Customer Reviews

Just One Thing: Twelve of the World's Best Investors Reveal the One Strategy You Can't Overlook

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I was extremely excited to read this book because I thought Bull's Eye Investing was fantastic. I knew that each chapter was written by a different investor and since most of John's book/article recommendations have been great as well (Unexpected Returns, Fooled by Randomness, etc), I thought I would discover some new brilliant investing ideas. Honestly, I was a little disappointed.

The highlights for me were Chapters 6, 8 by James Montier and Rob Arnott. One of these discussed the flaws of Mkt Cap Weight Indices and how non weighted should outperform them in the future. Since we money managers are benchmarked against these indices, the implications are very important.

The other highlight was James Montiers Guide to "Thinking about thinking." It explained many human behavioral traits and how they apply it to investing. There were some new ideas that I hadn't heard before.

The other chapters including John's chapter at the end were just more of the same things I've heard over and over. This may be because I've read many of these investor's other books and articles before so for somebody new to these investors, it may be different.

If you compare this book directly with Market Wizards I & II, you will definitely be very disappointed. However, if the presence of 2 or 3 very bright ideas in one single book can already satisfy you well, you may still give it a try. IMHO, the chapters by Andy Kessler (lower cost creates its own huge market), Dennis Gartman (12 trading rules) and Gary Shilling (the long bull market of long bonds) are outstanding, whilst the rest are just so so or even substandard. Sorry to say that there are many better alternatives in the market of the "various authors" genre. On the other hand, "Wall Street Meat" and "Running Money", two books by Andy Kessler alone, are much better and interesting than this. In short, not recommended.

Below please find my most favorite saying in the whole book:-
Change is like a train. It can either run over you, or you can catch it to the future. pg 219

This book goes through the thoughts of various successful investors and business individuals. These individuals include Rob Arnott, Bill Bonner, Richard Russell and others. I found this book to be insightful to understand at a high-level various investment strategies (bonds, 2% rule, etc.) and methods (trading, risk and psychological).
I would recommend this book to individuals that understand and have completed various investments to be able to take the investments to another level by diversification.
My favorite section was chapter 11 with "rich man, poor man" which summarized the book in a chapter. I also found chapter 12 to be a good view into the future for investments. I guess you would need to make your own decision once you read the book.
Enjoy!

Before buying this book you will want to take a look at the list of the 12 authors who wrote chapters for it. If you are familiar with most of the work these authors do than there is probably not much new in the book you'll discover.

If you are not familiar with the work of the authors helming the 12 chapters than this book is an excellent place to start for getting a good introduction to a wide variety of important investing topics and non-traditional views on the market.

Additionally, the book is very easy to read and a majority of the authors do an excellent job of clearly and briefly explaining the key point they want to make.

Highly recommended.

John Mauldin is a very bright man, who seems to have run out of ideas to write about. Most of the chapters in this book seem to be a rehash of things from his previous book, "Bull's Eye Investing" or discussions from his website. Had his earlier work not been so good, this book may not have been such a appointment.

Finally, an investment book that is not all about how quickly you can get rich, but that offers practical ideas in how you can gain small but important edges in your investing and prevent yourself from taking the kinds of big losses that all too often destroy portfolios. Especially noteworthy is Rob Arnott's section on rethinking the capital asset pricing model in order to avoid blind adherence to cap-weighted indexing, as well as James Montier's chapter entitled "Psychology Matters" (it does) and Dennis Gartman's list and discussion of rules every trader should follow.

Typical of the book is Mark Finn and Jonathan Finn's chapter on why previous performance is generally not the indicator you should focus on when choosing a money manager. Like many of the book's chapters, theirs takes a basic belief about investment management, explains why it's more myth than fact (the Finns label it "hope"), and then gives you a better methodology to use when making decisions about who should manage your money.

This book is a quick read that gets to the point; it will definitely make you rethink some of your investment ideas.

A good follow on to Mauldin's first book on Bullseye Investing. In that book, he passed along his ideas. Knowing that he doesn't have all of the answers, in this second book, he passes along the ideas of some of the top traders and investment advisors.

By relying on an expert in the field to do the screening and compilation, this book provides a very efficient way to cover a lot of ground quickly. You don't have to read twelve books. Readers can then choose to dig deeper into the investment principles and ideas they found the most appealing.

When I buy an investment related book, I am satisfied if I can find even one nugget of wisdom..this book provides atleast 3-4 chapters which will make you money. The compounding tables by Russell are an eye opener (perhaps the best chapter).

The concept is very good. I recognized and am familiar with several authors. I subscribe to a free investment email service from John Mauldin who is very generous with his investment ideas, and he is able to get other great investment minds to share theirs. I subscribe to Richard Russell's Dow Theory Letters. Gilder and Shiling often write in Forbes. I've read Kessler's Running Money.

All 12 authors in this book talk about one theme in a succinct chapter. They have many years of investment experience and their ideas are worth listening to. Shilling's Long Bond chapter explains why investing in the 30-year bond is worthwhile even if you don't expect to live another 30 years! I showed Russell's power of compound interest to my 17 year old and I think it sunk in. Many authors talk about risk and how it is important that it be managed. Oveall,a very useful book, gets you thinking.

Excellent collection of investment wisdom, with each chapter written by a different person. One can pick up the book and read the chapters in any order. I liked the style and the fact that the contributing authors have different perspectives and approaches to the market. There is a lot of information in this book, that can be gleaned without committing to reading a few hundred pages by any one of the individual contributors. Well worth the time.