination of a brialliant career. I have read all of Larry's materials, and I have long awaited a single work from Larry that summarizes his short term technique and style of personal trading in a single volume.

Larry provides the basis on which to build a system or methodology for trading the markets particularly the bond and s&p markets)that will provide consistent, high probability trades. From pattern analysis to volatility breakout systems to money management this work covers all the bases for establishing a short term style of trading. With his up front, conversational style of teaching, Larry does not confuse the reader with technical jargon that requires a math degree to understand. This book is a must for short term traders!

If you need a jumpstart into Exchange 5.5 development go and get this book immediately. It provides not only a good overview of Outlook 2000 development it covers also building Web-enabled applications interfacing with Exchange Server 5.5. Also a wealth of information re: server-side scripting and routing capabilities are included. This will give you the immediately start into developing your own applications leveraging all those technologies.

I guess Tom is now working on the second edition using Exchange 2000 as the next generation of Microsoft's messaging and collaboration foundation.

Good work Tom!

This and "Building Applications with Outlook 2000" are the two great references of the Outlook world. Both must be on your shelf if you plan to do any amount of Outlook programming. The examples are good (and work). Rizzo covers the intermediate to advanced topics like: the various collaborative MS systems (dives right into this on page 4) with examples, e-mail (auto name resolution, delayed delivery, voting buttons, etc.), and information management. The author then tackles Exchange Server (directory, public folders (a biggy), security, replication, tools). Then back to Outlook with examples on how to build applications, forms, and VBScript (won't somebody please come out with a book with Javascript examples also? ). Other topics are exhaustively treated: Web access, COM with examples. Finally (my favorite) the CDO. At this point he tips over the edge into the advanced topics and begins teaching everything by example (gee), wrapping up with a tips and pitfalls section. The author also devotes time to the Exchange Scripting Agent, Routing Objects, ADSI, and Exchange COM components. The CD contains all the example code. A must have for the Outlook programmer's library.

I bought the first two editions and were impressed with them. The depth of knowledge and the sample applications showed the author put time into digging into the intermediate to advanced topics on building on Microsoft's technologies. With the 3rd edition, I was blown away. It's huge and there is a lot of information to digest. Since I work with both Exchange/Outlook and SharePoint, I especially liked that this book covered both topics (download the SharePoint chapters from the website for the book!). If you are going to buy one book on developing on Microsoft's collaboration technologies, this is the one. I can't wait for the 4th edition.

"What a waste of my time". That was the thought that crossed my mind as I labored to finish the book.

The -only- reason I bought this book is because it was recommended by Gary B. Smith, a technical trading columnist at TheStreet.com/Realmoney.com for whom I have great respect. But after reading it, I felt that I was none the wiser.

The book makes some good points. The chapter on Abel Abelson, the famous permabear in Barron's, is a good read and a good example of someone failing to see the trend (permabulls aren't any better, mind you, but there is no example of that in this book). And the authors' emphasis on backtesting (instead of relying on a hunch) is commendable -- up to a point.

But the authors spend way too much time defending their own record. And backtesting has its own limits. IMHO, the market is all about emotion; backtesting will not always capture this.

They authors are also dismissive of technical trading, fundamental analysis, and P/E ratios! Gimme a break, Vic. Are you saying nothing works except ValueLine?! I *know* they do because I have increased my capital nine fold in four years using these very tools. I was hoping that this book will help me become a better trader and a better investor, but I am none the wiser for reading it.

This book gives treausure maps, minefield maps, and road maps for the market. The treausure maps tell you how to make money by analyzing the balance sheet,(beware of inventory and accounts receivable), by buying the growth companies in the first and fourth quarter, by following after interest rates, by buying the biotech with the insider buying, by bargaining for a good price, by waiting after a bad year, by waiting until real estate is down.

