Business Books

Great set of CDs, which allow a great discussion on the success principles... well done Jack Canfield.

I found this book by accident and what a happy accident it was! At that time I was in a crappy relationship feeling as if I was just keeping my head afloat with work, life, my daughter and the lot of it. As a single parent it's easy to give into the most convenient path and feeling like a martyr to boot.

I had many dreams that I shelved or discarded because I was told (or told myself) they were unrealistic or that I didn't have the time or the money. The chief principle I learned from this book is that if you want it enough, you can make it happen! You are the only one that can.

Since reading this book in January (it's now Sept), I am now on my way to earning my degree by enrolling in school, I've increased my income by 20%!, received a promotion, lost 30 pounds, broke off that dead-end relationship, cleaned and organized my house, became vegetarian, and feel empowered! There are many more smaller goals that I've achieved as well. I'm just amazed at how productive I am.

The best part is that I now believe it's possible to achieve my dreams no matter what anyone says or what the cost is. I see now that all it takes is belief, willpower, and action. I wouldn't be 30 lbs lighter if I didn't find the time by waking up at 5am every morning to exercise. I wouldn't be on the path to my degree if I didn't enroll and schedule in the time for courses. I would still be waiting for the day...

Other people have achieved their dreams, it's our turn! If they can do it, so can we. This is what Jack Canfield has ignited in my heart and I am so grateful for this book. It has given me solid principles and techniques on how to go about making effective change in my life. If I could bring one book to a desert island, this would be it.

Since then I have given several copies to others because I feel it's such a great gift.

I wish you all the best but more importantly, I wish you the happiness of making your dreams a reality.

I pick this book up almost every day and read and re-read all this helpful information. The more I put it into action, the more wonderful things happen in my life. There is so much information to learn from Jack Canfield. I tell everyone I know about it especially other artists and creative people. So exciting to have a book that will help me be who I truly am in my life.
Catherine www.catherinefoster.com

As a corporate director of HR for a fortune 500 company, I am continually searching for material I can share with the management staff. This book was an excellent fit in our learning resources center.

While achieving success is rarely accomplished with shortcuts, this guide provides what I believe are important guideposts that will keep you on the right trail. Many people fail to achieve success because they leave the trail for other pursuits.

It is really surprising in the business world at the number of people who really do not know what they are trying to achieve. Indeed, I would dare to say that most people don't have a clue as to where they are going. They are simply meandering down the path hoping for few problems and a warm place to sleep at night.

This book stresses the importance of people deciding what they really, really want to do in life. My only negative critique is that the book seems to define success in financial terms (which is par for the consumer American nation). As the wiser amoung us know, success takes many forms of which money is only a small part.

I enjoyed the book and intend to share the wisdom therein with other managerial types within my organization. I believe the advice is solid and obviously, the author is "qualified" if for no other reason that his huge publishing success.

I hope you find this review helpful. Michael L. Gooch, SPHR - Author of Wingtips with Spurs

I have never written a book review EVER. But this was the best self-help motivational book ever and I have read dozens and dozens. this is the first and last inspirational book you will ever need.

As always Simon Singn takes the reader on a fantastic trip through History. Filled with entertaining stories, puzzles and heroic events, the author skillfully covers the history of secret writing. If you liked his coverage of Fermat's Enigma then you will definitely enjoy this book.

The prose is capturing, deep enough to fascinate technical readers and light enough to just entertain the casual reader. I specialized in Quantum computers while studying Mathematics and I am astonished that the author manages to explain such non-trivial subjects as quantum computers and cryptography to the degree where ordinary readers can actually understand how they work and their impact on ciphers such as RSA/DSA. In short another great read from one of the best and most entertaining technical writers who ever lived.

Simon Singh books usually hold you from the first page and till the end. "The code book" is very well written and very informative. You will see how it's started and where cryptography goes, but even more interesting part of history of cryptography - life (sometimes secret life) of people who worked and continue to work on development of cryptosystems.

