Trading Books

This book is the perfect "study at home" manual for the Aikido student. It's hard to remember all the Aikido techniques, and this book is exactly what the student needs for that purpose. I would recommend it to anyone studying Aikido.

This is the English translation of the volume by Aikido Founder Ueshiba Morihei called "Budo Renshu" ("Budo Training"). Ueshiba Sensei's first book, this volume was originally published in 1933. Techniques are illustrated with drawings and accompanied by brief narrative instructions. The techniques are MUCH closer (in fact, nearly identical) to Daito Ryu Jujutsu than the flowing post-World War II Aikido, as Ueshiba Sensei was still associated with his D.R.J. teacher, Takeda Sogaku. You will also get a taste of the original philosophy of Ueshiba's martial art, as a section called "Secret Teachings of Bu-do", composed of 38 poems he wrote, even includes one poem which alludes to the martial strength of Imperial Japan;

" 'Bu' received from the Gods at the beginning of the world,
Is ours for protecting the nation:
The Emperor's exhalted voice!" [....]

As most works on Aikido present the philosophy of Aikido developed by Ueshiba Morihei in the aftermath of WWII, this book offers a unique look at the art BEFORE it had reached its final stage of development. It was written during a period of time when combat was still necessary to survival, and a practical art was more likely to have a "-jutsu" attatched to the end of its name than a "-do". This was Aikido in the days before deep philosophical theories and teachings based on love and flow. Ueshiba sensei was 50 years old at the time this volume was published. It is a lot of fun to go through this book and compare the techniques with those used in modern forms of Aikido, as well as related schools like Hapkido. If you're interested in the development of grappling arts or in considering the development of Aikido as an art, this book will be useful for you.

Aikido was invented during the early 20th century by Morihei Ueshiba. His art can be called the art of peace and simplicity. It's probabily the only Japanese martial art that can defend against Chinese martial artists.

Ueshiba learned all sorts of Chinese martial arts and remodeled it into a simplified version of self-defending. He is a really open-minded artist -- he does not refuse absorbing anything that is good for his purpose. He removed the ingredient of attacking, and created Aikido.

He is a very intelligent man. The intelligence transformed into the way of Aikido. His idea is to make you collapse yourself if you attack him!

I read the Japanese edition of this book, and I would recommend this book to all people who love Chinese and Japanese martial arts.

If you are learning some sort of martial art, this book is a really nice reference as well.

But don't forget Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do!! They have something very similar -- the simplicity.

This is the first book written by Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido. This was intended as a technical manual for his students and not for those outside the Dojo. It has the diagrams for completing 166 techniques. If you are looking for a book to explain Aikido and the History of O'Sensei, this is not the book for you. But if you want to have the Book that O'Sensei wanted his students to use for review.....this is a must.

Supposedly, Morihei Ueshiba gave this manual to all students who had attained 3rd dan (which was teaching certificate at the time) and it contained many of the more advanced and secret techniques in Aikido. So I was elated when this book came out and bought it with expectation that with the secret technique written in this book, I can finally become like O'Sensei and beat up 200,000 people and finally avenge the death of my master.

Unfortunately for me, and my master, this book contained no new secret techniques which enabled me to gain superhuman powers and flip people over just with my death stare. In fact, I had already known 99% of techniques in this book. Furthermore, Aikido techniques are mostly Ki (internal power) and footwork, and this book concentrates mostly on the upper body techniques, which are neccessary, but certainly not advanced techniques.

This book is a fantastic resource for investors who are new to convertibles, convertible experts and everyone in between. It provides a great breadth of topics as well as a perfect amount of depth. It covers the full range of convertible products, the theory behind them and convertible investing strategies. I'll be keeping this book handy.

Hart Woodson has put together an easy to understand guide to convertibles. The book covers all aspects for hedge funds to outright purchasers of the product on a global basis. In depth enough for the seasoned professional and yet basic enough for those trying to understand convertibles for the first time.

Quite a few books have been written about the specialized subject of convertible securities, but Hart Woodson has distinguished himself by writing a comprehensive book that includes all of the latest types of convertible securities as well as the latest strategies--in plain language that a beginner could comprehend, and with sophisticated equations included for the sophisticated quant. Better still, the book is not simply an ad for convertibles nor for his employer, Gabelli Asset Management. The pitfalls as well as the potentials are described. Hart can write. Hart has broad experience. He puts it all together in this practical book.

A must read for anyone interested in a clear and consise review of all the relevant information regarding this timely topic. Mr. Woodson demonstrates his precise and broad understanding of all the issues surrounding convertible investing, and presents such knowledge in a profounding easy to read fashion. This one shouldn't be missed. Clearly one of the authoritative sources out there!!

I am unsure what book the rest of the reviewers are reading; but it was not this one. The book is not only ambiguous, but poorly crafted with topical transitions sloppy. I can comfortably say that there is not a single section of the book that adequately unveils the dynamics of various convertible instruments or their pricing. Indeed, the book reads more like a glossary than an explanatory text and for persons new to converts, the spate of regurgitated pricing theories will likely do more harm then good. Perhaps the one strength of the text is that it serves as a broad reference for readers truly interested in converts to seek out more educative pieces. For more informed readers, modest incremental knowledge seems to be the only gain.

For those who had not read any other Gann's trading book, this is an excellent choice. I assure you that you would be fascinated by Gann's superb insight and intelligence that had transcended over half a century. Though it focused primarily on commodities, the principles are applicable to stock trading as well. Traders can definitely benefit from them.