The minefield maps tell you how to avoid the blowups from earnings propaganda, the heads and shoulders and all that,the low book value stuff, the short term mentality,the boastful
companies, the propagandist who's always gloomy. The road maps show how to use scatter diagrams, return data from all Countries, the value line, the conservation of energy,tennis,
baseball and chess to provide a foundation for investing. It's all documented with dozens of original tables, also very funny, and scholarly.

I think i've read every other book about investing, and this one is head and shoulders way above them. [...]

Practical Speculation is one of the two best books on trading/investing on the market, the other book is The Education of a Speculator.

The Education of a Speculator, was largely an autobiography, in which Niederhoffer shared some of his life experiences and lessons, that helped him become one of the greatest traders in history. Most successful traders will tell you that it is the best book on the subject of investing ever written.

The new book Practical Speculation, teaches you how Victor does his research, walks you through a few examples, and explains why the the research churned out by brokerage firms, and Stock Market Commentators is flawed, and will only loose money for you. Victor alerts you to the pitfalls that most average investors fall in to, and shows how the scientific method can be used to illuminate the path.

This book is well written, entertaining, and filled with great ideas, that you wont find elsewhere. Victor's two books are probabaly the only two books any investor need read. I have read most of the popular books on investing and trading, and Victors books are so far ahead of the rest it is unbelieveable.

I have only just finished reading this book, but I know I will go back to it many times, as it is difficult to absorb all the great ideas in one reading.

When I started reading this book, I had no idea at all what it was about. Upon discovering that it dealt with a torturer-in-training, I began to lose interest. But then I picked it up again. And again. Though the subject matter is difficult to stomach at times, it is interesting. To use highly trained medical professionals as torturers seems a bit odd, but it makes sense if you take it in context. All the better to keep them alive with, my dear. I find Andrej to be a very interesting character, and I just loved Joslire. I found myself wanting for more from his point of view. And Noycannir sure was evil to the core.... Still, I have a couple of lingering questions. I want to know more about this universe that Matthews has created. I want to know more about the interrelationships of the species, and about some of the issues hinted at in this book - shortages of grain, for instance. This could be an interesting series... I intend to read on.

All good stories make their readers regret reaching the last page. However, the best stories produce daydreams about their characters long after the last page is turned; daydreams about how these imaginary companions would behave if placed in fantasies created in a reader's head. "An Exchange of Hostages" presents a conundrum to its readers. Why? Because this story will make its readers delight and revel in the character development and training of a professional torturor and will then make the reader want more. Susan Matthews has managed to create a bizarre "coming of age" novel about a young surgeon forced by the dictates of family honor and pride to serve in an intergalactic military fleet which has more need for his skill in inflicting pain rather than his skill in alleviating it. This novel examines pain in depth; the mental pain of the one learning to enjoy inflicting pain and the physical pain of the one who must submit to it. Like Dante's Inferno, the reader is taken one level at a time towards more and more extreme acts of controlled violence until a horrendous destination within the human psyche is reached. Matthews guides each step with an unerring eye upon the delicate balance between fascination and revulsion. Her main character, Andrej Koscuisko, is as introspective as any Russian character in any Russian play and Matthews pulled no punches when she wrote of his physical and mental reactions to his admittedly vile training. She has managed to keep the character sympathetic by juxtaposing his reactions to the even viler reactions of those undergoing the same training. The end of the novel coincides with the end of his training and leaves the reader wondering how young Koscuisko will make use of his newfound talents in the big, wide, nasty universe. This reader hopes that Matthews' second novel will be just as disturbing as the first, even though there was a tinge of self disgust present for enjoying the first novel so much

An Exchange of Hostages is the first novel in the Judiciary series. In the future, the Judiciary system, faced by a series of revolts and other civil unrest, has determined that torture may be used to interrogate prisoners. However, only bench certified personnel are granted the Writ to Inquire and there are strict Protocols governing the type and level of torture allowed. In addition, the Judicary have created the involuntary Bond, a form of imprisonment without walls; the prisoner is implanted with a "governor" that punishs any disallowed thoughts or feelings. The imposition of torture and creation of bond-involuntaries has been increasing in recent years.