Nutshell review - This is an excellent book covering the history of cryptography up to present day and into the near future. Very well written, easy to understand and worth reading by any layperson interested in the topic.

If you want to know about codes, secrets, cryptography and cryptanalysis then this is the book. Simon Singh presents the history of codes in a clear and simple way. Without the mathematics to disturb the flow of the story, you enjoy plots, conspiracies, secrets and algorithms. Excellent for general knowledge and for an introductory text in cryptanalysis. Buy it!

great book regarding the history of cryptography. The only way to truly understand anything is c the history of it's introduction

I'm not sure why I haven't reviewed any of Dan's books before. I've heard him speak, I've met him and I have been receiving his newsletter for many years.

I'm not a publisher, but I work with publishers and I employed two of Dan's free promotional techniques and have to say, they worked! I've gotten many new clients from doing something that took me only a few minutes and that people thanked me for doing.

In fact, one of my all-time favorite clients informed me just last week that it was because of one of those little nuggets of wisdom, she found me.

Dan Poynter's advice was by far the best promotional advice I've ever received.

I plan to read all of his books a second time in case I missed something.

This book is absolutely amazing! It gives so much information about getting started, I couldn't believe it! I would recommend this to anyone serious about self-publishing. There is even a list of places to send your book for reviewing. Buy this book!


www.fayeknight.blogspot.com

There's a darn good reason--indeed lots of reasons--why Dan Poynter's manual has frequently been called the "bible of self-publishing." To the best of my knowledge, it was the first and certainly one of the very best ever published on this specialized aspect of book production. It covers the entire process from pre-pub requirements right through the mechanics of design, formatting and printing.

Dan doesn't simply throw out generalities about what must be done in each phase of the project; he delves into the nitty-gritty simplifying this challenging effort for those of us tackling self-publishing for the first time. I know. I did it after I studied his book from cover to cover.

Dan also includes a plethora of resources interspersed in the text as he illustrates each step. These can be most helpful to the uninitiated who are told what they must do in so many other books, but don't know where to go to accomplish each of those steps. At the simplest level, as an illustration, Dan doesn't just state that you have to procure an ISBN, he explains what it is and why it is needed and most important of all where to find it on the Bowker web site.

There are three excellent books that I have used to brief myself on self-publishing before producing my latest book. In addition to Dan's Manual, I suggest reading Peter Bowerman's "The Well-Fed Self-Publisher" and Patricia L. Fry's excellent study of the subject.

I attribute much of the success of the award-winning "The Writer Within You" to all three of them. I strongly suggest you start your effort with the outstanding guidance Dan has provided.

Poynter's book is the best and most well structured book on self-publishing I have found. It helped me imensely for from an author-to-be to a soon-to-be- published author.
Self-publishing is a great way to go with a small, first book and the organization tips, calendar, structuring chapters, ISBN #'s and copyright are perfect.

When I self-published my book, "Welcome Home: A Guide for Foster, Adoptive, and Treatment Foster Parents," I used Dan's book religiously. It's so worn out, I have to order a new copy for my forthcoming book [tenatively titled, 'Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment of Foster and Adopted Children, 2009]. I sold 5,000 copies, though two editions. Could I have done this without Dan's book? Perhaps, but he walks you through every step of the way. If you're self-publishing a book, this one gives you more information and guidance than you could ask for. You'll still have to do the leg-work, but he makes it less daunting.

If you want a bit of everything about stock market, this book is for you. If you are a beginner and want a more concise guide on how to evaluate a company and make your stock purchases, I would recommend any of Peter Lynch's books over this one. I'm a beginner. So I disagree with a lot of reviewers claiming that you would pick this book up as your starting point. It's no fun to read. That's one big turn off for me..

Being new to investing I have purchased several books on the subjects and have found this to be the most straight forward and cleverly written. Well worth the price, and thoroughly entertaining.

For me, the book's immediate value is twofold:

First, it decipheres the concepts and language of a confusing subject into plain English.
Second, it provides quick and thorough information on where to go for research, how to buy responsibly, and how to remain confident when everyone else isn't.