For those who had read other Gann's books before, you may feel that this one is quite similar to his previous books (this is Gann's last book published). In fact, the rules set here are over 95% identical with those laid out in "45 Years in Wall Street" Gann published two years before this. However, as one reviewer wrote that the above average price ($49) of this highly valuable book is still lower than one single pip of a commodity futures contract, I think it should still be an essential item in any Gann friend's personal collection.

If i could keep just one of my gann books this one would be it , it is packed full of ideas even a non gann follower could benifit from this book.

I like this book. It does not promise "90% accurate signals" or treat reader with condescension. It teaches three things: 1) "swing trading" methods, 2) how to pay attention, 3) never forget stop loss orders.

The book itself is structured in three large parts: 1) W.D. Gann's approach to markets and trader's discipline, 2) examples of trading patterns from various commodities all the way from 19th century, 3) addendum from 1951 with some more details and clarifications.

Some people complain that Gann's writing style is too monotonous and droning. It is true in the sense that he does not entertain. But he does cover more ground than all those easy-reading "Trading for Dummies" book which are typeset in triple space with large charts.

Parts of this book and interpretations of Gann's methods are available on the web - but it is still nice to have it as a book.

This book is a hodge-podge of techniques presented in a droning, labored style. However, literary taste is not what draws traders to the works of Gann. Gann's writings supposedly contain "hidden clues" as to how to forecast price levels at a specific time in the future for financial instruments.

Applying an honest effort to Gann's material, it appears that the SP500 index (SPX) should sell at 1172.50 on Wednesday, 11/03/04. I am writing this review on Monday, October 4, 2004 when the index is priced at 1137.22. If this projection is close to the mark - you may want to consider buying this book.

WD Gann wrote this updated version of the book in 1951. Yes, 1951. His methodologies and style, as well as his world view, are so....well 1950's. However, what he provides to those of us who want to be successful in trading commodites is a broad set of 'do's and dont's' that you can find in nearly every trading book written today. You know, "stop loss orders", "dont over trade", "never risk more than X%" of your capital on a given trade, "let your winning trade's ride", "get out of a bad trade immediately", "when in doubt, there is no doubt".... We have read them all before. NONE of this is of any real value to the modern trader. However, what is of value, is getting a recognition of the painstaking historical analysis that WD Gann went through BEFORE he traded any commodities. This book includes several 100 year analyses of all the traded commodities of his time. The analyses include what happened in the "month of September in 1897" in cotton. And then that is followed by the next relevant technical occurance, which happened in October of 1897. He does this for many of the commodites of the time from 1841 to 1941. What the reader comes away with in my opinion, is that commodities are cyclical in nature. And that if you can holistically 'feel' the history and the motion of the cycles that exist in each commodity, you can trade more effectively. This includes understanding the 'how we got here' and the relevant bigger picture points that one can glean from looking at the historical data on a specific commodity. For example, that in the last 100 years (1841-1941), (I am making this up) Corn has reached a new yearly high in the month of June 22 times, and a new low in August 36 times. Whereas, new highs were reached in February only 2 times, and new lows reached in December 2 times. This information is valuable to a trader who knows what to do with this type of information. In my view, dont look to this book for more information on "how to trade" as much as you should look at 'what to do' to improve your chances of success. One last note, if you are looking to get some background or academic knowledge on how GANN lines are used, or GANN Boxes or any of the other GANN ascribed technical tools used or invented by GANN, this book DOES NOT show, teach or discuss any of them.

I had never even heard of the I Ching before I was introduced to this book and after reading the front inside and back inside covers was doing my first reading! The rest of the book was just as easy to read and understand. I was disappointed when the book ended! The real life adventures only helped me to understand this complex and very interesting form of divination. Anyone interested in any of the divination arts should have this book!!!

OK, maybe I'm slightly biased (co-author Amy __is__ my mom and I __did__ write the foreward) but I still think this is one of the best new books on the I-Ching in twenty years. The fact is, most books on the I-Ching are arcane and difficult to understand and make this wonderful tool for decision-making almost impossible to use. Amy and Rod's book makes it easy for regular (i.e. non-academic) people to use the I-Ching in their daily life. What more could you want?

If you're an academic student of the I-Ching, then you'll want to review this book for general ideas about a different, more "utilitarian" approach than Wilhelm and others. However, if you're a person who just wants to find an interesting entry into a thousand-year-old divination tool, then you'll LOVE this book.

And please, let me know if you disagree.

Charlie

What gets me about this version is not only is it glib and superficial, not only do they teach you away of coming up with a hexagram that is totally bogus from a mathematical point of view--it's that they don't even seem to have any idea what some of the lines mean.

But please, don't take my word for it. Pretend you just drew hexagram 55 with the fourth line being the one you read (the changing line). Here is what Alfred Huang, who has the best i ching on the market, says:
"The fourth line corresponds with the bottom line. They are both yang lines and their situations are the same. The bottom line thinks of the fourth line as his "corresponding lord." The fourth place considers the yang element at the bottom as "his lord of like nature." --seeking a positive companion--brings good fortune."

In other words, it's telling you whoever you are asking about is someone you have a deep compatability with. You like them and they like you. You will probably bond.

Now check out what is in the easy i ching: "Heavy curtains cut out all the light. Cut off from the light and in the dark. This is an obstructed and unsuitable position. Confusion and lies abound. You cannot see or be seen. When you understand the confusion, you will see the light."

Hello? Where did they get all that negative crap? They just made it up, apparently. This is a fairly positive line but they don't have any idea on earth what it even means. Do you really want to bother buying an i ching put together by incompetents who have no idea what they are even talking about? Listen, my friend, there's a reason you can buy this thing used for a buck and a half--it's garbage.

