Customer Reviews

25 Investment Classics: Insights from the Greatest Investment Books of All Time (Ft)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this book hoping to get a useful summary of 25 great investment books. It would have been a great time saver to gain all that knowledge by reading a single book. I guess I was hoping for too much, and I was extremely disappointed.

The editor says from the beginning that he believes in fundamental analysis and does not believe in technical analysis. In fact he finds a way to mention this in almost every chapter / review. Given that he only has around 6 pages per book summary, he wastes far too much time repeating his personal opinions and spends far too little time discussing the major points of the actual investment classics.

He tends to write about the authors, rather than about the books. Maybe he thought that would make the book more interesting and relevant, but personally I wish he had stuck to (or in some cases, started to) discussing the actual book content. The chapter on Gann is a good example. Gough hardly seems to mention anything from Gann's book, but he wrote a lot about the famous Gann myths and mysteries. It makes me wonder whether he has even read Gann's book (in fact many of the chapters are so brief and vague that he may not have read several of the books). I don't care about the myths and mysteries or the editor's opinion on fundamental vs. technical analysis - I was just hoping that the Gann chapter would summarise the major points of Gann's book. Crazy huh?

The only time I got the impression that the editor was giving information from the books (rather than talking them down) were in the chapters reviewing the books on famous fundamentalists like Buffet and Lynch.

Don't waste your time and money.

I appreciate what the author was trying to do with this book, introducing us to his own list of the 25 best investment books of all time. Although I am no worse for the wear after having read this volume, the exercise left me somewhat dissatisfied upon reflection.

The collection of books is haphazard, looking at areas of the market and investing that are widely dispersed. This is not a weakness in itself, but the disjointed way the author jumps from work to work with no transition gives this volume the flavor of reading a stack of unorganized book reviews. The writing quality is not terrible, but it does not hold attention well and could have used some serious editing in places. The book's main strength is its brief distillations of the 25 works it covers.

The author, a financial journalist, provides no evidence of any special competence or authority in any of the subjects he covers. This is a significant contrast to a work like Dean LeBaron's Treasury of Investment Wisdom, where Mr. LeBaron brings a lot of expertise in various areas and makes no bones about where he stands on various topics.

One quote that stood out for me near the end of the book was the following (p. 207):

"...He (Wittgenstein) was ever conscious of our inability to be certain. This is one of the great existential riddles, and I have every sympathy with the majority of people, who feel uncomfortable at this thought and prefer to find refuge in the arms of any number of ideologies and belief systems."

No, Wittgenstein is not one of the 25 authors covered among the investment classics (for an exact list, check the book's editorial reviews in detail). Wittgenstein is simply a manifestation of the author's wishy-washiness. He does not believe in technical analysis, is not quite sure he believes in fundamental analysis, and does not appear to have any shockingly special insights on these works.

Because some of the books he covers are very good, the wisdom of the 25 authors cannot help but affect you, no matter how buried in the author's prose. The few direct quotes from works that he inserts provided the fresh breaths of air I needed to keep going through these pages.

Hopefully digesting this book will inspire the reader to read the underlying "25 Investment Classics", which will be ultimately much more rewarding.

You would be better off making three trades at ameritrade.com than spending $25.00 on this book. Worthless for an investor. Big dissapointment.

I was expecting a very different book with more concise excerpts from the 25 books. There is way too little "meat" in this book for my taste, the author barely scratches the surface when he describes the content of these great books. If you dont own any of the 25 books already and are serious about investing, trading, speculating on the market this is a good place to start just to find out what investments books are out there.

A better book that goes a little deeper is Market Wizards : Interviews With Top Traders by Jack D. Schwager.

"25 Investment Classics" distills the knowledge of some classic investment books into bite-sized pieces. Gough explains the books involved, why the book in question is significant, and also offers his own critique of the investment classic under review. I did not give this book five stars because I disagreed with some of Gough's choices (I never thought of "The Art of Short Selling" as a classic). I was also disappointed by Gough's apparent contempt for technical analysis. Although there are plenty of concepts in technical analysis that are bogus, I do not think that the whole field is bunk. This is light reading for the lover of investing and trading books.

Although written over 10 years ago, much wisdom can still be extracted from '25 Investment Classics.' I assume for this to be true 10, even 20 years from now. Classics are classics for a reason-- they have valuable insights and are timeless. In a sea of investment literature, Gough boils it down to what he deems the 25 most valuable.

Most business readers will have probably already read or heard of many of the books. Books such as A Random Walk Down Wall Street: Completely Revised and Updated Edition and The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel (Revised Edition) are found here, as well as others that go back decades, even centuries.

Each classic is summed up in about 5-10 pages. This is good and bad. It lets you get an idea and the main points, but there is something to reading the original text in its entirety. That said, this should be apart of your business library, not your ENTIRE business library.

'25' is good, but could use less opinion from the other. Author Tom Butler-Bowden does a fine job writing clear and concise summaries, such as 50 Prosperity Classics: Attract It, Create It, Manage It, Share It (50 Classics) which lays out a books main points and lets the reader decide their opinion.

This book is just that . . . an excellent summary of investment classics, and it is easy to read and absorb. It makes it easy to select a short list of what you intend to read based upon the synopsis presented.

I believe this is a good book for beginners seeking investment advice. If you are an investment professional who is well read, this book isn't for you. In this book the author tries to briefly describe each book and the relevant points of each book, with some excerpts taken from each.

He is very negative on technical analysis (the author), as his tone and comments about this form of analysis is negative throughout the book. I personally find this very distasteful as technical analysis would have bailed you out of the market at most of its peaks (when money flows turned negative - it did in telecom service in April 2000)

I do believe the wide array of books utilized is a very good collection for a beginner. Some other good books, which actually talk to individuals is Market Wizards : Interviews With Top Traders by Jack D. Schwager and John Train's Money Master and New Money Masters (2 different books). I believe everyone should read Peter Lynch's first book, Beating the Street. A good book on managing your money is Suze Orman's 9 Steps to Financial Freedom

Having worked with portfolio managers as a research analyst I hope this helps everyone.

I appreciate Mr. Gough's book for the valuable insight offered by the 25 "masters" of finance. Indeed it is his choice of experts and his obvious appreciation for their accumen, moxie and well yes, success that makes this book a good read. Mr. Gough has a fine, clear writing style and we leave the book a bit smarter and perhaps a bit more interested in some of his muses. I recommend it!!

I thought the book was pretty good, and great for a beginner, he doesn't seem to believe with chart readings much, me too. He gives you a wide spectrum of views. Great book for insight on other investment books.