In this novel, Andrej Ulexeievitch Koscuisko is a graduate of the Mayon Surgical College with highest honors in Surgery and honors in Pharmacology. The Koscuisk family has a tradition of the eldest son joining the Fleet and, despite his desires to practice medicine as a civilian, Andrej is forced into Fleet Medical by his father. Since his father's time in the Fleet, however, the Writ to Inquire on its vessels has been taken from Security and invested in the Chief Medical Officer; that is, the CMO is responsible for the torture of prisoners under a judicial writ. So Andrej has to attend Fleet Orientation Station Medical where he is taught to torture prisoners. Unfortunately, he is good at torture and, to his shame, he enjoys it.

A fellow student at the Ship Surgeon's school, Mergau Noycannir, is not a Fleet officer, but a Clerk of Court from the Chilleau Judiciary, an experiment in certifying Inquisitors who are not medically trained. Noycannir is a manipulative, controlling personality who intends to make a good impression on the staff at any cost and soons begins to hate Andrej because of his social ease and his medical brilliance.

At Fleet Orientation Station Medical, Andrej is assigned a personal bond-involuntary, Joslire Curran, and has to accept his Bond until the end of the Term. This disturbs Andrej even further and he fights the system by getting to know Joslire.

This novel is a dysutopia in which both the executive and legislative branches of government have been subordinated to the Judiciary. Since present society seems to be moving in that direction, the author has obviously created a satire of extrapolation to the extreme. The story is capsulated within Andrej, simultaneously a victim of this society and a perpetrator of its evils. While it is a ugly picture, there is a degree of higher truth in the situation.

This novel has a Russian ambiance, probably in honor of Dostoevski's Crime and Punishment. This story explores many of the same issues, but in a social rather than a personal context. When is it permissible for an individual or a society to torture or kill its own citizens? Is it permissible for the society to do so, yet still punish such behavior by private individuals? Should the public individuals who implement such punishments feel any guilt for their sanctioned activities? How can a medical officer reconcile his Hippocratic Oath to his oath as a Fleet officer if his duties include the saving of some lives and the taking of others, depending upon his orders?

The torture scenes are tastefully done, without graphic details of physical mutilation. However, they are disturbing by reference, invoking more vivid and terrifying images. Read these sections very lightly.

Recommended for anyone who enjoyed Crime and Punishment or who would enjoy a tale of character development in a vile situation.

This book provides scant new insights into how Wall Street works, and the few that it provides are of limited credibility, because the author and "co-author" fictionalized everything. It is pale in comparison to the recent Enron books and to Born to Steal, which covered much the same ground but in much more vivid and exciting ways, with a powerful narrative that named names.

Every once in a while, one of the rapacious cretins inhabiting the brokerage houses of Wall Street has a twinge of conscience and a need to confess, and so he writes a mea culpa to cleanse his soul. The anonymous author, now a modest financial advisor in a small town, manages to look like a hero with a human heart while exposing the compromised nature of the securities business. If you have any illusions left about the goodness of humanity, don't read this book. You'll lose them. Part confessional, part cautionary tale, this first person narrative makes Wall Street brokers look like the dregs of humanity. If this sensational and rather novelistic tale is to be believed (and it is) then even lawyers and used car salesman tell fewer lies and steal less than Wall Street brokers.

License to Steal is the latest in a genre that goes back to at least the robber-baron days of the 19th century and probably to the earliest days of capitalism in renaissance Italy. One of my favorites is the very entertaining Where Are the Customers' Yachts? (1940) by Fred Schwed Jr. In that little book, studded with New Yorker cartoons, an innocent asks a broker the title question and is told, naive fool that he is, that the customers don't have any yachts. Only brokers and officers of the brokerage firm have yachts. According to the authors, today's breed of white collar crook doesn't spend his ill-gotten lucre on anything so romantic as a yacht, preferring German motor cars, cocaine and Cuban cigars, floozies, French champagne and blackjack. The degenerate get more degenerate it would appear.