In addition, Kelly crysatilizes and distilles the stratagies of pros like Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham into his own formidable two-pronged approach. On the one side is a permanant portfolio that has soundly beaten the DOW time and time again. On the other is a more exploratory method; there is higher risk and reward here but he shows you how to properly look before you leap. The first one keeps you safe while the second looks out for new opportunities. Simple, right?

The bottom line is that this book gave me the confidence to enter the stock market myself. If Mr. Kelly's guidance pays off I will be back to give him the full five-star review.

I bought this book after all the positive comments from other readers. Now that I have finished reading it, I can honestly say that it has been a great purchase.
It's a good first step to get involve with the stock market. Even though it would appear to be a book directed to amateurs, it can help professional traders to avoid some "amateur" mistakes.
This book definetly doesn't have all the answers, but it can provide the necessary fuel to begin studying the stock market, and eventually become a stock trader.

This should be the first book you read if you want to invest in stocks. It's excellent. You can add to your library later, but this book gives a strong and clear overview of how everything works, strategic approaches, mistakes to avoid, and other books and sites for further education. And the autor is easy to read and funny. Buy!

This is an excellent book by Thomas as he thoroughly takes you through the process of purchasing an investment property. He provides a wealth of resources on nearly every aspect of investing by listing websites and addresses.

His forms are great for providing you with an idea for approaching home owners. However, the tone of the letters are some what dismissive--but that's just my opinion.

The only area that needs enhancing is providing one with an idea as to estimate value in the property. He does not provide as much detail as others (i.e., Steve Berges "The Complete Guide to Real Estate Finance for Investment Properties"). With that said, it is an excellent resource and I highly recommend it.

The information included in this book has made my job much easier and has expanded my knowledge base and expertise. The organization I have derived from it is most valuable.

Very informative kit. Many people hear the word foreclosure or pre-foreclosure and automatically think, bargain or a steal or buying a home for dirt cheap; but there's a lot more to it than that and this book gives you a very good insight of how the process works. Buying distressed Real Estate can be time consuming, costly and a real challenge, as you will find out after reading this book.

Excellent book. Very detailed. Absolutely convincded me that I wanted nothing to with this business. The author demonstrates that it is difficult and tricky business,potentially very lucrative, but not a get rich quick scheme. Since I would like to get rich without this much work, I'll pass on this method. And I truly thank this book for steering me right. I take off one star only for the author's occasional right wing rants. But I guess he's entitled. He worked very hard to get rich, and he shares his secrets openly in an inexpensive book, rather than trying to hoodwink you out of thousands by means of an infomercial. If he's got a few screwball political ideas, God bless him.

I spent a weekend reading the book. Loved it. The author knows what he is talking about. He also has a good website where you can download the proper letter you should send out to people in distress.

I own a foreclosure company and have adapted some of his techniques, nevertheless (not to take away any merit from the authorm but instead to enhance the next version of his book) our company principals felt like the letters were a little bit to hard on the person that is loosing their homes. And sometimes talking this hard to people could have negative consequences. We have to understand that these are individuals that when loosing their homes, can go into denial and sometimes enter into very heavy depression.

If you do decide to get into this process of sending out letters the only thing you should try and add to them, is to let the people know that you are there because you really care to help them out and you are not there to make a quick buck! People will give you their homes if you are upfront, honest and ethic about what you are trying to do.

Don't forget to add a little note written by hand thats tells the reader that you: "really care to help them!"

Other than that, you should buy the book if you are into the business of Real Estate.

I think all women should read this book and share it with others (family and children). Not only does Mr. Bach discuss how saving a little here and there can help with retirement, but he also gives women inspiration to live out (and especially to finance) their dreams. A wonderful book.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to become wealthy and this book details how easy it can be. If you're looking for glitz and glamour and "get rich quick" this isn't it. There's no such thing as an overnight success. Read David's book and get going on the road to wealth.

