market-economics

This book is actually half decent it isn't near as good as How to make money in stocks but it covers a lot of relevant information for newer investors.

The chapters cover these wonderful topics:

* Capitalism: What it is and why it works
* The stock market: Primer on what stocks are and how the market works
* Mutual funds
* Options
* Bonds
* Futures market
* Economics and economic indicators

The book reminds me of Investing Smart however Guide to the Markets is at least 10 times better and covers more topics, not to mention the writers are much better than Dhun H. Sethna.

I recommend this for beginning CAN SLIM investors.

Reed Floren

This book is a *primer*, and as such will likely be neither the best nor the worst book you'll ever read on the subject of investing (fwiw, I actually found the content average, and the writing style a bit like summertime in the Sahara). For me though, the book earned its fourth "star" for a single--yet *really* important--reason: its connection to the IBD newspaper. For about $25, _Guide to the Markets_ explains much of its information using the same graphs and other formats as you'll find in the company's daily. *That* is a great deal considering that IBD is one of the best, if more expensive, investment tools available. For its ability to cheaply provide access to that very powerful tool, while also providing other occasional insights, _Guide to the Markets_ is a very good value. (It's nicely indexed enough to serve as a solid reference as well).

This book is pure gold for investors who are just getting started in playing the market. Coupling this book with a subscription to Investor's Business Daily will help you make good decisions quickly and minimize the punishing losses that naive investors sometimes take. IBD does a good job of explaining technical issues in easy to understand language along with showing pertinent charts and graphs.

A great book on learning about the stock market. Talks about many different types of strategies that any new upcoming investor could use. It let's you find out what kind of investor you will be by seeing what strategy fits you best. I myself like the O'Neil strategy. I would recommend this book to any who are curious abour the stock market and investing in it.

The Market Gurus by John Reese and Todd Glassman is one of the first investment books I've ever read. The book is fairly easy to read and doesn't require too much prior knowledge. Each section starts with an introduction of the guru, his achievements, and a summary of his investment strategy. The strategy is then applied step by step to two companies. What I particularly like is that plenty of links to various websites as well as recommendations for other investment journals/books can be found scattered throughout the book.

The problem, however, is that some gurus share similar views and it can get rather redundant. But overall it is well worth a look, even if you don't finish reading everything.

Confused with all the "expert" advice available on investing? Why does there seem to be so many different views and different ideas on how to best invest? Of course risk is one of the biggest factors as is how much time you are willing to put into analysis each day. Some people are comfortable with a lot of risk if the potential reward is a really large gain, others are not. Some enjoy watching the stock tape cross their computer screen all day long and watching their investments, others are to content to watch their investment progress on a monthly basis.

Reese and Glassman examine the most respected investment advisors today and detail not only their philosophy but also the level of risk the investor should be comfortable with and the level of effort the investor needs to put forth to follow that person's advice.
Each expert is analyzed one at a time including the criteria they use for investing, how they determine if a stock meets that criteria or not and examples of individual stocks with an analysis of where they pass and fail the selected criteria. The analysis is detailed and yet straight forward so that someone with minimal experience in stocks can understand the basis philosophy.

Who are these investors that are analyzed? Only the most revered names in stock investng: Peter Lynch, Benjamin Graham, William O'Neil, Warren Buffett, The Motley Fool, David Dreman, Martin Zweig, Kenneth L. Fisher, and James O'Shaughnessy.

Most of the experts selected have written their own books on how to invest. This book distills down all the fluff and long winded information in the other books to a single chapter on each advisor, a chapter with all the information required to follow that person's style. So, I guess you have a choice, buy several books and read them all or buy this one and get all the knowledge as well as a detailed step by step plan of how to follow their investing style. Complete analysis (even on those who have not written a book), risk profile information, detailed examples of how to apply the methods, and simple pass/fail criterion information, the information is complete, easy to understand and easy to apply, there is nothing not to like about this book! If you are an investor or want to try your hand at it or have a self-directed IRA or similar instrument then you owe it to yourself to read this book, select at least a style that is appropriate for you and apply it.