I enjoyed this book.Its an easy book to understand and written in simple English.Simple instructions to learn I Ching.Printed in reasonable size print too.(I didnt need to wear my glasses).The authors method for a reading is simple too.
I prefer their method.Overall,a good book with plenty of information make this book an ideal beginners book.You can learn to do an I Ching reading for yourself within minutes of starting to read this book.This is a good size book.Larger than most,and,good quality.Not a cheap book on cheap paper.Good value.This should be the first book you buy on I Ching.

I also recommend these books:
1)"I Ching:a new interpretation for modern times".
By Sam Reifler.
2)"Practical guide to the I Ching".By Kim-Anh Lim.

This is an excellent practical explanation of the I Ching, making it easy to use. I have a few I Ching books, but this is by far the easiest to understand and use for daily divination. Even the book construction makes it an awesome tool - the page edges are rough, making it easy to flip through and the back page diagram of upper/lower trigrams makes finding the right trigram number simple.

I consider myself very lucky ! I look for a book that will describe what a trader\investor feels like and how can one deal with such feelings. It turns out that on my first search through the net I came across this great, thorough, professional, up todate book. Non of the books I came across after this one could supply the goods in one cover.
1) It was published in 2007 so many examples from the financial world or researches described in the book are relevant.
2) Its not an easy book to read, however that exactly what makes it professional and thorough. The author describes a behaviour, brings examples, and backs it up with research and experimental results, sometimes he even suggests the reader how to deal with similar situations accordingly.
3) If you are an experienced trader\investor this book can be like a mirror to your feelings. I personally related to most of the behavioural examples given in the book, as if Peternon wrote it about me. Of course we are all very much the same in that sense and the difference is actually how we manage (or learn to manage) our emotions.
To conclude: the recipe for making money in the market starts with "learn to manage your emotions". This book may teach you all about those emotions, managing then is something else.

Eitzik

I'm surprised there's not more reviews of this book, considering I am halfway done with it (it's a very big book and should be read slowly and carefully), and hav picked up a lot already. I looked ahead to see what I was in store for, and it looks like a good study of momentum investing/value investing. I have read Tharp, Kiev, Elder, Douglas, Koppel, who are pretty much the big names of investing, as well as Gilvovich and Plous. I'd say Mark Douglas and this author gave me the most insight in this topic. I plan to read Thaler next so I cannot comment on what Thaler has to offer. This author quotes Michael J. Mauboussin a few times as well, apparently this author likes his work, as do I.

In regards to this book, it is the first book I have come across that had actual psychological studies where the subjects were put to tests to see what kinds of decisions they make in the stock market. This is valuable insight that you don't find much. Usually the author is discussing studies in something other than the stock market, and they extrapolate this data on to what they probably would have done if it were the stock market. This book is full of how people behave in either gambling, or the financial markets. It does go into detail as to what portion of the brain is activated when given certain stimuli, and what effects that portion of the brain give. It is the most in depth and most well researched book I have read so far when it comes to psychology of investing. I have picked up a lot from this book, and now know why we tend to do things that are destructive to our financial health, even after all the books I have read. So we read books like this to gather useful information that we don't know yet, that can be applied successfully to make money, or prevent losing money. Does this book fit this requirement? Absolutely.

In addition to this book I might suggest you read the following I found useful.

How We Know What isn't So, by Gilvovich
Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making, by Pluous
Trading in the Zone and Disciplined Trader by Douglas
More than you Know by Mauboussin

Forget those "Zen and trading" books out there. Go for the real thing.

Aside from the section that deals with the brain, serotonin and other facets of the reward system, much of this information would already be common knowledge to someone who hasn't lived under a rock most of their life in isolation from others.
But thats just the thing, some need to have it spelled out on a page to fully realise or cement the depth of certain concepts into the mind.
Anyone who day trades knows the power of ramping but unfortunately the author doesnt reveal the mindsets of the daytraders, He wouldn't be able to for the book seems as tho it is written by a learned psychologist and not a trader.
You can get most of the info regarding trader habits, biases and self delusions anywhere but the section on neurology is worth the price itself. Good addition to a traders library.

Now it's clear why those Motley Fool headlines are so compelling to click on. Inside the brain of the investor, fear of loss is twice as great as the joy of gain. In the fascinating "Inside the Investor's Brain", Richard Peterson explains why and much more.

An investor is more likely to wager $1000 on a fifty-fifty coin flip if he had just lost $1000 in an investment than if he had just gained $1000. Studies have shown that people would make the risky wager more often when they were in the red (~80%) but fewer people would make the wager when they were in the black (~30%). Why? It's the same wager. But, as Peterson shows in one of his fascinating illustrations, we investors put more import into losses than gains.

This type of seemingly irrational behavior is what is going on behind every stock transaction, hedge fund decision, or institutional investment, and it's the main reason why it takes a genius (or a very lucky person) to consistently beat the market. It's also why I left specific investment advice out of my book about Credit Arbitrage. There is simply too much of a human element to trading. While the author does admit that financial advisers fare better than dartboards or the Dow Jones average for that matter, he notes that the wisdom of the collective is always smarter than its constituent parts. Citing Mauboussin, Peterson describes why it's so difficult to beat the market.

Peterson also goes on to get into the physiology of the brain and how it reacts to retail situations numerous real-world investment anecdotes to illustrate his points. The result is an entertaining look into what goes on in the minds of investors, which everyone should read.

