Mastering Trade Selection and Management

by Jay Norris and Al Gaskill

A slow starting book, I didn’t think much of this tome as I started wading through the early introductory pages. As I often do when reading something I’m not very familiar with, I tried to think of myself as someone other than myself, namely, a day trader, which I take to be the target audience of this book. Even at that, I was thinking this couldn’t possible more than a three dollar sign book, maybe even only two. It was highly technical even when addressing very general subjects, and the tone seemed a bit condescending. I also didn’t care much for the fact that the authors kept flogging one of their earlier books. As I continued reading, however, I began thinking that not only would I give the authors three dollar signs, I might stretch it to four, because everything they were saying was making sense. Sure, it was still very technical, and it was definitely becoming more and more geared for a specialized, limited type of short-term trader, but the charts (candlesticks) made sense and accurately illustrated the authors’ points, and the strategies continued to be sensible and feasible. As I neared the end of the book, despite reading for the umpteenth time that such-and-such was a topic covered in their other book, I found myself thinking that the information conveyed in this book is valuable, useful, practical, and reasonable, and anyone who is serious about making money in some kind of financial market would probably be able to use some of what this book contains. They close out the book with concrete trading plans (not strategies or analysis) tailored to different markets and traders and built on their earlier chapters of analysis, trend spotting, and trade timing, which was something I’d never seen before from a book like this. So finally, I was convinced I was reading a five dollar sign book. True, had I not received a complimentary copy from the publisher, this is probably not a book that I would have read, but I have to say, even though I’ve no intention of becoming a short-term trader or delving into forex and commodities markets, I learned a lot reading this book and it gave me plenty of ideas which I think will work for long-term stock trading. Who knows? I may even pick up Norris and Gaskill’s first book.

The Bathrobe Millionaire

by Jason Yelowitz

When the author of this book asked if I would review it on Amazon in exchange for a gratis copy, I jumped at the chance. I’ve read plenty of books that have the word “millionaire” in them, but I still don’t have a million bucks, so maybe, this could be the one. I thought it would at least have elements of motivation, self-help, right-thinking, etc. that would put me on a different track. And in some aspects, it does have that, however, it is not really a “how-to” book. When I was about one-quarter of the way through, I realized it was more of a memoir: here’s how I made millions of dollars. The author starts slow, mostly with personal background and stories of lukewarm success or downright failure. Eventually, though, the story picks up. The stories Mr. Yelowitz tells are his own, so the lessons he learns and shares are real, and they were no doubt helpful in his achieving financial success. Taking those lessons and experiences of the author, a reader should be able to apply them to his or her own endeavors, presumably to some positive financial end. True, many of the things the author did to make his money were taking advantage of Internet arbitrage situations that are largely non-existent or next to impossible to find today, but the experiences are still pertinent and insightful into making money with minimal effort and not having to shave everyday. Just the fact that the book’s title depended on the availability of domain names is itself instructional. All in all, the stories were interesting (mostly) and informative, the book is well written, and the lessons are valuable. Had I known what to expect and had the book found its stride faster, I would have given it five dollar signs, but nonetheless, this is a very good book and a worthwhile read.

Presentations in Action

by Jerry Weissman

First off, let me say that I know a lot of people I would like to give this book to, because, I know a lot of people who cannot (or do not) distinguish between a report and a presentation, or a document and a slide. Those same people also don’t know (or care) anything about my eyesight, my hearing, or my intelligence level. Accordingly, I have experienced “death by Powerpoint” firsthand more times than I care to remember. This book could help alleviate many of those problems, because this book is not just about PowerPoint, but about presentations in general, and it contains a lot of sensible information on presentations. Some of it I knew already, but some of it was new and I’d never thought about before. Without going into details and specifics, it covers things like audience expectations, how to “prime” the audience, where graphics should and shouldn’t be used, where they go on a slide, the difference between right and left (both movement and location), where to stand, when to talk (and when not), and many more things like that. Each concept is presented in its own chapter, usually with some correlation to a real life person, as in the subtitle “80 Memorable Presentation Lessons from the Masters”. These correlations are not really lessons so much as “proof in the pudding” observations. Still, although the anecdotes and correlations did not really help me remember the lessons any more easily than reading through them carefully, they do drive home the point that there is something to be gained by incorporating that lesson in one’s own presentation methodology. I felt that almost every tip and technique the author explains would be useful or at least serve as some kind of reminder to use in preparing a presentation. And as I said, I found the majority of the information to be something new. This book is dense and the “lessons” come one after the other in rapid fire succession, so as much as I would like to share its tenets with some of the folks around me,  I’m going to have to keep this book handy and refer to it often to get the most out of it. The overall content of the book is worth a full five dollar signs, but I have to take one off for the misleading subtitle. Other than that, this is a very good book. 