After reading many other managerial texts, I find this book to be standard and common sense. I would only recommend this book to those who are very knew to management and have not read much on this topic.

I wish I can give away the books to everyone I know. It is very good, down-to-earth and practical rules of managing. And the exercises and the contracts at the end of each chapter really works!
I am a new person in the workforce with no prior experience, and now I understand the grounds on how effective and successful managers operates. I am also impressed by the usability of the content, meaning that even where I come from (which is not US) the errors and how to avoid it is amazingly applicable. Some people who I respected are also showing the qualities described by the book. Excellent reading. Highly recommended for young executives and newly appointed managers. It might be helpful to buy extra copies to be forwarded to some ineffective managers :P

My review will reflect the readability of this book - simple. I highly recommend this book to a person (like me) that is new to "management". I'm sure others can find it useful as well, but there were some simple mistakes that I had been making that were quickly corected after reading this book. It is so inexpesive, but do not mistake that "low price must equal low content"...that wasn't the case at all. As this text points out...the worst mistake you can make is to run an "unprofitable" business. If you are running a profitable business in this economy you are probably doing a lot of things right! I actually loaned this book to a peer and he hadn't returned it yet, so I am getting another copy so I can go back to it when needed.

This book is a wonderful reference for beginning and experienced photographers alike. Anyone wishing to make money from his/her photography needs this book. In addition to the staggering list of markets and individual sources, this book covers basics such as copyright law, license types, taxes, etc...

Although it's not a novel, I have, on occasion found myself reading each entry page by page. It's almost a lesson in itself on what to expect from a given market, and how to approach it. An indispensable tool.

Want to make some cash with your photography? Start here!

This is an excellent book for a photographer trying to break into the marketplace! I found many leads and opportunites that I never would have thought about. I was sending my photos to magazines for free - now I check the magazine write up in this book to see what the magazine may pay. I am now an informed photographer!

This book has some really detailed how-to information for those submitting their photographs to various kinds of publications and organizations.

You could probably live without a copy, but not if your goal is to make a living as a photographer.

Well written and easy to read book describing Joe's unique trading patterns and methods. I liked his straight forward, no BS choice of words and his methods of fibonacci confluence does have some merit, but it isn't for everyone. This is best intended for a swing trader, as daytrading is likely to be too quick paced in order to figure out confluence areas.

There were some vague rules regarding his entry and exit methods with the Fibonacci numbers and when you actually start to apply his methods to your own trading, you will likely be left with more questions than answers. Not necessarily a bad thing, as all you can really ask from a book is a few new things to try out and see if it applies to your trading.

This is a well researched book by an experienced successful trader. I particularly liked the fact that he provides specific rules around his methodology.

This is the best book on trading I have ever read.The author shares his many years of trading experience with the readers.
His simple but POWERFUL trading tools in the book if followed, will put you in position to win at trading.
The book taught me money management, entry and exit placement , profit objectives and gave me a trading planto follow.
I have read a lot of trading books over the years, but since reading this book I have not had a need to read any others.
I'm a profitable trader now because of the information made
available in this book.

It is a GREAT book, I enjoyed reading it. Clear, easy to follow the steps of Momentum Building. This book serves as a guide and can be applicable for any size or any type of company that wants to be the successful. The well selected case studies of market leader high tech companies - Cisco, HP, Oracle, IBM and so forth - evidently illustrate the efforts that leaders must undertake in order to build their brand momentum within the Marketplace of Ideas, "where always the best reveal" (J. Milton).

For a PR professional, as I am, it was helpful to understand how important and complex a job it is to keep your CEO personality and the company proposition aligned and consistent. "As a source of future credibility in customer's minds, management vision always exists in relationship to product or service" (pp. 159). Moreover a CEO's vision can determine the future of a whole industry.

This book is a must read for university students in marketing, communications and business fields. Particularly if dealing with research studies; in this research, conducted by Ricci and Wolkmann, students can follow through the design, variables and connections between them, furthermore see great examples and it is not mere statistics.