I had a broker myself, back in the days of my naiveté, and I recall she told me one day that she was hoping the market would plunge a hundred points (that was in the days when a hundred-point swing meant something). I was momentarily stunned since I was a client with some serious money in those stocks that she was hoping would plunge. But she had forgotten herself for the moment and was talking to me as she would to one of her fellow brokers. THEY wanted a plunge so they could stir up some action and make some money on commissions. And therein lies what the authors of License to Steal call on page 265 the "basic conflict of interest" in "the securities business," namely that what is good for the broker is to move "clients in and out of positions to generate commissions" (and to take advantage of the spread), while what is good for clients is just the opposite, to pay a minimum for commissions and to get trimmed by the spread as seldom as possible. This conflict is still with us although, by trading over the Net without a broker, the commissions are much cheaper and the danger of getting trimmed by in-house spreads is lessen considerably. Nonetheless, the industry as a whole still has a vested interest in churning the accounts of investors. We see this in the frequent upgrades and downgrades issued by brokerage firms, recommendations that encourage a lot of buying and selling. The only way this conflict is going to be eliminated is for brokers to gain only when their clients gain. I wouldn't hold my breath for that reform however, since it would have the effect of sending the vast majority of brokers back to telemarketing or to selling aluminum sliding.

If you like License to Steal, and I think you will, since it is very hard to put down with the lurid picture of piggy greed and human stupidity it paints, you will also like F.I.A.S.C.O.: Blood in the Water on Wall Street (1997) by Frank Partnoy. Partnoy's book is about derivatives sales people who are as morally degenerate as the characters in License to Steal. The only substantive difference in the books is that Partnoy's book is not anonymous and neither are the firms he worked for.

Reading this book was like taking a step back in time. I worked as a broker right out of college for a company that sold microcap stocks and is since defunct. I can say without a doubt that everything in this book is the absolute truth. From the hidden commissions to the trips to Atlantic City it is all true. Recently I was surfing the NASD regulatory website and found a lot of my old managers had been listed, fined and expunged from the NASD for life for the things that they did. From lying, to churning accounts, to buying stocks without authorization. Next time your phone rings and someone is pitching a stock to you beware. The only person that will make money is the person making the call. This was a fascinating real life account. If you want to be financially secure get a good financial planner and get rich the slow way. Compound interest over time.

'Irrational Exuberance' will no doubt consolidate Robert Shiller's position within his chosen field, but the book is also of considerable value to the intelligent lay person. Other writers have drawn attention to the market's overpriced level. Other writers have also done the numbers and concluded that stock returns are not likely to out pace bond returns, for example, over the next decade. But no other writer provides such a detailed and convincing analysis of the factors that have stoked our mania for stocks and brought us to the top of a speculative bubble. Shiller's account of what academics such as Prof. Irving Fisher thought of stock market valuations in the 1920s is a useful reminder that even the experts can get it wrong. More importantly, his analysis of past decades suggests a cyclical movement in the all too human desire to believe in a new economic age. Among the truths which Americans evidently have not learned is that new economic eras do not result in permanent stock market booms. That technology enables more efficient production which in turn helps keep inflation low has been acknowledged publicly by Alan Greenspan. But the market's reaction extends way beyond what this fundamental change might warrant, for all of the reasons Shiller cites.

While Prof. Shiller's analysis is highly credible, his suggestions for the individual investor are, in places, difficult to understand. Indeed his discussion of diversification may only be deciphered by his fellow economists. Lay men and women can hardly be expected to know what "...taking short term positions in claims on income aggregates," means. Nor can they regard his advice to invest in markets that do not yet exist as practical guidance. These, however, are minor quibbles. Unlike many market commentators these days, Shiller's underlying social conscience puts him on the side of the little guy. Yet even so, this books is aimed primarily at policymakers who have the power to influence public behavior for the good. The prospect of thousands of retirees living on the margins because they invested too much of their 401(k) money in the stock market is surely one which will compel their attention.