JSBM
Author, How to Take Advantage of the People Who Are Trying to Take Advantage of You: 50 Ways to Capitalize on the System

The typical investor is his/her own worst enemy, doesn't have a long-term investment strategy, cuts profits short and lets losses pile trying to break even, does not use stop loss orders, buys near the highs and sells near the lows, and likes to chase the hottest mutual funds or stocks. If you see yourself in any of these statements, then join the crowd. To become a better investor or trader it is crucial to understand how your brain impacts your decision-making. This book provides not only an exceptional insight into this process, but provides methods to deal with negative thoughts and ideas that can hamper clear thinking. The 23 chapters are presented in a logical sequence and the writing is clear and precise. This book contains critical information that investor and traders require to maximize their efforts to be profitable.

The research in this book is based on the behavioral finance field. The book answers two key questions: 1. What are the irrational fears driving my investment behavior? and 2. What can I do to better manage my fears? The key to investing is not just obtaining a solid financial and investment education, but also understanding your brain's topography. The readers will learn to recognize subconscious mistakes in their decision-making.

The author's credentials and background are impressive - not only is he an MD with a specialty in psychiatry, but also is a former trader, contributor to numerous publications, and is a seminar leader. The contents of this comprehensive 392-page book provide readers with a unique look at the workings of the mind and how they impact trading decisions. Also included is a 12-page glossary that definitely helps the uninitiated with key terms in psychology, and the 32-pages of detailed footnotes illustrating the monumental amount of work put into this project.

This book is not light reading and it cannot be read in a short time if you want to get the most out of it. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on anxiety, fear and nervousness; loss aversion; and charting and data mining as they made me recognize my own emotional reactions to these elements. Overall, the author provides a detailed view of the brain that can only help in improving our trading and investing processes.

As much as I liked the pictures and the possibilities of the gardens, there's no chance that the average person could even attempt some of the Japanese style gardens. The designs are beautiful but you really do need a LOT of room to do any of these designs. The idea of a calming, tranquil space to sit would be wonderful but not on my budget.

I picked up about ten books on Japanese gardening at the library and this book was by far the most inspirational. The author gives definitions for technical terms and also shows step by step illustrations to recreate various photographs within the book. He also shows how to make a bamboo fence which I thought was really neat and I am actually going to give it a try. This is the only book I decided to purchase out of the lot from the library and I plan on giving a few copies as gifts.

This is an excellent book for anyone planning to build their own garden. The instructions for creating the various elements of the garden made it look easy, and the descriptions given for items that become a part of the garden I found quite interesting. I would have liked even more finished garden pictures as I was only looking for inspiration. But, even with out as many pictures as I would have like, the book was helpful and my garden is now complete, giving me the tranquility I was looking for.

You will find inside a lot of inspiration on how to make things work. Exceptional "do it yourself" recommendations. Its a real guidebook for japanese gardening lovers.

As the founder of Japan Garden Society and Yoshikawa Isao Garden Research Institute, as well as a honorary member of executive board of the China Landscape Architects Society in both Suzhou and Hangzhou, Mr. Isao Yoshikawa summarizes his many years of garden design experience in "Japanese Gardening in Small Spaces: Step-By-Step Illustrations."

"Japanese Gardening in Small Spaces: Step-By-Step Illustrations" covers small gardens (history and designs and design tips and tools), basin front gardens, stone lantern gardens, paving and stepping stone gardens, stone arrangement gardens, garden accents (bamboo fences, stone lantern and water basins), materials for small gardens (trees and shrubs, ground covers, stones and gravels), basic techniques for Japanese gardening, and a chapter on how to make small gardens.

"Japanese Gardening in Small Spaces: Step-By-Step Illustrations" has 128 pages and many beautiful interior color photos. It is a valuable and practical book on Japanese gardens.

These spin off books from the television decorating shows give the viewer more depth than the show allows or can disappoint. Here I had trouble with the book's format. Some pages crowded five photos together making it hard to see the details. For project how-to, the one-page instructions seem skimpy for ambitions projects like slipcovering a chair or applying fabric to the wall. The 14 pages devoted to a chronological guide of the show's episodes seems pretty self-indulgent.
Despite those criticisms, there are good ideas to be found here. I liked the project of tracing words onto semisheer fabric for a pillow cover. I'd recommend borrowing this book from the library, unless you are a hardcore fan of the show.

Loved this book! It gave me so many ideas and inspiration, there are a ton of things I want to do in my house now. If you like the show and want to update your house, take a look here. My only complaint was that it was too brief, I wish they'd do more rooms, make it longer. I need more!! Ok, so I'm a little addicted.

I, too, used to be devoted to the show, but have grown weary of some of the designers with no talent. This book has gorgeous pictures, a myriad of things you can do yourself and does not mercifully feature Paige that much.However, devoting 6 (count them) pages to that hideous bathroom that Hildi covered with artificial flowers was a large dirty trick. I could not believe the ugliness of that bathroom, imagining the steam making those flowers run, and the dust, etc. build up on them.Then, when you tire of that decor, (instantly) the hours it will take to remove the staples and refinish the walls for a new treatment. She does this over and over because she is plain lazy. Just likes to plaster idiotic labels, records and the posies all over walls. I wonder how she would like this treament in her own house. I wouldn't let her near a possession of mine.The book gave Kia, another decorator with no talent, not much space. Considering the hideous rooms she has done, that was not a surprise. Love Vern, Frank, Edward, but the women are off the wall.I still buy the dern books though, can't resist. Not enough range of colors used though, predominantly oranges, rusts, reds, grays and browns. None of which I like or would use. I think I would hire a decorator rather than rely on these people.

This is a great book if you're looking for ideas on how to decorate your room. It has plenty of rooms and styles to choose from. I re-did our master bedroom, using a look I saw in here, and it looks fantastic!

"Make It Yours" isn't going to give you tips and techniques on how to do each little thing in the room, but it gives you a good foundation of how to achieve the overall look.