Love all his books - bought this, gave it someone and had to buy it again. It all depends what level you are on. Not too much non-common sense, but good for women to read.

I bought this book because I heard so many positive things about it. I am in my 50's, five years ago I went from having the wonderful life that all women dream of. I had the beautiful home in the suburbs, 2 beautiful children, friends, you name it I had it. Then I lost it all in the blink of an eye. I had relied on my husband to handle all the finances I couldn't tell you the balance in the check book. All I knew was he made the money and I spent it. Thank the Lord I was a RN, but I hadn't worked in quite a few years. I am not going to go into detail what happened but when I said I had nothing but the clothes on my back I mean just that. I have been working two jobs for the past five years making good money but I have NOTHING to show for it. By reading Suze book I was able to identify myself, it is so easy to understand that someone like myself with NO understanding of finance can take her suggestions and work them into my present life. It is going to take discipline on my part and learning to say NO to my children is going to be the hardest. But, I need to take care of myself. This book was just what I needed to read. I highlighted areas, I keep going back and re-reading certain sections. I keep it next to my bed. Buying this book was one of the best things I have done for myself.

Smart Women Finish Rich is a bit different from other financial books I've read. I have to admit I was surprised with how well David Bach addressed both the emotional and intellectual relationship women have with money. His grandmother taught him well.

I am going to say that Smart Women Finish Rich is more for a financial beginner than a woman with financial savvy. It's a well thought out system of gaining and keeping control of your financial self-sufficiency. Bach has filled this book with definitions, resources, quizzes, systems, exercises and tables. I was impressed and give it a must read if you're serious about becoming more financially organized.

David Bach addresses both the heart and the head in Smart Women Finish Rich. He used the lessons he learned from his grandmother, and his mother, as inspiration. After growing up with two such powerful role models, he was surprised by the number of financially uniformed women. Many of the women who came to him for financial advice, had no clue about building financial security.

Smart Women Finish Rich is easy to understand. I read it and "got it." This is a "how to" book that involves a commitment on your part to read, work and put the assignments and lessons into daily practice. Bach has carefully given us valuable financial keys, now it's up to us to follow through.

What you'll get out of this book is going to depend on what you're willing to put into it. It's a book that has the potential to give you a great foundation for financial self-sufficiency.

Here are some of the areas I found particularly useful:

1.The first exercise, "Financial Knowledge Quiz" is a great practical place to start. I found it to be thoughtful and quite an eye-opener. I learned about how well (and sometimes not so well) I understood the role money played in my life.

2. David Bach is adamant about pinpointing the reason money is important to you. To find this out, you'll need to examine your money values and ask yourself if your financial behavior matches those values. He provides a simple but thoughtful exercise called the "Values Ladder."

3. Smart Women Finish Rich is a great blend of exercises, systems, quizzes and practical "real world" information. For example, the "Finish Rich File Folder System" is a simple, easy-to-follow and yet an organizational time saver.

I definitely give Smart Women Finish Rich five stars! If you're ready and serious about getting your financial house and monetary priorities in order, this is the book for you!

This book will open your mind on how to launch a bew business or innovative product or server. However the authors could write this book in a more simple way and not with a hard to read english text.

Before reading the book, “The Ultimate Competitive Advantage” it seemed to me that most management books were written for “big” business problems. Most authors quote one case after the other to make their own case. A collection of postmortem reports of different companies to tell you how they failed.

This is the first book that has taught me however small a business may be, its success depends on competitive edge it creates with its own resources. There are numerous ways that even limited resources can create an added benefit for the customers and increase my business. The example of “free cold water” on an off beat road is one such method in the book to remember as a simple but brilliant solution to attract customers and add value for the customers. The authors give a set of tools to help one think in a different manner. I recommend this book especially to young person trying to get their business started and also those seeking to break out of dead end situations. A great work!

Mitchell and Coles have done businesses a tremendous service in writing this excellent book. They have done so by providing a practical toolbox of ideas with which to stimulate entrepreneurs, business leaders and managers to enhance and improve their business prospects in today's very competitive marketplaces.