Jim Sanders Annandale, Virginia

This book is a superb exposition of the state of today's stock market. I cannot recommend it too highly. It is an excellent and readable blending of modern finance and behavioral finance set in historical context. If history is at all relevant, then I believe Shiller to be largely correct.

Is it different this time? That is the question. Previous reviewers in this space, among them J Weber, were right to suggest reading "Irrational Exuberance" alongside and in contradistinction to "New Era" works, such as Glassman's "Dow 36,000". You be the judge.

But don't prejudge the book on the basis of the rest of J Weber's review. Without wanting to engage in philippics, most of his comments regarding the book are inaccurate, inconsistent, and even self-contradictory. To wit:

To call Shiller "irrational" and an "old-school economist" who "has no understanding of the current market" simply because he disagrees with valuations is simply an ad hominem attack.

To say that Shiller "would only invest in bonds" is inaccurate. In today's context, yes, he would favor bonds over stocks, but not always and in every situation.

Check the facts. Contrary to conventional wisdom, it is not true that history "shows no better place to be than in the stock market". What about from 1929-1954 or from 1968-1982? You can disagree with Schiller's conclusions and still learn alot from his fascinating account of market history.

But you can't argue that the current market is "different" and at the same time invoke history as a proven guide. (And a factually incorrect version of history, at that!)

Moreover, to the extent that Shiller does recommend bonds, he favors TIPS, or inflation indexed bonds. A guaranteed real return of 4% is boring but not too bad over the long run.

Finally, does Mr. Weber know how to add and subtract? Or is basic arithmetic also a casualty of "New Era" accounting? He writes that "Let me see at around 6% a bond will only help my money keep up with inflation". Gee, last time I checked, the CPI was below 3%. 6% - 3% = a real yield of 3%, even if it's not indexed. Let's at least get the math straight.

Why is it so controversial or threatening to note that financial reward involves risk; that stocks, like other assets, can become overpriced; and that as a result, investors can actually lose money?

Shiller pursues his uncomplimentary examination of inexperienced investors authoritatively, all the way into their psyches and lapses of reasoning. Introspecting to the CNBC-led, over-hyped carnival sideshow that investing dilapidated into (fall 1999 to March 2000, when the top exploded), all-important valuations were relegated in favor of insane dot-coms, companies with NO business models, not expected to turn profitability until years later, and ever-accursed tech stocks, whose prices were trading profanely overextended. The culprit for investors' sins was financial media; from the most superficial propaganda outlet, ruining investing science into a fad, CNBC, to purportedly "respected" publications, WSJ, to radical, greenhorn publications, the Street.com and Motley Idiot. All sources mentioned had one unrighteous plan in common: the turbulent peddling of speculative garbage like YHOO at $200 without current year earnings to show for, OR shamelessly outright varmint: Pets.com! The culpable media obviously didn't incriminatingly impose people to go underweight in cash, homicidally overweight in tech-but their worst involvement was NEVER raising the alarm to cap Wall Street's mania, angrily opting instead to procure mutual fund talking-heads ruthlessly, to hypnotically fabricate longing, on television!

Discordant factors produced the disreputable herd mentality/behavior that Shiller dissects, striving to overthrow the Efficient Market Theory, which invites debunking. Shiller decidedly reasons the opposite of the Efficient Market Theory. It's unimaginable for persons to actually oppose Shiller's precognition, not because bears the world over were vindicated by equities' bleak performance, but because stocks' P/E ratios are calculated for precisely the reason Shiller alerted: to regulate stocks' unwarranted racketeering. It's fact, that at the bubble's start, techs in the networking and chip sectors were probably outperforming their "old-economy" peers, relating to earnings. Yet since most investors are miserably prepared, they were harshly ensnared by the lax press to pile on to those initially moderate rewards for stocks, to abuse those gains in overstepping ways. Likewise, one could argue that when the Bubble burst-and additional factors like 9/11 and corporate scandals contributing-those same feebly swayed "investors" sold the markets off nightmarishly worse than what was due. Again, because their paranoid nervousness took over their rationale in deciding how to approach markets. I retrospect with ghoulish HORROR, the relentlessness of wrongdoings that Wall Street, the collective body, committed in hazardously presaging themselves for the hardest bear ever.

