Money-market

Some critics have complained that Brett Duval-Fromson's the Gaga Years falls short of his Running and Fighting: Working in Washington. That's a bit like comparing the Cherry Orchard to King Lear and concluding that it isn't a very good play.

And in any case, the critics may not have been paying close enough attention. It is only on the second or third reading that one sees how Duval-Fromson's wit suffuses this book. One of many examples: The chapter on MiniScribe, a disk-drive maker whose financial shenanigans are compared to fall of Acre in 1291, is written without recourse to the letter "E" -- a wry comment on how MiniScribe ulimately lacked earnings.

While many consider the Gaga Years a business book, in my library its shelved elsewhere -- between Dumas and Eckhart.

Duval-Fromson's work has it all: The braces, the big cigars, the Lydians. Drawing parallels between Croesus, Ivan Boesky, the beginnings of Lyme disease in Westchester, and George Soros' sparring with the Hunt brothers, the Gaga Years weaves a tale that will keep you turning the pages through pot after pot of Earl Grey.

Duval-Fromson's finest book is matched only, perchance, by E.A. Roy's work on Hungarian bearer bonds. I pray that it will come back in print.

Few financial journalists ask the tough questions as determinedly as the polymath Brett Duval-Fromson. This book is a freewheeling, far-ranging essay on how money works, how to play it -- and what it means.

Without lapsing into intrusiveness or self-involvement, Fromson practically makes high finance into an Aesop's fable in this incredibly accessible narrative. From his insight on the society of the Lydians to a quirky story about the Egyptian Pharaoh Ptolemy II, Fromson keeps the reader turning the pages -- and you just might learn something while you're at it!

This is mostly a minibio of James Cramer with a lot of attention paid on the side to CNBC and Maria Bartiromo specifically. If you're very interested in Cramer, you can just go get his actual memoir. As for me, I am interested in Wall Street and the system of disseminating and evaluating information and opinion about stocks -- the conflicts of interest, the conventions, the legal rules, the strengths and weaknesses. I don't know how you can analyze those issues without spending time on the role and motivations of key research analysts, the position of the SEC and the communication conventions between companies and journalists, hedge fund and other money managers and the SEC. Any book claiming to treat these issues and focusing on 1998-2000 would have to deal extensively by the phenomenon represented by Mary Meeker and Harry Blodgett, which this book does not. The book focuses disproportionately and without explanation on a few TV personalities without treating the overall issue. Too bad for me.

It would have been fine if the title had been accurate -- something about James Cramer. Or even "Crazy Days at CNBC."

The data does not synthesize into any larger recommendation or theme. It comes across as an accurate chronology without analysis. The writing style is correspondingly dry.

If you invest at all - stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. - you need to read this book. Howard Kurtz has the inside track on the investment bankers, mutual fund managers, and the financial press, with insight into what the real agendas are - and therefore, who you can really trust. He gives fascinating details of the celebrities in the financial reporting world, from cable news channels devoted to business reporting, to the publishing world and the movers and shakers on Wall Street - and most importantly, who's really driving the show, who the analysts are really working for, who the brokers are pressured by, and why analysts who downgrade stocks are usually fired.

The book is filled with plenty of anecdotes, details of who owns what, who works for who, who's related to or dating who, where the unusual friendships have created unexpected channels of information, and how the financial reporting business is influenced and controlled by special interests that may surprise you - but that make complete sense once Kurtz explains it all.

If you want to read "between the lines" in the financial reporters to see the truth and decipher the actual future of the market, this book is required reading to help figure out where the truth is coming from, and where the truth is not.

Not to mention - it's just plain fascinating. This book reads like a fascinating dramatic novel.

This book offered some interesting insight into how analyst news and forecasts effect the stock market. The main message I came away with is "don't believe the hype". If you are looking to bolster your confidence in your own ability to make stock picks in the face of contridictory market analysts then take the time to listen to this book. If you're not interested in an autobiogrophy of famous Wall Street gurus then skip it. You can get the same information and much more valuable insight from reading some of the Peter Lynch books.