by John F. Wasik
This is the first book about John Maynard Keynes that I’ve
ever read. Of course I’ve heard lots about Keynes and his economic theories, so
I was intrigued at the idea of utilizing his ideas to gain wealth, but that is
where this book falls short. It attempts to show the man and his ideas in light
of modern investment theory, but I felt that overall, it is caught in between a
biography and a “how to” manual, and ultimately doesn’t tell us much about
Keynes or how to become wealthy.
Biographically, this book provides only a bare sketch of the
type of man Keynes was and his personal history. It tries to angle all this
into an overview of how it led Mr. Keynes to develop his investment strategies
(not his economic theories), but the conclusions drawn and supporting facts are
tenuous at best. There are detailed sections of stocks that he bought, many
(naturally) of companies that no longer exist or have long since been bought
out or merged into other firms. Because (let’s face it) it would have been
irrelevant information anyway, dates, prices and quantities of stocks purchased
and sold, and individual profit and loss figures, are largely absent. This
means that the reader is given a glimpse into Keynes’ investment strategies
without regard to anything that might be made use of. Where the book excels is
in providing a number of sidebars that supply definitions of investment terms
and explanations of some of the situations that Keynes had to deal with, and
these are interesting and sometimes, valuable. They won’t be particularly
useful for advanced investors, but they will make this book much more
approachable for beginners.