CNBC, fund managers, analysts blindingly had the blameworthiest ulterior motives to exploit undereducated soccer moms, Sunday investors. Roughly analyzing, the more people CNBC guilefully suckered into longing dangerous techs, the more ratings they'd get, intensifying on-air "personalities"' payoffs, including CNBC's anchors' OWN holdings in various funds they'd get under GE. The more bait fund managers could lure to invest in their funds, the more they'd be compensated for escalating their funds' values. Ever-notorious ANALysts' ulterior motives laid not in the public's response, but in companies' stocks that they covered. Some were paid kickbacks for their suspiciously nothing-but-buy ratings. This triad of terror is accountable for falsely justifying the market's overreaching excesses beyond their, initially, reasonable beginnings. The drone public was simply mistaught that internet stocks' repugnant absence of income would materialize soon enough, networking high-fliers like CSCO and JNPR were said to "never suffer" from lack of business because of ever-expanding business that the growing internet would provide, and that the zombie public could expect profane, double-digit returns for years to come, laxly based on one year's (1999) fluke growth of speculative tech stocks which were preyed upon as a fad.

Also contributing to mania were factors that people mistook to maltreat as reasons for entering markets in a buy-and-hold savagery. As baby-boomers aged, they were unquestionably snared by CNBC's falsenesses to expose themselves supplementary more to equities which were on teetering foundations. The same's true of mutual funds' elevating popularity, as innumerable people were misdirected to blindly trap themselves in funds where they'd never monitor its performance for lengthy times. Other factors were also involved in this worst bear market in 100 years, constituents like 9/11, corporate improprieties, personal bankruptcies-the plausible, defining trigger that blew the markets up (particularly NASDAQ) was people overstretching their margins, thus being extorted to sell automatically. These are hallmark characteristics of hype markets' speculators being so overextended on long sides that when savvy investors decide to take their respective gains from months of abominable gains, selling significantly, margin calls are consequently called in on many accounts. This leads additionally bleakly into the domino effect of tumbling decks of cards.

It's pronounced message still corresponds to today's markets. CNBC's-ONCE AGAIN!!!!-restarting their impenitent Jihad of superficially, abusively embellishing the mediocre point the economy's currently at. Respecting historical bear cycles, we're indisputably in the 4th secular bear since the 20th century, convincingly proven by the damaging downfall of 2000-2002, arduously worse than any declines in the last century, especially the NASDAQ. There may definitively portend 18 years more of this feral bear, from 2000 levels. The shiest estimate of S&P 500's P/E's still sinfully extreme at 30-you'll pay 30 bucks to one dollar of what it's licitly worth, for vast majorities of stocks. Companies repeat slashing jobs-no small part thanks to the newest scourge of outsourcing-at record, breakneck furiousness, with probability of jobs returning to levels markedly improved from the -400 000 that impend awful growth to increments which would traditionally support prosperous GDP higher than 4% ascendingly unlikely. Through this purgatory, and ruthlessly mediocre to pessimistic economic numbers up to the present, aggressively hardened CNBC is unapologetically unlearning from its breaches and refusing to revere their costly errancies. CNBC persists on solely rigging the most obdurate perma-bulls (Angiletas, Leones) and loathsomely irrelevant, corporate Bush Admin. pushers (Kudlow, Cramer) to comment on the last half-year's markets. Those same schemingly prejudiced perma-bulls are seizing control of current market conditions to exaggerate them furiously and depravedly. The increasingly intolerably wretched CNBC "personalities" are debauching to vile, hypocritically "happy" guises while on air, further tyrannizing an air of "great market returns". They're willfully relapsing to 1999-2000's embezzlement, and need to be spurned as Contrarians!!!!