I'm addicted to Trading Spaces and love their books. I bought the first book which was about the show behind the scenes, and I loved it. But this is even better because it's all about decorating ideas shown in rooms from the show. It's kind of like a freeze-frame look at the show because I can stop and study the rooms from TV instead of being frustrated when the video cameras pan a room too quickly. I am seeing a lot of ideas that went right by me when I saw the rooms on TV. There is great information in here and pix of all my favorite rooms.

I'm a big fan of Heisig's first volume but this second volume takes his principle of "divide and conquer" just too far in my opinion.

Working through this volume means learning just a single reading for each of the 2000-odd kanji introduced in volume 1. What does that mean? It means that after studying and absorbing all the information in this book you will still have virtually no practical ability to read Japanese. This is because most kanji have more than one reading. Becoming literate in Japanese depends crucially on knowing multiple readings of kanji and on being familiar with a reasonable body of vocabulary associated with those readings.

One of the other reviewers states "I am reading compounds like never before". Great, but my question is- what are the chances that you are reading them correctly when you know only a single reading for each kanji? The only Japanese you can read with confidence after using this book are the one word per kanji that happen to be presented. It's a little like learning one word for each letter of the alphabet and expecting to be able to read English.

For my money the method employed in Kanji in Context (Japan Times) is much more efficient and what's more actually DOES take you a good way towards literacy. Kanji in Context concentrates on teaching kanji meanings and readings in the context of the vocabulary associated with those kanji. A consequence of this method is that you begin to acquire a native-like appreciation for how a kanji is likely to be read - even in previously unseen compounds. You are able to make practical use of the knowledge (i.e you are able to read Japanese) long before you reach the end of the book. Another good little book for starting to acquire that level of familiarity is "Decoding the Kanji" by Habein (Kadansha International)

The main value of this book is in pointing out those few kanji elements that act a reliable (more or less) guide to at least one "on" reading. But that is a small part of the whole and that information can be found on the web for free. Heisig's first volume is excellent for developing a familiarity with the kanji but volume 2 achieves too little gain to be worth it, particularly when better alterantives are available.

Remembering the Kanji is everything it's cracked up to be, if you have a decent visual imagination. I'm an artist, not a linguist, and I've enjoyed my way through a quarter of the first volume in a month. I can't wait to get to the next lesson every day. At my fairly leisurely pace, I'll be high-school literate by the end of the year. The ease and pleasure of Heisig's method put a fire beneath a long-cherished fantasy to learn to read Chinese - and opened the door to Japanese (which is what most people are looking for here) and Korean in the process.

But beware! I ordered vols. II and III, from different vendors listed here, without shopping around first. I paid a whopping 98.00 for v. III (Instant Gratification tax, and I'd read it was o.o.p. / rare), and two days later, my order for v. II, which was to cost under 30.00, was cancelled, AND EVERY OTHER VENDOR ON AMAZON JACKED UP THEIR PRICES!!! Going rate today is 117.00. Puhleeeze.

Go to Kinokuniya online, an extremely reputable Japanese bookseller with whom I've done business before. Including shipping from New York (I.G. tax again),I paid 46.00 for v. II. They have stores on the west coast, as well as in Asia.

First off, you can download the intro to this book from Nanzan Institute's website. And if you know some Spanish, you can download the intro and a part of the second chapter of the Spanish edition, called "Kanji para recordar II", both from Nanzan's website and from the translator's website, Nipoweb.

So far, I've covered 55% of the on-yomi presented in the first 10 chapters. The chore ideas behind this book are:

-Focus on one thing at a time: You've already learned the writing, now you continue with on-yomi and later will finish with kun-yomi.

-Avoid (as much as possible) illustrating new on-yomi with compunds containing other on-yomi not learnt yet. This leads to duplication and even triplication of sample words, and even to the use of rare compunds to illustrate common on-yomi. However, for the most part, it works.

-Try to take the most advantage of the fact that most kanji are phonetic, rather than "ideographic", compunds. So you though all the kanji were sound-independent ideograms? Fortunately, you're wrong! Most of them have forever engraved their pronunciation in their writing. However, it seems that their importing to Japan via Korea, the fact that some kanji were re-introduced in later times from a different region of China, the phonetic adaptation (or deformation?) to Japanese pronunciation, the natural change of pronunciation over time, and the fact that some traditional on-yomi were suppressed from the Joyo-Kanji list (for the most part, this book abides by the official list of on-yomi) have rendered this learning tool an almost complete waste of time in some cases, and an uphill battle in others. However, Heisig made his best to give some order to this mess.

-You must learn kun-yomi on a need-basis. You're only given a mnemonic tool to learn them and a list of all officialy recognized kun-yomi, but no particular order to their study. Thus, at this point, after having learnt the writing and on-yomi of all Joyo Kanji, you might guess that now it's a good time to pay due respect to the "proficiency levels" of the official test (JLPT), or to your own textbooks. Anyway, now you'll have a really huge headstart.

Now, about the method:

While the first book gave you all the intelectual "tools" to perform the task, this one gives you just clues: You are told that if you associate a certain "signal primitive" with its on-yomi, you can remember the on-yomi of all characters sharing the same phonetic component (well, that's 100% true for chapter 2, at least), but you are not given any method on how to associate that shape with that sound. However, since you're supposed to have finished RTK 1, and probably "Remembering the Kana", you already know what to do: Create mnemonics! Regarding the chapters that rely only on sample compunds, you'll found it a lot harder, and if you don't already know the compunds, you'll probably end up creating mnemonics for every single on-yomi you find difficult to remember. Thus, the main merit of this book is the orderly fashion of presenting on-yomi, not any particular memorization method.