I must admit to having struggled with this book for a long time. Not because of difficulty in reading and understanding. To be sure this is a very lucid and comprehensible book and is accessible to all levels from a twelve year old bringing out his lemonade stall for the third year in a row and adding iced tea to his product range to the CEO of a major corporation.

My struggle was with trying to make overarching sense of what lessons the authors were trying to encourage readers to learn. It became clear to me after several periods of reflection upon completion of the text. The crucial significance of this book in a practical way lies in understanding how deep into national economic systems the process of globalisation has seeped. We see the reults in our everyday lives, how quickly new or improved products come into the marketplace. We see how quickly established businesses change or die, we see cheaper and better products come from remote parts of the world leaving us a greater part of our disposable income to spend on the things we would prefer to spend on them.

It is clear that in life and not just in business the process of change has quickened and that as individuals we must be more adaptable and more attune to the world around us to the opportunities that exist. It is as if we need to become our own business in ourselves.

Mitchell and Coles focus on but one part of this continuous change and that is on the business model. Their strong focus on this area has great strength but we must also learn the broader lesson from their well researched work. To survive in today's world we must not only accept change but we must embrace it as people, as workers, as entrepreneurs. It is as Schumpeter pointed out inherent in the nature of capitalism. But, to be sure it is inherent in the nature of all life, as Hayek observed. We must change or die.

I would heartily recommend this book to everyone, for there is much to be gained from within it's pages. Mitchell and Coles have produced an excellent book which far and away exceeds it's remit as a business book.

The Ultimate Competitive Advantage is a gold mine with a rich vein of unusual ideas from Mitchell and Coles' nimble minds. Its stated purpose is to help readers develop and implement a superior management process for continuous business model improvement. The book goes ahead to do just that.

The authors' approach make deliberate what used to be an accidental, hapazard, uncertain and hard to repeat process.

This book, like Mitchell and Coles' others, is best used as a workbook. After each chapter, several questions are posed to stimulate your thinking, and 95% of the value of the book will be unlocked for you when you take the time to think through them rigorously. Serious entrepreneurs looking for fresh ideas for getting out of the rut and improving their businesses will.

This is a practical book, but it is not a "how-to-book" instead, it deals with the what, when and why; with such tangibles as pricing, cost of doing business and benefits to stakeholders. The authors- Donald Mitchell and Carol Coles researched and found out that unsuccessful companies doggedly apply outdated business models while the successful ones improve their models every 2 to 4 years. The book provides a straightforwad and a systematic method which any company can use to review and improve its business model basing on its key components: pricing, cost of doing business and benefits to its shareholders.

This is a great book. I found it very easy to read. Mary speaks from personal experience and it's like have a close friend right there with you in the trenches. We've begun to implement her plan and I can already see a difference in our monthly expenses. It's not an instant fix, but then we didn't get in this financial hole in a day either. Steady progress without any steps backwards, that's our goal.

Thanks Mary for taking the time to share what you've learned with the rest of us. You're making a difference one family at a time!!!

Fantastic book! If everyone in the country read it and did what Mary recommends, this country would not be in the situation it is!

After reading this book and implementing Mary's plan, my husband and I were able to organize our credit and shorten our payments from 15 years down to 5! We are two years into it, and only have three more to go before we are debt free. I cannot express how great this book is. Mary addresses how to live without using credit, how to pay off the credit you do have, and how to make sure you don't need to fall back on credit in the future. She suggests in the book to use her website to plan your payments on current debt. It costs $20 to enroll, and I would highly reccomend it. It allows you to plug all your debt into the worksheet, and it tells you which bills to pay first, second, etc to get the debt payed off the fastest. Well worth the $20!

Everyone should read this book and follow her steps. This is a great way to get out of debt.

I first checked this out of the Library but after the third time decieded I needed my own copy. Positive and not degrading like some of the other budget cash only spokes persons.

