Bond-market

'Liar's Poker' is worth a read if you want an insider's account of life on Wall Street. The book doesn't pretend to glorify the easy money that Lewis and his ilk made during the bond schlepping go-go days of the 1980s. Rather, Lewis is disillusioned by the greedy culture and hypocritical short-sightedness at Salomon Brothers, but not enough that he doesn't enjoy the ride for a few oh-so-profitable years. Like his other books, 'Liar's Poker' is fun to read. His anecdotes about the training program and the trading floor, albeit surely embellished, read like a day at the amusement park. The key shortcoming is an oozy 20-something self-righteousness that pervades many of the book's chapters, and reaches a crescendo in the final pages. But hey, arrogance begets credibility. And when it comes to describing Wall Street in the 80s, Lewis is as credible a spokesman as anyone.

In Liar's Poker, Michael Lewis writes about his journey in becoming a bond salesman and his two years of work experiences at Salomon Brothers. While the book does offer some information about the finacial innovations driving the bond business in the 1980s, I think the principle thrust of the book is an examination of the culture and the personalities of Wall Street trading desks. The first chapter story, which is the basis for the title of the book, involving John Gutfreund and John Meriwether encapsulates the nature of this world.

This book is an important read for anyone who thinks they might want to become a trader/salesperson on Wall Street. If not, it is still a very interesting peek into a world that most people do not understand.

My last comment is a minor criticism of Michael Lewis. Lewis writes in the first person and is obviously a very self-involved individual with an extremely high opinion of himself. This is more evident in his later writings and columns for various periodicals (e.g. his NY Times article on Long-Term Capital was sickening). Despite this criticism the book is still very enjoyable.

*
This book is for everybody. Even if you've never worked in finance in your life, you will still think it's funny and entertaining. Besides which, you will get a thorough education on the bond market and its growth in the mid eighties.

Since this was one of the books often referred to by MBA programmes, I was hesitant at first to read it (one of my pet hates is all those silly books about "how to" from supposed "experts" who have since lost all their money or credibility because they were too greedy or didn't see change coming - which is why they had to write the book). Yet, I found myself in need of literature one day and spotted the distinctive yellow cover (in Singapore at least). I was attracted immediately by the title and then proceeded to read the first paragraph. I almost sat down promptly on the floor to keep reading it - a good sign that this was good reading.

Lewis has a talent for story telling. He combines this talent with an uncanny ability to be able to explain a very complex market in a very simple way. The "pull" of this story is that you KNOW it really happened. It is easy to cast your mind in the author's shoes, and BE on the trading floor with him. You can feel the excitement when the market turns, taste the sweat of other traders, hear the noise of the commotion on the 42nd floor, and sense the tense environment created by several hundred people in one area all trying to make a quick buck.

The story begins by an explanation of the game "Liar's Poker" itself. From then on, the gambling begins and the dice continue to roll ... the very bizarre way in which Michael gets a much sought after position at a prestigious investment bank ... to an intriguing story about the movers and shakers at Salomon Brothers, and the company's inevitable downfall.

Pseudonyms, of course, are used. But we can all imagine what "the Human Piranha" looks like and certainly know what type of person this is. Women can despise the competitiveness and prejudice that reaches its ultimate point in this type of environment, and is practised only by men, for men.

The book tails off a little at the end. The author (rightly) describes how his career takes off with the company and his inevitable resignation from the firm (Michael, I'm totally with you -- it takes a certain type of person, without scrupples or morals to be able to sustain themselves in this type of workplace).

The only slight weakness is that the author tries to justify his choice at the end (there's no need to, because we understand why early on), by saying "money isn't everything". Sure, it is not everything, but it's a lot to those who haven't got any.

*

Belinda came to Atlanta hoping for a fresh beginning to heal her heartache and embarrassment. It is not long before she is involved in a carpool with three other women at work. The morning drive is spiced with girl talk, gossip, writing a relationship Do's and Don't's book, and the sexy traffic reporter's voice. Then, life gets interesting.

First, they have a car wreck, with a to die for cop. Then, Belinda begins breaking a few rules and confronts their "witchy" with a B boss, only to land a promotion as a result. Then, she runs into none other than the sexy voiced man and finds out there's more to him than a voice. She is also discovering that she has an eerie amount of things in common with a dead woman. All of that would be fine, except for one thing, there's a dead woman in her trunk, and it the top candidates for the killer are either Belinda or those closest to her.

**** Whatever kind of book you want, you will probably find it in Kill the Competition. Laughter, suspense, passion, and female bonding all combine in this realistically complex and sometimes whacky book. Ms. Bond has created magic, and she pulls more than one rabbit out of the hat to surprise her readers. ****

This was my first book by Stephanie Bond and all I can say is "WOW"! The characters were witty, funny, and clever. The characters are those whom you can relate with. I found myself thinking, "Hey, I know someone like that". I laughed out loud a few times, earning a curious look from my family.
The suspense was literally killing me! Who murdred Marge Campbell? I could not put the book down! I was captivated and practically obsessed in finding out. I read the book for twelve straight hours (the family had to fend for themselves, dinner? I snapped, "order a pizza" the kids fighting? I hid in my room and locked it. Yeah, I guess I was obsessed! LOL)
Could it be Julian, the reporter, Belinda, the main character? Belinda's carpool/work friends? Libby, Carole, or Rosemary? All had motive to kill the hated Marge Campbell, nobody like the cruel woman. Are Belinda and Wade, the sexy police officer going to hook up or what? (aka "Officer Goodbody" as dubbed by Libby). Then "wow" once it was revealed who killed Marge Campbell, I was stunned! Usually, I piece things together before it is revealed "who done it" and most of the time I have it figured out before I even finish the last chapter. But "wow" I didn't even "think" about this person! Great story! Fast paced, never a dull moment! Will hold your attention to the very end and maybe a little obsessed...LOL Enjoy!

This is the first Stephanie Bond book that I have read and I am very very pleased. If you liked Linda Howard's Mr. Perfect, you will love this book. I can't wait to read more of Mrs. Bond's books.

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.

Short stories about the darker side of investing. Nice if you can read in the investment colums of your local newspaper, but there are better books on the market worth buying.

This book covers many myths regarding the stock market in a readable, interesting way. However, the book overly focused on the bad side. Although the book is suitable for beginners in investing, long time value investors might not get the same portion of benefit. Most of the advise are the view of value investors. What I like most is the book contains a great deal of financial history, dated back to 16th century.

A very readable book -- intelligently illustrates pitfalls & illusions of financial market investing. More anecdotal in approach, but certainly a classic of the "Where are the customer's yacht's" genre. Cuts through many of the falsehoods spread on the street. Well written and extensively researched.