>>Update:
On may 2006 I finished this book. Looking back, I think it would have been better to wait to finish my grammar textbooks (Japanese For Busy People) before tackling this book, since the more vocabulary you already know, the more you'll get from studying "Remembering The Kanji II".

If you're reading this review, you either (a) have not tried Heisig's method at all, and are curious about the results of the later volume(s), or (b) you're in the middle of studying the first volume, and are curious as to the benefits of the second volume (For the first volume lacks the immediate benefits of modern application). If you've already completed the first volume, you will unquestionably move on to the second volume simply because it's a natural progression of studies. Whoever finishes the first book will be move onto this book regardless of what this review says. But the likelihood of one actually finishing the first book (Not to sound pessimistic) is not very high in the first place. In fact, everybody that I've talked to (In real life, NOT through the internet or through e-mail) that started the first volume of Remembering the Kanji have not completed it. They may have gotten halfway, but it became too hard, and they fizzled out. This seems to be a common thing. So provided you can get through the very tough first volume, this is where the benefits start become pronounced. But without the first book, this book has very little meaning; so you can't skip the first book. Period.

I'd also like you to note that (At the time of writing this review) there are a total of three other reviews here. Compare this to the 30+ reviews of the first book. Why? It is because most that have purchased the first volume of RtK did not complete it. In fact, I feel that many that reviewed the first volume of RtK on this website have not truly tried to use the method, they merely comment about the underlying concept and immediate benefits (or lack thereof). I've already reviewed the first volume of RtK on this web site, so I don't need to explain how I feel about it.

This is "Volume 2" in the series; it therefore assumes that you have mastered volume 1 to a reasonable degree. Volume 1 made you connect an English keyword to some 2,000 kanji; although you could not read a single kanji, they were more fermiliar to you (And completing this course in it's entirety was a very, VERY hard task). You become somewhat similar to a Chinese person that is fermiliar with the meaning of kanji characters in their native language, and all they have to learn is a different way to pronounce them. So volume 1 sort of "levels the playing field" between you and the kanji. But it is only in volume 2 that you truly begin to "play" with the skills you've learned, and hit kanji completely out of the ballpark.

This second volume is a "Guide" rather than the first book, which was a "Course." This is because it mustn't be followed to the "t," unlike the first volume. Here, kanji are broken down into groups, many of which have a similar set of strokes that signal a certain reading (They are called "signal primates"). Although not every kanji is like this, there are quite a few, therefore making it possible to systematically learn quite a few readings. When the system of "signal primitives" cannot apply, common word compounds are used to help remember characters.

The biggest bulk of the book is devoted to learning about the ON reading (or Chinese reading of the kanji). Each frame consists of one kanji, one reading, and one compound to reinforce that one reading. Because many kanji have more than one ON reading, sometimes the same kanji will be seen on multiple frames. The KUN (Or Japanese reading) is not consistent with any rules, so there isn't much of a way to systemize the learning of it. At the end of the book Heisig presents a concept of tagging each phonetic element with an image, similar to what was done with volume 1. Combine the phonetic elements, combine the images, and come up with a memorable story or image to connect the two. Eventually you will forget the story or image you used to connect the two, and you'll just remember that such-and-such word has such-and-such meaning. I have yet to try this, but it seems to fall into place with his other kanji-learning methods.

This book builds upon the flashcards you were supposed to have made when you studied and reviewed the kanji from the first volume. There is a flashcard program called "King Kanji" (Google it) for your computer or PDA. When you download the program, flashcard files of every single Heisig kanji are included. Using their "lesson creator" feature, I am creating flashcards of the compounds introduced in this second volume. I prefer this way of creating flashcards rather than by hand. They're much easier to keep track of. (A program called "Stackz" is also good for creating and reviewing vocabulary introduced here).

What am I getting out of this book? I'm reading compounds I've never seen before, I'm seeing kanji in my head when I hear or speak a word, I'm remembering vocabulary at a very quick rate. This book (As well as the first volume) have played a vital role in my understanding of not only kanji, but the Japanese language as a whole. I no longer have to gaze and wonder about this elaborate system of writing; the ability to truly understand it is now within my grasp. Just the self-confidence and sense of accomplishment this has brought me is enough to merit me buying this book. Although I'm still working my way though this book, I've gained a degree of knowledge and ability that I would have never dreamt of. Assuming I continue to make progress like I am now, literacy is no longer a passing thought, it will be an achievement.

Learning kanji can be one of the single most difficult tasks for the Western learner of Japanese. With this book (Along with the first volume), this doesn't have to be the case. If you wish to be literate in Japanese, all you need is right here. No, this is not some magical tool that will make you literate in a week; your progress will depend entirely on how much work you put into it (See my review for book 1).

Quite simply, Heisig found the door to Japanese literacy. All you have to do is be determined enough to open it.

I have been living in Japan for almost three years now, and for two and a half of those years I tried to learn Kanji the usual way- that is, the same way Japanese do; write the character on a word card and the on and the kun readings, as well as the english meaning, on the other side. Impossible. So a friend of mine recommended the first book of Heisig's and I'm flying through them. I can't wait to finish it so I can buy this book. Living in Japan makes it easier, I'm sure, because I'm surrounded by the things. I just can't forget them!

S&SS was a distinct pleasure for me to read. I have read all of Elder's works, and in many ways started my career as a trader in his footsteps with Trading for a Living in the early 90's. However, having finished S&SS, I feel, as do no doubt many people who have a similar relationship with him, that he has opened himself up to us as he never has previously.

S&SS is Elder's best work to date. He is more direct, more focused in his approach and in the advice he gives. Firmer, less equivocal in his method and the tools it employs, and in his attitude to discipline and follow through. The book was a rich learning experience and pleasure to read and mark up.