I rate it 2 because it is not my cup of tea. I do find the idea of positive thinking can be applied to what I am doing although really that is the only idea in the book. There are many examples of miraculous things that happenned, but I dont know whether it is described as it happens or whether it is described as the author wants the reader to see to prove his point. Things just happen too easily without describing there are hard work involve to achieve what you want to achieve. I wonder if I can have the most positive thought about being famous yet stay at home and do nothing about it and still can fulfilled my dream?

This book does more for you because it requires some input on your part. Involving your personal information which enables you to acknowledge some blocks and helps you make the changes you need in order for your dreams and desires to be manifested. I highly recommend this for anyone who feels like they are in a rut and need to get out or anyone who needs some help in reaching for the stars with a definite purpose.

I love this book. Joe Vitale is a wonderful author and has a way of speaking in his writing that is direct and gives you some ideas of different approaches to this topic. I recommend this book highly.

The only reason I give this book one star is because everything in it is also in Vitale's other book The Attractor Factor. Attractor is an expanded and much better version that I rated 5 stars and which I highly recommend.

This is a very slim volume. If you are looking for a complex program to change your life, with many exercises and ideas, this is not for you.

Strangely, however, the short text did have a powerful effect on how I viewed my world after I read it. Joe's list of things to do is pretty short (list what you don't want, list what you do want, and then a few more steps, equally as simple.) What did happen is that I decided to restructure my thinking, considering every thought as to whether it was positive or negative. I also decided to fill up an envelope on my desk with "thank-you notes" to God, thanking him for all the positive things happening every day. (Not particularly something in this book, but based on Joe's ideas.) Each day, I jotted down an thank-you whenever something good happened. Then I popped it into an envelope I'm keeping on my desk. A week later, the envelope was full to bursting. Some seemingly negative things happened but I decided to treat them like opportunities, keeping a cheerful frame of mind while dealing with the issues. If nothing else, I felt good during the process.

Maybe this is all about how you view the glass; a half-glass full of refreshing water, or a half-empty glass heading to a full-fledged drought. For whatever reason, despite the fact this is a very short book, it can get you to thinking. Maybe that's it's power.

LIfe is full of choices, the authors objective is not to make you rich, it is simply to make you a better investor/trader. Almost all investing is speculation, it's just measured in time. The book is based on a realistic philosophy that has come from decades of experience. The choice you must make is what type of quality of life you want? The author has communicated through the pages that the only one who cares about your money is you. Only .2% of market participants account for 90% of profits, this book eludes to why that is. In reality, protection of your principle is the most important aspect of any trade or investment. The fact that 90% of the shares are owned by 10% of the population should shed light on the traditional market pyramid structure. Certain mutualfunds have performed quite well over the last 30 years, they serve three principles, provide for retirement, a better return than a bank account and keep up with inflation. What mutual funds you are in depends on the time and effort you put into your financial awareness. No one knows what will be the best investment or trade over the next 30 years, but applied knowledge is power. Whether or not you make money is not dependent on what book you read, it is the information you have and what you do with that information at a specific time. YOU ARE THE RISK MR INVESTOR/TRADER/SPECULATOR, YOU ARE EITHER AN ASSET TO YOURSELF OR A LIABILITY. GOOD LUCK, YOUR GOING TO NEED IT WITH THESE POLITICIANS ON BOTH SIDES.

This books has some rather simple points. However, don't mistake simple with low value. these points are extremely valuable. In fact by folowing his advice I was able to avoid losses while the market was heading for a downturn. And when the market begins to come back I'll be ingreat position to make outstanding gains in the future. Mr. Thomas also has a newletter the is quite insightful and allows you to see what he's thinking every few days about the market. I highly recommend this book and his newsletter.

If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It, revised and updated

Hello everyone. I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend anyone that has money in stocks, mutual funds, options, or anything really to BUY THIS BOOK. I am not an investing expert. I did study Finance at the University of Texas at Austin - McCombs School of Business. I got a 3.9GPA, I guess that gives me SOME credibility in the subject matter (in the sense that im not a musician or whatever). Just to keep the record straight, grades aren't everything and definitely do not mean you should trust someone, but I digress. Regardless, this is the best investing book i have ever read.

