When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management

About the book

This hard to find 2001 paperback edition narrates the story of a once-highly-successful but now inexistent hedge fund named Long-Term Capital Management. Written by Roger Lowenstein, a financial journalist known more for his books about legendary investor Warren Buffett, the 250+ page book is an exciting journey to the financial markets.

Contents

This work details the beginning of Long-Term Capital Management or LTCM, its great rise, its climactic event, its catastrophic collapse, and its epilogue. It mentions who were the hedge fund managers, their qualifications, how they behaved throughout the many market events, how they succeeded at first, and what fatal mistakes they made that eventually led to the downfall of LTCM.

Review

I will not mention what mistakes the managers made but I can assure those who will read the book, that the types of mistakes mentioned in it are still being made today by many people, and not just hedge fund managers. 

From the mistakes the hedge fund managers made, valuable lessons and insights can be gleamed. This book is a good read because it places the mistake made in its proper context or situation. 

Difficulty Level = 2/5

Since this work is in narrative form, it is easy and even entertaining to read. To further appreciate this work though, one should be at least familiar with financial jargon. It is not a work of fiction and all the facts are straight. 

Personal Rating = 4.5/5

This is a must read for those who want to know more about a real-life example of what the finance world is like, and how complicated the markets can be. 

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The Winning Investment Habits of Warren Buffett and George Soros

About the book

This 358 page work is authored by Mark Tier, an Australian writer and businessman who adopted the investment habits that he now shares through his book, and is now successfully earning from his investments.

Contents

The book is composed of two parts, namely: 1) The Winning Investment Habits of Warren Buffett and George Soros and; 2) Making the Habits Your Own. For the first part, the author first explains the power of mental habits as well as the seven deadly investment sins. The rest of the chapters are devoted to discussing each of the habits of the two aforementioned master investors. 

Review

This is a very insightful book if you want to know more about what behaviors made Buffett and Soros successful investors. While Warren Buffett is a success in long-term stock investing and Soros is a master in short-term foreign exchange trading, each of them has their own powerful investment habits that differ from one another. Another good thing about this book is after you have read it, you can answer a survey online and see how you fare against the master investors, in terms of how much successful investment habits you have ingrained. The online survey will also point out both your investment behavioral strengths and weaknesses. 

Difficulty Level = 2.5/5

This is a simple book to read and only has very few complex financial jargon.

Personal Rating = 4/5

This is a book that will get you involved and will give you something to reflect about your own investment behaviors. The online survey on discovering your investment personality is worth spending time on. 

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to discover your investment personality as compared to the master investors:

 http://marktier.com/Main/index.php

The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America

About the book

This is not precisely a book, but a compilation of all the essays written by Warren Buffett in his Berkshire Hathaway annual reports. The good thing about this work however, is that the author, Lawrence Cunningham, arranged the essays according to more organized subjects, as I will discuss in the Contents section. This book is also one of the standard textbooks in a course being taught at Cardozo Law School.

Contents

After the introduction and prologue, the book is arranged and separated into seven chapters that cover the topics of: corporate governance; corporate finance and investing; alternatives to common stock; common stock; mergers and acquisitions; accounting and valuation; and accounting policy and tax matters.  Several essays discuss each and every topic.

 

Review

Unlike works of fiction wherein one can summarize the story in just one sentence or paragraph, books on finance and investing are much harder to compress because they deal with various investment viewpoints. The good thing about finance books however, and particular this book, is that one gets to learn a lot of knowledge. This type of knowledge can be applied in the real world. 

Moving on, Warrren Buffett is able to explain his investment policies and decisions in a very conversational dialogue. You will not be faced with monologue while reading his essays. Many of his insights may go against the usual teachings of academe. However, his lessons are very much valuable, especially since he has a proven investment track record, by using the same principles that he espouses. 

Difficulty Level = 2.0/5

Most of the essays were written for the benefit of the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway. Hence, it is very understandable. Comprehension of some of the terms that Buffett uses however, may require more repetition in order to better know their true meaning. 

Personal Rating = 5/5

This is a must read for anyone interested about Warren Buffett and his fundamental investment methods and business viewpoints.

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How to Think Like Benjamin Graham and Invest Like Warren Buffett

About the book

This is another fine work by author Lawrence Cunningham, who is well-known for his books about Warren Buffett. The title also speaks for itself. It teaches the reader about the investment philosophy of both Benjamin Graham and Mr. Buffett, both brilliant investors.

Contents

Spanning 268 pages, the book is made up of three parts. The first part covers Benjamin Graham's views about the stock market. The second part meanwhile, focuses on Warren Buffett's own investment knowledge and teachings. The third and final part is devoted to points of view about Boards of Directors, CEOs, and corporate governance.

Review

This is another excellent book that is filled with brilliant investment knowledge. If there are investors worthy of learning about, these are Warren Buffett, one of the richest men in the planet and Benjamin Graham, the father of modern security analysis.

Difficulty Level = 2.0/5

This book does not require any math or financial knowledge, just an understanding an appreciation for  finance and investing.

Personal Rating = 4/5

This is a relatively light-reading and a good intermediate level book for those who want to study finance.

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