The technology industry is presently going through a structural shift -- not merely a cyclical downturn. In an attempt to meet the increasing demands of customers, many or most companies in the industry's various fields are struggling to sell something more than products. Market leaders are selling frameworks, roadmaps and solution sets. They are selling ideas -- and trying to earn back lost trust in the process. That's critical. The technology industry is in the midst of an extraordinary backlash. Its full revival depends on winning back this trust.

Ron Ricci and John Volkmann have written a timely and extremely readable book that outlines these trends and dynamics -- and then offers prescriptive solutions to guide forward-looking executives in the digital realm. As the authors point out, companies must differentiate themselves in "the markeplace of ideas" if they are to become "unstoppable" in the coming years. That means they must engage the minds and elicit the participation of their customers, partners and other parties; not overwhelm them with slick propaganda and manipulative sales techniques. As Ricci and Volkmann demonstrate, smart companies now realize they must develop customers and influential networks, not merely develop new products and "release" them to a confused marketplace.

If there is one concept in the book that is worthy of debate it is the idea of heavily promoting the "CEO's vision." This is unquestionably a powerful way of "communicating existing, and sometimes complex, ideas about possibilities, new innovations and new models" to prospective customers and other key parties. However, in this day and age, CEOs can fall from grace quite easily. If too much of the company's brand is invested in a single individual, it runs a risk that at least deserves further consideration. Why not "scale" the vision of an entire executive team -- or depersonalize the effort altogether? Clearly, there are trade-offs to be assessed.

That said, I highly recommend this book as a seminal contribution to an emerging field: thought leadership marketing. Ricci and Volkmann have built an effective case -- based on both qualitative and quantitative insights. They have demonstrated the power that ideas, trust and market-driven value will play in the next economy.

A must read for any company that plans to grow - whether a large multinational conglomerate or a small start up. At its heart, I believe, the book is about creating a growth platform for the company - a compelling value proposition that its customers demand; a motivating vision against which its employees can execute; and a strategic direction that investors and shareholders can comfortably expect. Ron Ricci and John Volkmann cleverly use basic principles of physics to argue that it is not just the speed of change that matters but the overall momentum that a company can generate in the marketplace. The lessons in the book are particularly relevant in today's networked world as companies look to leverage their extended enterprise for breaking away from their industry peers. While the authors use several high tech company examples to illustrate their message, this book is equally applicable in almost every industry. In Pharmaceutical companies looking to carve out therapeutic categories or financial service companies looking to partner in wealth management will find the messages relevant. Personally I found the book a very entertaining read - clear, easy to comprehend yet provocative.

This book is an excellent tool to get people thinking again. Businesses that realize that by embracing change, they can differentiate themselves from their competitors have a distinct advantage. Those that don't or are slow to come around are in deep trouble.
One of the tools in the book that I found very insightful was the Change-Ready Assessment. The Change-Ready Assessment is a survey that every organization should use to evaluate new and old employees' ability to adapt to a culture of change.

Robert J. Kriegel is rapidly becoming one of my favorite
business authors . . . I've previously enjoyed two of
his other books, HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS
WITHOUT WORKING SO HARD and IF IT AIN'T BROKE,
BREAK IT . . . so I figured it was time to get hold of
one of his earlier efforts, SACRED COWS MAKE THE BEST
BURGERS--written with David Brandt.

I was definitely not disappointed!

Kriegel and Brandt examine why people cling to outmoded
beliefs, practices and processes as if their lives depended
on them . . . but more importantly, they present ways to
inspire a desire to bring in the new.

I particularly liked the use of real-life examples . . . although the book was written in 1996, it is still amazingly current; i.e., most of the ideas the authors present still make sense today . . . also, they can be applied to virtually any size or type of organization.

There were many memorable passages; among them:
* But you'll actually do more and better by learning to slow down when everything around you is speeding up. John Wooden, the great UCLA basketball coach who won an unprecedented 10 national championships, offers this advice: "Be quick, but don't hurry. If you hurry you make mistakes."

