Engines That Move Markets: Technology Investing from Railroads to the Internet and Beyond [Hardcover]

Alasdair Nairn (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471205958 | ISBN-13: 978-0471205951 | Publication Date: December 21, 2001 | Edition: 1

A comprehensive history of market-shaping industries and their impact on how we invest today
This engaging book highlights the history of industrial development and its impact on investors. Today's investors will learn about past approaches to technological advances such as-electricity, the railroad, the telephone, the computer, and much more-while gaining insights on how to appraise the "new technology" companies of the future. This complete and well researched history of industries and investing wouldn't be complete without a look at: how Thomas Edison lost control of his company, the impact of the Standard Oil breakup, the early days of the wireless industry, and the changing face of the computer industry today. Investors looking for industry-shaping investments will undoubtedly use Engines That Move Markets as their guide.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book has much wisdom, and much that could be learned by investors or companies plannning to back new technologies." (Financial Times, 25 March 2002)

"...Nairn provides models that chart a way forward for investors, based on close study of previous bubbles and breakthroughs.... Engines that Move Markets succeeds in placing internet hysteria in context and giving guidelines to investors as their pick their way through the wreckage." (The Irish Times, 22 March 2002)

From the Inside Flap

Many innovative technologies have changed the way we live as well as the way we invest-whether it was the railroads that connected America from coast to coast or the Internet that connects people around the world. The birth and commercialization of a breakthrough technology swiftly transforms that market with an investment pattern that creates both economic booms and busts before a more stable environment occurs.

Engines That Move Markets captures the impact that some of the greatest technological inventions of the past two hundred years have had on financial markets and investors' fortunes. This engaging overview of industrial development and its effect on investors shows you how the pattern of investment response to such technological advances as-
* Electric light and its commercial exploitation
* The railroad boom in Britain and the United States
* The development of the automobile industry
* The discovery and early development of crude oil
* The rise of the PC
* The Internet and dot-com bubble

-can be used to help you avoid costly investment mistakes today and recognize the emerging technologies of the future.

Through his exhaustive research and fluid writing style, Alasdair Nairn pieces together ten of these historical episodes. Each chapter chronicles a different technological innovation-past and present-that has dramatically shaped the market of that time. Nairn provides a virtual road map on how to appraise the "new technology" companies of the future by detailing how investors and the media have reacted to past innovations; charting the performance of share price, earnings growth, and return on capital of the company that owned the innovation; and pinpointing which companies emerged as winners-and, equally important, which companies suffered as losers.

Engines That Move Markets is more than just a history of money, stocks, and trading. This engaging book reveals the prevailing social attitudes that surrounded each new stock market boom and examines the ingenuity of the entrepreneurs who struggled to develop their unique products and markets.

In examining the recurring patterns that are associated with each new technological innovation, Engines That Move Markets provides timeless lessons for investors looking for the next company and innovation that will shape the market of the future. This study of past financial history is a rich source of inspirational guidance for any investor-whether you're just getting started or have lived and invested through some of the booms and busts of past markets.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (December 21, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471205958
• ISBN-13: 978-0471205951
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.6 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,029,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful history of investment and industrial development, January 25, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Engines That Move Markets: Technology Investing from Railroads to the Internet and Beyond (Hardcover)

I didn't know what to expect from this lengthy tome but found it to be a fascinating history of inventions and their impact on the investing world. The author discusses developments that we take for granted--computer, railroad--and explores how these advances changed society and business. This is terrific book for anyone interested in both investing and history.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Be a player in the world to come, May 31, 2005

By 

Michael Davis "www.byvation.com" (Arlington, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Engines That Move Markets: Technology Investing from Railroads to the Internet and Beyond (Hardcover)

At first glance Engines that Move Markets appears to be directed at investors. I would argue that this book is equally, if not more, valuable for entrepreneurs creating any venture aimed at somehow changing the world. After all, true entrepreneurs are by definition "change advocates."

Technology has, is, and will continue to change the world around us. Engines That Move Markets explores the impact of some great technological inventions of the past two hundred years.

Chronologically, Nairn explores the historical context of major innovations ranging from canals and railroads to the PC and the Internet.

Do you want to know what the Next Big Thing will be? More importantly, do you want to be part of creating the future and the fortunes that will be created? If you do, this is the book for you. It will stimulate your mind in such a way as to let you be a player in the world to come, instead of a mere spectator.

------------------
Michael Davis, Editor - Byvation

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Required reading for serious investors, March 18, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Engines That Move Markets: Technology Investing from Railroads to the Internet and Beyond (Hardcover)

Nairn has written an epoch work that is worthy reading for any serious student of the financial markets. Having recently passed thru an investment bubble of titanic proportions, Nairn's trip thru the history of other vaunted technological breakthroughs helps us realize that wise students of stock market history might have been able to both participate in the upside of the bubble while still having a chance, based on the historical precendents he so methodically outlines, of identifying when to get out and avoid the downside debacle that follows every such market insanity. This book should be required reading for every student in MBA programs and most especially for all those stock analysts churning out buy recommendations on speculative stocks in March 2000! Common investors should read it also so they can know how to identify those analysts who have failed to read it and gained the useful perspective the book offers.