Customer Reviews

Anatomy of the Bear: Lessons From Wall Street's Four Great Bottoms

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Another classic of this type is "Manias Panics and Crashes".

This one is specific to the four big Bear markets of the last century. The author goes through each one as an example. He identifies each stage and has clippings from the markets on peoples sentiment. Shows pricings and looks for what was the best indicator at the bottom. There is no hype, predictions, or false systems in this book. It's more presenting information and presenting patterns that occured.

All the bears follow similar patterns where there is froth, leverage, money sloshing around and everything is priced up a bit. Then some triggering event happens and people either re-evaluate or are forced to change their minds on valuations. Prices drop until they hit a bottom. Things uptrend for a while even though the news is still bad.... The author goes over each bear and how it's the same and how it's different.

Until reading this book, I did not understand or even think about using commodity prices as a leading indicator. Did not know that the stock market turned up before the economy did. Did not know that the great depression involved multiple stages, an international banking crisis, and a late move to gold.

After reading this book, now when I see someone on the TV saying that "They've never seen anything like this before" about LTCM, Bear Strerns, or the price of oil or gold... I have a better perspective. When someone tells me that "the market has definately found bottom" or "Can't go down from here"... I kind of chuckle now.

I do know that when people say "This is a great time to buy stocks..." they often don't know what they're talking about, or they're making it up.

If the credit crisis worsens this year, this summer or the next may be the best buying opportunity in the US stock market in the last 30 years. Hopefully what I've read will be some help. Every downturn is different, and Banks/Fed/Investors act differently each time based on past exp and history... It may be that we've already hit bottom... It may be that nothing in this book will call the next bottom... Only time will tell.

Many won't read this book because it doesn't say "Get RICH QUICK" on the front... LOL

This book is a detailed history of the financial markets in the US, particularly the 4 bear markets in the 20th century. The style is a little technical, but still fairly readable. It could have used a little more editing (typos) but it's still a well-researched and very thoughtful book.
The author's main thesis is that stock markets move from periods of overvaluation to periods of undervaluation, and that there are certain signs that can be found at the end of any bear market. This information would be extremely valuable to any serious investor - rather than listening to a lot of the chatter on the internet or on TV, which often amounts to little more than cheerleading and wishful thinking, the information in this book will help an investor analyze at what point in the bull-and-bear cycle the market is at.
Obviously a lot more money can be made when buying at the bottom of the market, and the author did extensive research to uncover the indicators of a market bottom, so that you can apply them when the time comes.
Most recent investors have only seen bull markets, and so don't recognize the signs of a real, steep bear market - often losses can exceed 50% or more, perhaps 70%. Sometimes it can take decades to recover from the losses. This book will open the eyes of anyone who has believed the mantra, "it doesn't matter when you buy, just get into the market anytime, since stocks go up forever."

This book is rare in that it examines the four greatest bear market bottoms that would have made you the most money if you would have entered them at the right time, instead of the endless books out that show how to buy the hottest stocks in a perpetual bull market. What I like about this book is that the author stays away from his own opinions and simply shows the facts by examining the Wall Street Journal articles during each of these periods, August 1921, July 1932, June 1949, and August 1982. These were the actual bottoms when the market finally began to reverse. You will surprising see that unlike common Wall Street myths the bottom is not when things are the worse and everyone has a negative outlook, actually the WSJ article show that there was hope of a turn around, volume had dried up, P/E ratios were obviously absurdly low, and car sales were beginning to pick up. You will do very well to buy and read this book and add its information to your arsenal of trading and investing. While most of us sit out bear markets to keep our gains it is very important to know when to buy back in for the next up leg, this book can help you do just that.

This book, written before the melt down, is a must read in these times. The events leading up to the falls are reviewed and more interesting now, when things bottom. It is not a sensationalistic or get rich quick book. Rather, it offers clear insight. By reviewing the great bear markets of the last century, common patterns are discovered, some contradict conventional wisdom and TV talking heads. The case is made for a handful of predictors when we have really bottomed, all easily monitered. The books is relatively easy to read but assumes some basic market understandaing, but even a novice would get the point. At times, it was a little tedious and i admit to skipping along towards the end of the book. It is rare to find such a insightful work.

This book reviews the history of 4 bear markets in the US. We will eventually see another one so you might be able to learn from history. It's mostly an easy read but there were some sections that became a little textbook like. This and Bull by Maggie Mahar will teach you plenty and hopdfully save you bundles.

This is an excellent book on the history of stock market in U.S.
I remember somebody said something like this:
If you want to know the future you need know the history very well.
And somebody else says: History does not repeat itself, it rhymes.
This books also provides a good list of other investing books. I bought some other good books referenced by this book.

The stagflation bear market
from 1974 to 1982 is worth careful study by investors.
The book also summarizes what sectors perform
well during this period (tobacco, etc, that
has pricing power) and can provide guidelines for
investors trying to navigate cautiously in
the post-bubble market environment today.

Its now 2009, and we are already in the midst of one of the greatest bear markets in history. It only makes sense to read this book before deciding whether or not to jump back into equities. Recently the author has been quoted as not being bullish (Jan 2009) and in the book he provides compelling arguments as to why it pays to wait in extreme bear markets before investing.

A great history book and an hopefully an even more useful guide to investors today. If you are even thinking about buying this book, you should.

For every one even remotely concerned or interested in stock market, this book is a must read. It is a very well researched and very well written book with indepth coverage of important events happening around the bottoms as well as the tops in the market. It is difficult to write such an interesting book on rather complex subject like this.

The author has interesting and sound views in terms of cycles in the marketplace. This book is a historical review and probably deserves three or four stars where it not for the false marketing. The book is not from 2009 as indicated on amazon, it is from 2007, but that is only a slightly revised edition from 2005. So most of the book was written in 2004. This can be acceptable given the historical focus, but there is no justification for false marketing on amazon.