Finance

As others say elsewhere, a book for beginners. However, I have to say that even beginners are going to be mis-lead because the book states one thing and delivers another. The very 1st chapter states the easiest way to beat the market is the simplest and most passive. Buy index mutual funds. The advice is sound, however, what the author promises is not. The problem is this: In buying a index fund, you will never "beat the market". The best you will do is mirror the market and with mutual fund expenses, you will "hopefully" be close to market performance. This approach will NEVER be better than the market. It simply can't. I don't have an argument with the premise of buying index funds. However, the phrase "beat the market" means to do better than or out-perform it. The author apparently interprets this to mean, trail the market or come close to a tie and you beat the market.
Also in the same section, the author recommends further diversification by purchasing 2 or 3 index funds. Diversify your diversified funds? Redundant and ridiculous. Advice for "...people who don't know what they are doing." Warren Buffet
The one good part of this book is that each of the 100 sections starts with a great idea or quote. These I loved. However, of the sections I have read, not a one presents any idea or strategy for "beating the market".
Don't get me wrong, from what I have read, there are some good things to be found here. However, when the author fails to truthfully present or support the basic premise of the book, it makes the whole book suspect. Suggest the reader look elsewhere, (Search- 'Peter Lynch') and the author get a dictionary to look up the meaning of the words, 'beat' and 'mis-represent'.

The 100 ways are actually elaboration of 100 adages of diverse sources from JKF's "How could I have been so mistaken as to have trusted the experts?" to Pope John XXIII's "See everything, overlook a great deal, correct a little".

Some sayings are interesting. Most are quite mediocre, like "Buy low, sell high" "In the long run, it's earnings growth that drives the stock."

I bet that most of the experienced investors or traders, who have read more than two trading books, will be disappointed by this one.

Investors have been getting stock-picking ideas from Gene Walden for much of the last decade. His expertise comes from many books and interviews with market geniuses. Walden has his finger on the pulse and it shows here, as he demonstrates how to put together both active and passive portfolios. He shows beginners how to pick your own stocks, and how to function successfully in today's market.

This book is not a good read- it an excellent calender or mantra. Flip to any page look at the graph, read the explanatory paragraph and then sit back and absorb it. Tuck it away into that space of your brain that you pull out at social events and e-mail one liners, "Did you know that there are 512 Billionares while one in every four people lives off of 1$ a day?" This book does not preach, it just hits you over the head with statistics and easy to understand graphs. If you have ever wondered how countries and people within countries compare to the rest of the world then keep this on your coffee table and EAT IT UP with your coffee. Everything from Literacy Rates to Food to Labor Distribution is in this "book", making it a mini-crash course in World Health, Economics, Politics and Social Change all at once.

Clear, big font, has details if you want them, and half the book is nothin' but pictures.

I was very disappointed with this one. In the introduction, the author reminds us that any games or activities must be relevant to the subject. Unfortunately, I saw very few activities that I could use as-is in my workshops. They would take too much time of a two-hour workshop for little return, or seemed to have little point at all. I saw a few I could adapt to the content of my parent and/or teacher early childhood workshops.

Some of the activities are very good, however, you have to really look for them. Most of them are not very good or old and too familiar. However, the presentation is very good and the book has an easy reference at the begining that you can use to pinpoint the activities that are suitable for different topics.

I found many exercises in this book to be useful. Most of them require no props and can be adapted to any environment. I work with school and college students and have used the exercises in my workshops with good results. The games are categorised and presented very well.