One Simple Idea

by Stephen Key

Stephen Key is touted as a sort of acolyte of Timothy Ferriss, he of The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated: Expanded and Updated, With Over 100 New Pages of Cutting-Edge Content. fame. Key's key (sorry) idea is very similar to the 4HWW: It is possible to break free of a workaday, humdrum life and have everything you want without becoming a corporate drone working for a paycheck by working for "the man". Simple Idea, however, is different in its methodology. Rather than the "do the same things better, become more efficient through outsourcing, spread out, travel, work globally, and become rich" approach in 4HWW, Key's approach is that you become a source of ideas to people who will pay money for them. All you have to do is think of things that nobody else does, then market the idea yourself or license or sell it to somebody else so they make money for you. Key's plan is achievable, concrete, well-formulated, and certainly executable. But again, due to the similar nature of Simple Idea to the 4HWW, the majority of readers will simply not have the skill set, determination, or willingness to make the sacrifices needed to fully implement the strategies in this book. This is not to say that the ideas, strategies, and their approach and methodology. are unrealistic. In fact, Key's made millions (he says) doing just what he spells out in the book. That may be true, but what's for sure is that Key has been teaching his plan in college courses and many of his students have successfully implemented his ideas and plans, so it is difficult to doubt the veracity of his claims and the feasibility of his plans (which again, is like 4HWW in that its author, Timothy Ferriss, as also the living proof of his book’s tenets). One Simple Idea itself is well laid out and efficiently organized. The writing is crisp and clear, like you would expect from an educator, but it may be just a little bit too pushy and repetitive for some readers. (The beginning goes on endlessly with rah-rah-ing: "You can do it. You can do it.") Still, all around, this is an excellent book that I enjoyed reading, and learned a lot from, even though I know I'm not going to be much of an idea-monger in the near future. That is why I do not hesitate to give it five dollar signs and recommend it to anyone who enjoyed 4HWW or is interested in motivational, self-help, or contrarian lifestyle information. Key gives you the information you need. What you do with it is up to you. (Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.)

The Four-Hour Work Week

by Timothy Ferriss

This is one of the most amazing and interesting books I’ve read in the last year. A perennial best-seller, this book contains a ton of ideas and suggestions for making more money, working less hours, doing what you want, traveling, and, well, living a “real” life. Everything the book suggests is, to some degree, reasonable and feasible. But I have to say, If you have a mortgage, kids in school, a decent job, and you volunteer at your church or local youth organization, you’re probably going to be highly reluctant to make the sacrifices necessary in order to execute many of the plans, such as taking a "mini-retirement" and moving to Thailand for six months. That is to say, you can’t have a “real” life without giving up your “normal” life. For many, that makes this book a deal breaker. If you are in your mid-twenties, between jobs, and looking for something better, however, this book is probably much more approachable and useful. I think initially, you’ll have to work a lot more than four hours a week, but I think if you use this book and apply yourself, a four hour work week does become possible, and sooner, rather than later in life. That said, I still think that any serious business person or self-help enthusiast will stand to gain a lot from this book. The expanded and updated version in particular is chock full of websites where one can go to get information about and help executing many of the book’s strategies. At the very least, Timothy Ferriss has succeeded in pulling off the strategies that he’s flogging here, proof positive that it can be done. For an average business person like myself, this book makes me think of things that move me closer to the better, outsourced, high producing, less demanding, more rewarding life that this book promises, and I feel that it can’t hurt and will probably help just about anyone’s life in some way or another, which is why I give it five out of five dollar signs.

Trading with Candlesticks

by Michael C. Thomsett

About ten years ago, I was invited by a local newspaper to participate in an eight week stock picking contest with seven other individuals, each with a different approach to stock picking, presumably to find the best money making stock trading strategy. As the author of a gambling book, Winning Pachinko: The Game of Japanese Pinball, I was to make use of a "gambler strategy". My result was less than spectacular (4^th out of 8, so top half, anyway), while the winner more than doubled his fantasy $100K using "Japanese candlesticks". He did so in about ten weeks of trading. So when I saw this book, I was anxious to see if I could become a candlestick convert, as it were. Unfortunately, this book is very good at teaching about candlesticks, but not very good at the “trading with candlesticks” part. In fact, every time I thought the author had given me an useful nugget or insight, the next paragraph would say, “Of course, it could be a false signal.” It’s second guess after second guess. But that’s not the worst part. The worst part is that the authors never draw any sort of correlation between their candlestick charts and what was going on in the real world. There’s nothing that reflects what the economy was doing at the time (was it a bear market? bull market? stagflated? irrationally exuberant?), and nothing about what the company itself was doing (changing CEO’s? releasing a new product? covering up a sex scandal?). Had there been anything at all that allowed a potential trader to put two and two together on his or her own, this book could have been really valuable. As it is, it’s nothing more than a treatise on one of many stock analysis tools, limiting its utility considerably. All in all, the book was informative, well written, and well thought out. It had lots of illustrative charts and graphs (some not all that useful, however), and it was organized well, progressing from easy single stick patterns to multiple stick patterns. There just wasn’t much meat on these relatively solid bones, resulting in my lukewarm three dollar sign rating.