The concepts are really simple but extremely important and so so obviously self evident once you know them and understand them. As i said, i studied finance but during my college career i did not ever come across better investing advice than this. Not ever. In college you are taught about the fundamentals, about theory, about what should happen, about where prices SHOULD go, about what the VALUATION of something should be FUNDAMENTALLY speaking. This is supposed to be used to make investing decisions. This is advice in THEORY sounds correct. In practice, it is not.

Although its easy to tend to think that the market should align with fundamental valuations (even though fundamental valuations themselves vary widely), the market really does what it wants, there are too many variables. Market pricing in the LONG term (years) should follow the direction that fundamental analysis indicates, but in the short term (months) and medium term (quarters, half years) it is impossible to predict market behavior with fundamental analysis in a realiable way. TECHNICAL ANALYSIS OF WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING, of WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING (during say the last week, the last 2 weeks, last month, last 2 months, last quarter, last 6 months, last year, etc) IS WHAT MATTERS, PERIOD, NOT WHAT IN THEORY IS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN, theoretically/fundamentally.

Do not focus on what should happen (whatever your very advanced, superior, educated prediction might be)FOCUS ON WHAT IS HAPPENING. Just ride price movements, and have a strict risk management strategy. Meaning cut losses, never allow them to accumulate, dont wait too long, just get out. Just follow the advice given in the books title. Last but not least, the book has some good humor and is written in a straightforward manner. Easy read. Great book. Thank you very much for your advice. The book will give you the basic tools to make the most money you can, as fast as you can, with the most safety. Greetings from Lima, Peru. Salud!

This book has revolutionized my thinking about investing. Read it and you'll never "buy and hold" again. (How I wish I had read it back in 2000!) Al's technical analysis is easy to understand. In today's extremely volatile market, you have to know, more than anything else, "WHEN TO GET OUT!" Cutting losses is the key to long-term market success, and this book will show you how to do just that. There are times when being "100% invested" is a formula for disaster. "Cash" is a position! This book will teach you how to "read" the market; you don't have to guess about where the market is heading. The market tells you, and all you have to do is follow! Buy this book, and you'll sleep better at night.

Very poorly organized and edited book (self published?). The author thanks his brother in law, a "great fisherman", for editing it. LOL, enough said. It is very opinionated and uses very simple strategies such as moving averages, for trading mutual funds. Even this revised edition from 2003 doesn't cover ETFs. It is a good, basic, introduction to momentum trading. Unfortunately, you will probably get whipsawed out of most positions, lose a little money, and generate a lot of commission expenses. The authors claim to fame, indeed the only records supplied in the book, is a profit of 40% in 1998. As I remember, anyone who just sat their money in a good growth, aggressive growth or small growth company fund in 1998 would have made 40% anyway without trading at all.
The only reason I am not rating this book one or two stars is that you can get a free e mail subscription to the authors newsletter. It too is very disorganized, but at least it shows you real time, real prices, what positions the author is taking. That's more than most pay services offer.
I think Mr. Thomas means well. I suspect he is a nice man. But his strategies don't seem to work too well anymore. Anything can work when back tested, that means nothing in the future except that it probably won't work anymore.
From the newsletter, I can see that Mr. Thomas is right about 40% of the time, and loses small amounts of money the other 60%. He is hoping that the profits from the 40% exceed the loses from the 60%. Sometimes they do, but add commissions and they probably won't.
One thing that really opened my eyes is that Mr. Thomas is in fact, Mr. Market. He can be very bullish Monday, somewhat bullish Tuesday, neutral Wed., slightly bearish Thursday, and a growling bear Friday. The next week he might start out bearish and end up bullish!
At least half the book is Mr. Thomas raving on and on about brokers. Half the newsletter is him raving about Barrack Obama. He is a crank, but an entertaining one.
Worth a read, but be careful and better papertrade what he says! Buyer beware!