Ari Kiev's book Trading to Win might seem like just psycho-babble to some traders. That is odd, given that some of these same critics are devout followers of technical analysis, which premises that psychology factors firmly into market movements. Why then is it such heresy to believe that you can improve the performance of a trader by working on his psychology?

It is not a strange concept to Steve Cohen, who hired Ari Kiev as a "trading coach" for his hedge fund S.A.C. Kiev, who was profiled in Jack Schwager's Stock Market Wizards , teaches that traders need to stretch themselves in the goals they set. They also need to eliminate the negative thinking that prevents them from reaching those goals. Much of Trading to Win is thus actually "common sense" (as is most psychology, it seems), but sometimes it is useful to hear someone reiterate sound principles.

One principle for which critics have taken Kiev to task is his suggestion that traders should set or raise their profit goals, which seems like a veritable "no no" from a risk management perspective. The criticism misses the fact, however, that Kiev is really saying that raising your performance goals means raising your work ethic. What are you going to do to raise your game? Squeezing out extra percentage points of return requires getting onto the trading floor hours earlier (or hours later) than you normally would-and researching companies more assiduously on paper or by working the phones harder. Moreover, Kiev actually recommends stricter risk management through such time-tested techniques as understanding your reasons for each trade, as well as the setting of target entry and exit prices. He also wants you to figure out if fears and doubts are keeping you from cutting your losses and riding your winners.

This book is clearly not for everyone; it is easily too "touchy feely" for traders concerned solely with the quantitative or more tangible aspects of trading. Kiev also tends to float heavily from topic to topic, often without a clear path. But for those traders who wonder how "fixing their heads" might result in greater success, Trading to Win is definitely worth a read.

As the former risk manager at SAC, and someone who has both collaborated and co-authored written materials with Dr. Kiev, I feel it is somewhat unfair to offer a direct review of this book. However, I can tell you that I feel strongly about many of the concepts that Dr. Kiev espouses, and have witnessed their positive impact on traders of broad and diverse skill levels, objectives and trading styles.

In order to maximize profitability in the markets, I believe it is essential to have a thorough and perpetual understanding of the inputs to your successes and failures, as defined in terms of external factors such as market conditions, characteristics of position selection, trading sizes, executions relationships, holding periods, etc. but also with respect to such "intangibles" as identifying your fears and other obstacles to efficient decision-making. This book provides a useful framework for carrying forward with these exercises.

In addition, I believe that Dr. Kiev, through his organized yet anecdotal style, has created a work that conveys its essential messages in an entertaining and literary matter. I urge those interested in the markets to pick up a copy. If you don't agree with all of the concepts, at least it will get you thinking about them.

This, from my perspective, is a very good thing.

If you've read any books on zen or books like the The Inner Game of Tennis and came away with a little something extra then this book will fit perfectly into your library of READ books. For me, it was really a book about trusting your yourself, your gut, trusting your feal and not getting sidetracked by the conscious brain, anxiety, down days, trusting the work you've put into something, understanding your anxiety, not running from your fears, but rather coddling them, and not letting them run your decision making process. Yes, it's a 'how to' for trading, but its also something a little more intelligent (useful for the real world too). By reading this book, you put your faith in Ari and his successful devotees such as Steve Cohen (forward) who have been incredibly successful in trusting their feal and you learn to trust yourself. Yes, some people have better feal than others. But, what trade to win tries to impress that will help you get closer to victory is that its the trusting yourself (not getting sidetracked), visualizing, taking calculated positions-not gambling, setting realistic/yet stretch goals that help you steadily build up your success rate (applicable really to anything, not just trading). Put it this way, I found so much of value in this book on trading, analysis, and life, that the book is totally marked up and I'm probably going to HAVE to buy another copy. Really worth while for amateur traders, pro traders, non-traders, portfolio managers and analysts alike, and anybody for that matter.