Stock-market

I first found this book at my local library and found it to be one of the best books on investments that I'd read. Since then I've tried to find it for sale here and elsewhere, but have not been able to locate a copy. I hope the publisher will reprint this book someday (even better if they'd update and print a 2nd edition) before I steal the one from the library (I'm joking; but I would like to have a copy of the book).

The SEC should make this required reading for anyone who wants to invest in the stock market. Johnson clarifies what is important and what is not in investing. Even after he shows you how you CAN beat the market, he makes you think about whether you really NEED to beat the market. Much more meaningful than Lynch's pablum.

Klein's retelling of the story of the stock market crash of 1929 is just too little and much too late. Other books, notably Only Yesterday by F.L. Allen for anecdotal material and The Great Crash of 1929 by J. K. Galbraith for analysis, go over the same material and do a better job. Klein's book does have some strong points: wonderful vignettes of some of the people, big and small, who were caught up in the crash; a good analysis of why Herbert Hoover, "the great engineer," couldn't engineer his way out of this one; some interesting anecdotal material I haven't seen anywher else. But all of that could have been done in less than half the space. Nice try, but no cigar.

Maury Klein, in his book Rainbow's End: The crash of 1929, has given us a blend of a newer style of historiography with the traditional sense of examining historical events. He has given us a look at the Stock Market Crash of 1929 through the eyes of the people that participated, rather than looking at it strictly from an economic or political historical viewpoint.

Klein starts his book with a description of American society in the 1920's and explains to us why the society of excess and speculation led to the crash moreso than a failing of the general American economy. By dotting the landscape with characters, some familiar and some unfamiliar, Klein gives us a good portrayal of the times.

There is, unfortunately, only a short section of the book that actually deals with the events of the crash itself. This section focuses the days between Black Thursday and Bloody Tuesday, which culminated in a horrific period of losses in the market.

Klein does a good job of staying on task during the sections of the book in explaining the economic factors and the behind-the-scenes actions that took place during these few hectic days. He does not, however, explain the immediate social ramifications (such as the fact that people who lost everything gave up on life) as well as might be expected; he gives this facet of the crash only peripheral coverage.

I would recommend this book to anyone that is looking for a socio-economic history of America during this 1920's. It does a very good job of covering this topic. However, if one is looking for details just on the crash itself and those few terrible days on Wall Street, that reader would be well served to find another book to read.

"No era ever vanished so suddenly, so completely, as the
twenties." -- -- David Dempsey, _New York Times_, Feb 15, 1970

This is a quick run-through of the Crash, with a little pop-sociology about America in the Twenties. It's eerie, reading quotes from bankers, politicians, and brokers from the months before the Crash, about how the market had become so modernized and shockproof that panics were now impossible. Sounds familiar...

New York Times financial columnist Alexander Noyes is a primary source in this book. It is fascinating, watching these titanic events being filtered daily through this not-stupid man's pen. We've heard more than 70 years of second-guessing about the Crash by now, so it is interesting seeing how it was taken point-blank by analysts at the time.

In Maury Klein's account, the Crash is nobody's fault. Like Stanislaw Lec once said, every snowflake in an avanlanche pleads not guilty. Big brokers ostentatiously placed big orders, hoping to spur rallies. Consortia of financiers struggled to maintain public confidence in the market. President Herbert Hoover-who as a humanitarian first and failed President second was Jimmy Carter in reverse-tried to get Big Business together in a game plan to retrieve the situation. But in a free market, there is no one pulling levers and hauling cables controlling things. There was no one to stop the free market from going into freefall.

Throughout the book are amusing little vignettes, like the man who sat smiling in his broker's office throughout Black Monday. His termagant wife wouldn't be able to nag him about the neighbors doing better in the market than him anymore...

I'm an avid trader using Elliott Wave as my primary basis of market forecasting possibilities and trade off a specific Wave setup. This book is compilation of Elliott's old subscription based newsletters that teach and predict the market in his time. Commentary is by Prechter who adds some comments and clarifications at the end of each news letter. While Elliott is nearly a godlike status in my mind , I found this book is pointless for trading and learning purposes. Among the many letters and Prechter's annoying hindsight commentaries , you will find bits and pieces of the Wave based principles. I have found most of the useful information to be very basic Elliott wave, which can be found in Chapter 1 of most any modern Elliott Wave book. I also did not follow on many of the wave counts, which break many of the well known modern rules. This is understandable as EW was still in its infancy at the time of writing. Overall, this book has little or no value to a trader.

This little book organizes the stock market into relevant segments that greatly facilitates stock selection and reference with other stocks. Great buy!

In today's crazy market, this book proves to be a terrific tool. It makes understanding market segments a lot easier. I can quickly look-up the information I need.

I love the size of the book because I can eaily keep it with me for quick reference.

I highly recommend this book to anyone all ready investing in the stock market or someone that is about to start.