* You may not be a beginner, but you can learn how to think like one. Take real estate agent Michael Young, for instance. He was his company's most successful agent in northern California but he couldn't make the leap from
selling houses in [one price range] range to those[in a higher price range]and up.

"I don't get it, " he said. "I'm using the same prospecting strategies, making calls in the evening to people at home, giving them advice and telling them about the market, and I'm in the same marketplace. But it's not working."

"Think like a beginner, forget your old strategies, start fresh," we advised him. "Look at the business like you're a novice. What can you do to break into this market?"

Instead of competing with other brokers, Young spotted an untapped opportunity in the high-end market. He discovered that many listings expire before the house is sold. So he developed a strategy for buying old listings and sharing commissions. The technique brought in so much business that he formed the Michael Young Company in San Francisco. Now brokers
call him unsolicited.

Want to know something? We're all in the same position as Young. You may think your market is the same as it was last year. But it's not. Everything is changing: people's life and work styles, their jobs, their expectations, their attitudes, their family situations-everything. And technological
advances have only accelerated the situation.

With business in a perpetual state of flux, we need to keep reinventing our game plan every six months. To do that we have to look at things through fresh eyes.

* [Sam] Walton had 10 rules of success, most of which revolve around giving great service, top-quality products, and treating you people right. But it's his 10th rule that sets him apart from his competitors. Walton called it the most important one: Break the rules.

If all of your competitors are doing it one way, Mr. Sam used to say, "do it exactly the opposite," and that's where you'll get the edge.

Its very good book and managers should read this book like taking oath before taking management job. No offense, but very few managers have ever read this book or similar book, at least those under whom I have worked for

Decades of research by scholars and financial practitioners have generally supported the reasonable counsel "don't put all your eggs in one basket." But it is one thing to advise investors to diversify, and another to show them how. Author David M. Darst outlines a systematic approach to parceling out your savings among different investment assets. There's a science to asset allocation, though its principles are not immediately apparent. Darst treats these precepts with admirable thoroughness in a book that is, mostly, accessible to an educated layperson. But brew some strong coffee. Readers lacking a business or finance background may find the theoretical discussion difficult and tedious, particularly given the deliberate style. However this 2003 book follows one of the most dramatic periods in stock market history, the 1990s, when even sophisticated market watchers wondered if the sound financial principles cited here still applied. The ensuing bear market made it clear that the laws of risk and return had not yet been repealed. In this atmosphere, We welcome this solid explanation of risk and return.

There is one amusing fact about this book in particular. It is obvious to the sophisticated investor that the author works for an investment house that has something to sell. No attempt is made to directly sell anything but it definitely is an attempt to show the average investor why he needs someone else to do his asset allocation. Hardly a guide to indexing, the author advocates tactical allocation as well as strategic allocation. The problem with this is that tactical allocation is little more than trend following in the guise of asset allocation. Since the market has been down and many have had their rear ends shot off by the market asset allocation is the byword of the day. More sophisticated asset allocation advocates have long realized that their art hardly appealed to the masses. The addition of the ability to knob twiddle the allocation is an attempt not only to add a little spice to the mixture but to also advocate the need for an advisor. From what I can see the bait is being taken. William Bernstein advocated a little tactical reallocation on occasion in the guise of rebalancing. Rebalancing is great and necessary but trying to optimize the portfolio to catch the next wave is a fool's errand. Darst is somewhere in the middle of this argument. That said, the book contains some useful information. There is a description of the various asset classes and their advantages and disadvantages which is excellent. Those who are looking for an real estate investment handbook will be disappointed however. The calculation of alpha is described and mean variance optimizers are discussed (there is even a little about their limitations). The entire book reads a little like a sales brochure. Complicated graphical and pictoral representations are used to present simple ideas. Some of the statistics is biased towards what you would expect from a financial advisor. Most of this is subtle and may not be deliberate on the part of the author. But it is fascinating to compare this information with that of Bernstein and realize that even if it is unconcious an attempt is being made to create a dependency. Once a salesman always a salesman? Anyhow, this book combined with the Intelligent Asset Allocator and Gibson's Asset Allocation will be all any investor needs to properly allocate their wealth without an advisor if so desired. But anyone who read widely about asset allocation will also realize that no book will tell them how to allocate their assets: it is an art. Mean variance optimizers are mostly useful for educational purposes. Also not all of the asset classes discussed are appropriate for anyone let alone the rich. Just remember the concept of the whale.

