Customer Reviews

The Other Side of Wall Street: In Business It Pays to Be an Animal, In Life It Pays to Be Yourself

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I confess I didn't know who Todd Harrison was when I got this book. I'd been to Minyanville a few times and I thought that the iconic stock market characters Hoofy and Boos were fun. As a former finance professor turned trader who develops his own ideas, I wasn't likely to be receptive to his slender volume of reminiscences.

Instead, I was surprised and enthralled by the story of Todd's life starting with being brought up in a fractured family where his grandfather became his surrogate father. After a brief adolescent interlude with his estranged father, the story moves rapidly to the college years at Syracuse and thence to being a clueless entry-level hire at Morgan Stanley.

Clueless or not, he rapidly learns and builds relationships to become a star options and derivatives trader, first at Morgan, then at Galleon and finally at Cramer-Berkowitz. I found this book engrossing and impossible to put down as I read about his rapidly increasing financial rewards and his equally rapidly increasing cognitive dissonance and conflicts.

The writing is very straightforward and linear but along the way we learn about Todd's grandfather Ruby, his father's demons, Jim Cramer, September 11th and finally his journey from writing for the Street to putting together Minyanville.

This book reminds me a little of "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator". Both are slender volumes but Harrison's book is much more open about revealing his conflicts and demons. Maybe if Jesse Livermore could similarly have used writing as method of self-discovery his life might not have ended in suicide.

Could this all be a con? Could he be selling us a bill of goods as self-justification? I suppose so - but somehow I think not. I think we have actually been granted an honest insight into what it is to be Todd Harrison.

I thought the book was not very informative, the stories were not well told, and most of it was told in a very self-serving tone.

It was unconvincing how Harrison discovers how money isn't everything, after he has made millions.

The way he talked about 9/11 was too much about himself....

The most annoying thing about the book was how on every page there is a section with HUGE print, quoting something that was already on that page.

When I bought this, I was expecting something that would be more interesting to read than this. Overall, a bit disappointed.

As a fan of Minyanville for many years, I was eager to read the 'inside story' of the site, but was not prepared for this tale of money and mayhem on Wall Street.

I was pleasantly surprised and even shocked in parts by the author's honesty in detailing his meteoric rags to riches back to rags tale, and my only complaint about the book is that I would have wanted more detail about the most recent 5 years of his life, rather than so much detail from 1991 to 2002.

Here was a man who had it all, and lost it, only to find a kind of personal redemption through his new mission, Minyanville, designed to help ordinary people make sense out of the financial markets.

While there was a fair bit of jargon that went completely over my head, I followed along eagerly, reading the whole book in one sitting, as he detailed the extraordinary human beings with whom he worked during his meteoric rise and spectacular fall.

Like many people, his defeat was not so much a personal one as a combination of historical circumstances which were devastating in their impact.

I admit I cried when I read about his experiences watching the devastation of the World Trade Center on 9/11, they were so close to my own. So was his description of the aftermath of those attacks and the profound personal impact it had on him and his work and personal life, taking him in unforeseen but incredibly worthwhile directions he had never imagined for himself.

He hit an all time low, aided by people who were supposed to be his friends, but who did whatever they could to keep on using him as a cash cow.

I was thrilled to read about his ideas for Hoofy and Boo being so successful. And while Hoofy is not yet exactly the cash cow (er, bull) that he had hoped for, we are left at the end of the book wholeheartedly cheering him on and hoping that he will indeed rise from the ashes stronger than ever before.

This is a fascinating rollercoaster of a book, part confessional, part catharsis, part 'whodunnit', part insider view of "The Other Side of Wall Street," and all uniquely Todd Harrison.

A very engaging, gut-wrenching to fascinating tale covering life from the Wall Street. trenches. It covers a young man's fractured upbringing, and follows him from the college struggles throughout the many phases the career takes him. His admirable success was never silver spoon by any means. A nice piece for viewing life lessons; the author is certainly old school in making it on his own. Brutal hours. Little rewards in the beginning. Through determination, relationship building skills, and very hard work, he eventually finds the millions he holds dear. Very well written, with a nice pace, and che arries his emotion on his sleeve. His times working for Jim Cramer kept me laughing; it should come as no surprise he's a bipolar, backstabbing basketcase when he's not getting 110% out of you.

I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to see what the stress and success feel like from an insiders view. Read it one sitting.

I really enjoyed this book, I had the rare problem of not being able to put it down.

The author did a great job of passionately telling his story. He did not sugar coat it, he gave the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Todd Harrison started as an intern at Morgan-Stanley, he rose to the prominent position of Vice President of derivatives then went to work for the powerful hedge fund the Galleon Group. He finished his career working for Jim Cramer's $400 million hedge fund Cramer-Berkowitz as president of the fund.