For beginners this is the best of Alex Elder's works with which to become initiated to his methodology. While the title focuses on selling, and the subject is indeed covered thoroughly, all of his approach is contained in S&SS.

For the seasoned trader, whether a practitioner of Elder's methods or not, the refinements to his approach (inclusive of all of his work) that are presented in S&SS are well worth the time to read them. S&SS adds new and improved nuance and substance to the corpus of the Elder school.

I've read most of Elder's excellent books. I was disappointed to find that this book contains, I believe, only one chapter on short trading. Most of what is in the book is contained in Elder's previous books. Of course, Elder's masterpiece "Trading for a Living" is a difficult act to follow. For me, Elder's "Trading for a Living" or Bill Cara's terrific new book "Lessons From the Trading Wizard" are superior to this book.

Determining when to sell or cover are the most difficult decisions I face when trading. Lacking a sound plan, I find myself relying on instinct and emotion, often to my detriment.

In Sell and Sell Short, Dr. Alexander Elder--a trader, teacher, and practicing psychiatrist--addresses this issue. Not since Justin Mamis' When to Sell: Inside Strategies for Stock-Market Profits, has there been such a comprehensive discussion of the art of selling.

Elder provides practical strategies. He discusses the selling process from a variety of angles: technical, fundamental, and psychological. Unlike Mamis, who during the period we were both employed by the same firm seemed to be a perpetual bear, Elder is disciplined and analytic in his approach.

I found the chapters "Selling at a Target" and "Selling on a Stop" to be particularly insightful and provocative. Elder punctuates his thoughts with illustrative charts. They are both readable and printed in color. No doubt this adds to the book's expense, but the clarity they add more than compensates.

Dr. Elder has penned some great books. Unfortunately in this one, he opted to include wholesale sections of them as adaptations. Reading this book is often like a W. E. B. Griffin novel, much time is spent re-hashing the past. This practice, no doubt, makes the author's job easier. Yet, the purchaser is left to question why he or she is paying for information that pads to the book's length and adds virtually nothing to the author's point.

Despite its flaws, this book fills a gap in the literature of trading. It is well-written, skillfully edited and beautifully illustrated. Traders of all levels will benefit from its insights.

If you are searching around on Amazon for a book on trading stocks then look no further, this is it. I have been a successful trader for years and read over 85 books on trading, in my opinion this is the best. While as the title suggests it teaches when to sell your stocks for profits, and also does the best job I have seen on explaining short selling and when technical indicators show to short. This book is a complete book for any trader. The main lessons of this book is when to lock in profits and exit a trade using a target, and how to double your potential for profits by not only buying stocks but also selling stocks short and buying them back at a lower price for profit. Professionals sell short because while overall the stock market drifts upward, when a stock falls it falls over twice as fast as it rises. I sell short and it is a powerful tool when used correctly. This book will show you when it is appropriate to short.
Dr. Alexander Elder is the only author I am aware of that integrates trading psychology, money management, and record keeping into one book. These three factors will determine whether you are successful in the market or not, even more than the trading method you choose.
You will learn the three great divides in trading, technical vs. fundamental, trend vs. counter trend, and discretionary vs, systematic. The author follows a discretionary strong technical approach trading counter trend for the most part. However what you learn in this book can be applied to any type of trading. The authors own technical approach uses prices, volume, exponential moving averages (13 day, 26 day), envelopes, MACD, and force index. Limit your tools to no more than five, more is less, any more just causes confusion. The main method you will learn in this book is using the moving averages as a technical base for agreed upon value and buying at the lower edge of the envelope and selling at the high edge of the envelope when you have favorable MACD and force index agreement, or buying at value between the EXP MAs.
If you are going to be a trader you must follow the money management suggestions in this book. NEVER risk more than 2% of your total equity on a trade, and if you lose 6% of your equity in a month you must stop, clear your head and start back next month. If you follow the 2% rule from the book, it will be a major life lesson in your trading and save you a ton of equity draw downs.
Your long term success as a trader is determined by your ability to learn from your mistakes and not repeat them. The best way to do this is to keep detailed records on a spreadsheet and charts of each trade and a diary of why you traded. You must look squarely at each loss and win. If you learn from each bad trade and limit your loss to less than 2%, it can turn into a long term positive.
This review only scratches the surface of this great book. It is packed with very helpful principles, real trades, humour, and is just outstanding. I really grew as a trader from reading and implementing Dr. Elder's best selling classics "Come into my trading room" and "Trading for a living", but in my opinion this one is the best, using exerpts from his past books to build an even more complete picture. If your dream is to trade for a living or just trade succesfully this is the book to buy.

His book and workbook is helping me to get to the next level. I am using both of his first books to make money and his latest book to help clarify where I went wrong. The chapters on Trading Psychology/Risk Management and keeping records are right on target to help traders make money.

I picked this up ... at a book clearance sale, if you have to pay more pick another title. First of all the author says he sells puts (contracts agreeing to buy a stock or index at a set price until a specific date for which you receive a premium) to buy stocks in his investment account. There is not a single example in the book of a trade he executed this way. Instead he fills about 1/4 of the book with hypothetical computer runs assuming you had sold every LEAP contract over a multi year period. That is just a silly example for the individual investor. That is akin to comparing all of the insurance coverage written by Prudential with you writing a policy on your grandma.

Second he gives you numerous pages on how to calculate Volatility and Black-Scholes, etc. What is missed is that you want to be selling Puts and Calls when Volatility is High, and most option brokers do this calculation with a computer. As for Black-Sholes, the calculation is easy to find on the web, but any "advantage" that it may provide is used by insititutions who can rapidly scan the whole market and quickly correct any price imbalances. Unless you enjoy crunching financial formulas by hand, this section is filler at best.