I think some of the other reviewers are missing the point of this book. Does he suggest an advisor?, yes. Do you absolutely need an advisor?, no. But if you were sued tomorrow for all that you had, would you crack open the law books and get ready for court or would you hire someone who is a professional. Now I will admit the area of financial advice is laden with salespeople...there are bad doctors, lawyers(that goes without saying...haha), even teachers, and priests....but there are also people who know what they are doing and talking about. I think it would be useful to you to read this book, not trying to become an expert, but rather to serve as your guide to find an expert. This book will teach you the jargon and philosophy of a prudent investor...ask a few questions from the book and quickly you will see who is an advisor and who is a salesperson.
and For those of you on the real estate kick let me remind of three things...1) history is a good teacher, while not perfect history does show more reward for equities than real estate but buy at least one house, 2)things always revert to the mean (if you don't know what this means please buy this book now), 3) this time is NOT different. And yes my house has doubled in the last two years too. Find great investors and learn from them.

This book was obviously written at the peak of the internet "Boom". The majority of the companies cited as examples of the onslaught of the new economy are no longer in existence. Earnings are barely mentioned. Companies cited as the movers and shakers of tomorrow are now penny stocks. The total lack of balance relative to other sectors is appalling and in retrospect is by itself educational. Everyone bought into the hype including the entire VC industry. This might explain why they all sat on the sideline in 2001 trying to regain their sense of direction. The entertainment value is a 5 and the educational value a 1. It is your choice.

This book is a must read for every entrepreneur and VC. The snippets of information in it are very valuable even after the downfall of the Internet economy-most of the text is more focused on timeless vc/entrepreneur related issues. I would highly recommend this book...

I was very impressed by the knowledge in this book. It has a ton of useful information for everyone from entrepreneurs to investors to other financial professionals. In addition, the content is fresh and much more applicable to the "after the shakedown" landscape than other venture capital oriented books such as eBoys, Confessions of a Venture Capitalist and Done Deals. This is a great book that has a ton of useful information straight from some very accomplised venture capitalists.

The author, Mr. Weinzimer, takes some esoteric subjects and makes them easy to understand and follow. This should be required reading in business schools in this country. This is one of the few books I have read in which a practitioner has had the skill to clearly communicate his thoughts, theories and practices. In the words of the author, "I dig Phi Sig."

Customer-oriented books are very common, and they differ primarily in how compelling the examples are. This book is different. It focuses on creating a communications climate in which everyone in the organization will have a clear perception of the most important areas for serving customers and what must be done to improve in those areas.

The biggest strength of the book is in the how-to areas of surveys and workshops you can use to understand what employees see now, what the market and competitive circumstances are, and how to create and implement improved methods. These are covered with detailed templates that you can easily customize to match your own circumstances.

The book itself is organized into three subjects: Preparing the workforce; perceiving your marketplace; and providing superior value. This is an important ordering. Many people start with perceiving the marketplace, then find ways to provide superior value, then work on preparing the workforce. By going in this order, the organization will achieve more and better insights, speed the process, and vastly improve implementation.

Some of the individual chapters are very worthwhile on their own. I especially liked chapter 3 on introducing change.

I also endorse the idea of repeating the process, as described in chapter 10.

The key weakness of the book comes from the lack of cutting-edge methods for developing improved business models. Those have become critical. This book is more likely to create evolutionary change than breakthrough gains. But in many companies solid evolutionary change would be a big improvement. But don't stop here! Then prepare for the next step of becoming an innovation leader!

Be sure to expand your ability to imagine and innovate as your primary function! Be sure to overcome the communications stall that bedevils so many organizations to help you do this.

There are many "how-to" business texts, nowadays. Often they are theory. This one is written by an expert with hands-on experience.