His story was riveting, he started by paying his dues and scratching and climbing for years before he broke through to make the six figure salaries, then six figure bonuses, and finally his big $5 million payday with Jim Cramer.

Unfortunately his meteoric rise to power and trading wins were followed by years of flat performance then failure in his own fund. Which perfectly mapped out the brutal zero sum game that is the stock market. 90% of people break even or lose trading in the long run. It made me feel that much more fortunate of my own over performance over a long period of time on a much smaller scale.

It was heart breaking to see him burn through all his money with his side projects of his animated educational business website and charity foundation along with the failure of his own fund.

I love reading the stories of people that trade real money in the stock markets. I know the pressure of managing my own large portfolio but can not imagine his pain as his Interstate bank trade lost millions within hours of him taking his hedge off.

I also noticed that as a trader he broke two golden rules that I published in my own book.

1. Do not try to predict the market, go with the current trend. His fighting of the trend wrecked his fund.

2. Trade price and volume not fundamentals. He was so sure that the market was oversold that he completely underestimated the fear after the 9-11 attack that kept pushing prices to new lows.

I do not say this to criticize the man, only that I saw lessons played out in real life for high stakes that solidified my beliefs in their validity. Todd Harrison was a professional trader managing hundreds of millions, I could never fill his shoes. I could not handle that level of stress.

I loved the book, I appreciate the author sharing his story. I highly recommend this book for a great story of professional trading and how a man finds himself after a long intense journey.

This is a book from Todd Harrison at first i thought this is a normal , just like that book . But as i go thru chapter by chapter i finished this book in 3-5 days . First thing i have interest in stock market so few things i can understand but what important is how Todd rise thru odd jobs in high school and then thru college , his love towards the other side of cash register. How is grand father inspire him to be a fighter and he fights thru each and every odd . he did not see his father for around 10 years , but when needed he helped him to setup . His first job in Morgan Stanley, for first 2 years with 28K salary and no bonus and then after couple years he become vice president. Finally he got what he want to be a partner in Cramer Berkowitz . Its after that how he sees things differently and he ended up creating minyanville.

I found this book to be a good bathroom reader. It's short and quick paced that you can get through a few sections in a matter of minutes.

I admit, I don't know too much about Todd Harrison or even Wall Street for that matter. I was sold on the bleeps and description of the book. I thought it was going to be something like Wall Street the movie. LOL.. It wasn't. No deceit. No backstabbing. No secret moves. I was a bit disappointed in that regard, but wasn't surprised. It's not smart to burn bridges and this guy is too smart for that.

It was a personal memoir that reflected on his years in the industry and his progress towards building wealth. In the end he "finds" himself out of the turmoil of 9/11. The book wasn't exciting, but painted a pretty good picture for me of who this individual is. It wasn't boring. It was fast paced reading, and I genuinely wanted to know more about what "happens next".

My only gripe was the annoying enlarged comments scatter throughout the book. They were from the paragraphs on the same page. Stupid editor.

I had been an avid follower of Todd's and discovered him while he was with the Street.com. Post 9/11, following his departure, I actually felt a void. I actually stumbled back across his writing while reviewing Minyanville. I now am back to following his musings on the markets, the US and World economy and life. Todd provides a broad and deep perspective on finances and even more importantly, life. He has been able to translate and learn from his personal experiences in order to be as successful at living as he is at his professional undertakings. He is not self serving and speaks from a platform of sincerity that is so absent in todays world, that finding it is rare indeed.

If you are interested in reading about someones personal journey through self discovery, with the financial markets as a back drop, then this book is for you. I challenge you to read it and not come away with at least on different perspective on how you may view your own life moving forward.

Great read, written by a great person.

If you haven't had a chance to read Todd Harrison's book The Other Side of Wall Street, you're missing out. Not just from an investing standpoint, but from a personal standpoint. Todd is all about the personal journey, understanding that character is truly built and inspired by reflecting (and owning) ones tough times and dark moments, and that hard work and staying true to who you are is, and always will be, the best way forward. While the book delivers on Wall Street excitement, it also weaves through Todd's personal life and times, offering readers a chance to reflect, redeem, and transform with one of Wall Street's best. From the highest highs to the lowest lows, to Minyanville's magical rise from the ashes, Todd Harrison bares his soul in The Other Side of Wall Street. An excellent trader with a heart of gold... everyone should be so lucky to cross his path.

I love reading about Wall Street. I have no real reason why, but I still do find the whole world of the big traders interesting. At any rate, I found this book to be one of the best memoirs proffered by an insider. It does not contain any great cache of secrets, but it did contain a great portrayal of one man's spiritual transformation while part of this closed environment. This transformation started as the author realized that he was worshipping the wrong idol, money. The books contains a frank discussion of how the author was able to shake his fascination with money, as well as how poorly he defined success. All in all, a great book. Get it and enjoy.