Finally, his stock selection and risk control methods are questionable at best. Think Enron and realize that even "independent" reviewers like Morningstar and Value Line had it well rated up until the bitter end. If you dont already have a solid stock picking methodology, you should not start buy selling options. The notion that a reader should do anything other than sell an option that is 100% covered by CASH is the same as endorsing the methods that bankrupted many very large traders, banks and hedge-funds.

If you are looking for investment ideas Getting Started in Options may be a good place to START. Throw in Peter Lynch, Justin Mamis, and Andrew Tobias for good measure.

I saw this book in the book store, and spent some time there reading the first few chapters. I was so interested in his ideas, that I purchased the book. It's well-written and not at all dry, unlike some other investment books.

The author starts off by telling us how he had been able to amass a decent-sized portfolio over the years. He had a couple of hundred thousand dollars saved away, all invested in good long-term stock investments. He wished there was a way he could generate more income on-top of his already solid investments.

He started out by selling covered calls on some of his stock portfolio. That worked for a while, but he soon became frustrated that some of his best performing stocks were being called away, while he was left with a portfolio of poorly performing stocks. That is one of the down sides to covered call investing.

So he tried selling put options instead. Selling a put option is when you promise to purchase a stock at a specific price. In exchange for this promise you get paid a premium up front.

The author has found a lot of success picking solid companies, with sales and earnings growth, and selling put options one or two years out (LEAPs). Most of the LEAP puts he sells expires worthless, thus allowing him to keep the premium as profit, and sell some more long-term puts for more premium.

Most of the book deals with his back-testing data for this theory. He tests different quality stocks, different expiry dates, and different strikes. All in an effort to find the best overall results. In the end, some of his data suggests that selling long term puts at a strike price below the current price on the highest quality stocks has a 95% plus success rate.

If this type of theory interests you, I suggest getting this book and studying the theory and data for yourself.

In his book, Dennis Eisen describes exactly one way to trade options: Selling Puts, namely LEAPS (Long-term Equity Anticipation Securities). What makes this book so interesting to read is that Eisen starts with a general overview and then goes into a level of useful detail which I have not seen in any other book on options yet. He explains how options are taxed, how the margin requirement is calculated, and what actually happens when options are exercised/assigned. This knowledge you normally have to acquire in years of practice but Eisen just spreads it out in front of the reader. Despite the level of detail the book is easy to follow, and I finished it in two days.
What makes the author very likable is that he writes in the "I" form, i.e. he writes from his experience, and not with the claim to know the absolute truth.
The book is divided in three main parts: Part one covers the basics, part two takes a quantitative look at the risk and reward of an actual system, and how you can improve your odds, and part three lists formulas and computer codes. There is also a big appendix with over a hundred tables of put premiums calculated with the Black-Scholes-Formula. The book is rounded off by a bibliography and Eisen's favorite web sites (some of them are outdated).
The main reason why Eisen prefers long-term puts (and long-term meaning up to 30 months) is that they are less risky. Due to inflation and the fact that good companies increase their earnings over time thus driving their share price up, he feels that long-term options are less likely to be assigned. For this, he is willing to sacrifice quite some put premium as the following example shows: For an American Option (stock price = strike price, volatility 0.3, dividend rate 3%) the premium for a 15 months-put is $11.46 yet for the 30 months-put it is only $15.06. In other words, although the time is twice as long until expiration, the premium increases by only 31%. In proportion, the premium for a 6-months-put is even higher, at $7.71. This is because options lose most of their value in the last months before expiration.
Here I would deviate from the author's system, I would always prefer to sell two consecutive 15-months-puts for $22.92 or even five consecutive 6-months-puts for $38.53 rather than one 30-months-put for $15.06. By rolling them out and down I would try to prevent being assigned too many stocks.
Are there any downsides to this book? Not really. One thing I did not understand is how Eisen can put the premium which he earns into a cash market account at 6% interest rate. (This contributes an important part to the profitability of his system). In chapter 4 he explains how much margin is required: The whole put premium plus 10 or 20% of the underlying stock price. So how can he put the premium into a cash market account when he has to keep it as a margin? My online broker will give me less than 1% on my margin account.
And one thing I would be looking forward to: Since this book was written in 2000, it could use an update. Then Eisen could test his strategy with a longer history and real data (he had to calculate backdated data because LEAPS had only been existing for seven years at the time this book was written), and update some of the web sites and bibliographic data.
But altogether this is a great book, and it deserves five stars.

I really enjoyed reading this book. First, it's very condensed and well structured. The author gives a very good overview of stock options, then he explains his strategy (basically it's selling long term naked puts). Because in general selling naked options is considered to be risky, the author explains in details why his strategy is actually a low risk one. He includes the raw data he used, the programs and formulas and the results and their interpretation. The books is written from an individual investor point of view. What I really like about the book is that the author is not trying to avoid or downplay the areas of concerns. Actually he is doing exactly the opposite. He is trying to find and address the weakest points of his strategy and prove his points. Overall, it's a great book to learn about stock options, especially the LEAP puts strategy.

I trade equity options. I have read a lot of books about options. Basically, once you have read McMillan's book, none of the other option books have anything to add. Except this book.
This book shows some original thinking; it's not just the same old thing about bull spreads, etc. The book advocates more than just selling puts to get premium or to use as a method of buying stock at a discount. He explains how you can sell puts on solid companies and buy stock of other companies with the premium you brought in. He really got me thinking, and I have gone from his ideas to developing some of my own.
This book is well worth reading. Read it to get ideas on how to use puts for your own advantage. Learn something new.