Customer Reviews

SOROS: The Life, Times, and Trading Secrets of the World's Greatest Investor

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

 

 

Although quite out of date, this is the most interesting amongst all other bibliographies of Soros I ever read. This could be attributed to that the author could not get direct info from Soros or his associates at all. Without the burden of returning any favor, the author could quote whatever and whoever (some ex Soros partners) he liked, particularly criticisms, which were the most interesting parts of the book. Other parts, like how Soros broke the Bank of England, how he identified with his Hungarian Jewish identity, how he failed to become a philospher and turned into a trader, should be good enough to satisfy most readers' curiosity on the early part (on or before 1994) of Soro's life. For those traders who want to know the trading secrets, go somewhere else.

p.s. As a trader, I still would like to quote something from the book for my fellows' reference:-

1. Page 60: What Soros understood better than most were the cause and effect relationships in the world's economies. If A happened, that B must follow, then C after that.

2. Page 83: The stock market is always wrong, so that if you copy everybody else on Wall Street, you're doomed to do poorly.

3. Page 85: In 1979, Soros renamed his fund...Quantum Fund, in tribute to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics. That principle asserts that it is impossible to predict the behavior of subatomic particples in quantum mechanics, an idea that meshed with Soros's conviction that markets were always in a state of uncertainty and flux that it was possible to make money by discounting the obvious, and betting on the unexpected.

4. Page 92: Soros always says that you shouldnt be in the market unless you are willing to take the pain.

5. Page 110: Short term volatility is greatest at turning points and diminishes as a trend becomes established.

6. Page 159: It is not whether you are right or wrong, but how much money you make when you are right and how much money you lose when you are wrong....If you have tremendous conviction on a trade you have to go for the jugular.It takes courage to be a pig. It takes courage to ride a profit with huge leverage.... When you right on something, you cant own enough.

Actually, this is the first of biography I reads about an investor. I am quite amased that I would enjoy it. I don't care what other people think of it or whether it is "authorized" or not. It tells a great story about the life of the great speculator from his early life, which shaped his investment and personal philosophy, onwards.

It is a good book of introduction for understanding Soros investment theory -- "reflexism", because it kept track of facts, and put the rights and wrongs of his investment decisions in the frame of reality. It also recorded the comments from people worked with him. Thus, more objective or factual than "Soro on Soro", which is the next book I read about him.

I also like what the author write about the collapse of British Pound in 1992. It gave details about how Soro formed his strategy and excuted it, with undoubtly a great success.

It seems like the 5 star reviews are fake (sorry). I don't think this is a good book at all. It seemed like fiction to me. Author did not have access to Soros yet speaks from Soros' perspective (describing Soros' thoughts as Soros sits in his office-but author did not even get one meeting/interview with Soros, how would he know?). Author would ask questions like "What was Soros thinking?" The writing and events were all over the place (not organized by the Chapter subject heading as one would expect). You are much better off reading the Kaufman biography, where he worked with Soros. Seems like this was just a ploy to cash-in on Soros' name. Very disappointing.

This book helps decipher the code of a great speculator. Financiers like Soros help keep the financial and economical mkt mesh in sync. Recent news on the dismantling of his Quantum (largest hedge fund in the world) and Quota funds has many on the street bewildered about his authority, but it should be understood that Soros publicly announced about two years ago that he no longer meddled in any of the funds' investments. This is a good book that explains the why's of a worldly speculator.

This book was a complete waste of money. Dr Seuss could have written better finance non-fiction.

Soros' biggest coup was his billion dollar + profit on the pound - he runs through the story in lightening speed with very little explanation or technicals of the mechanics. No insight. Very bad.

Amazingly enough, I actually enjoyed reading this book. Not only was it informative, it also gave good insights into Soros's investment strategies and philantropic work. Still, since this book is an "unauthorized biography", I believe that a better product can be written by synthesizing the contents of this book with those of "Soros on Soros".

There isn't any real connection here between the author and Soros. One gets the feeling that the author tries to be dispassionate because he doesn't like Soros, understandable of course, but that makes the book dry like some academic review. Everything seems like Slater is clinically reviewing the skeletal remains of Tivadar Shorosh (George Soros's Hungarian name) instead of dealing with the meat and potatoes of what he eventually morphed into. A good example is Soros's divorce from his first wife, German born Annalise with whom he had 3 children -- little is mentioned about this and when his divorce came through, that very day his pickup line to his next wife WAS "I just got divorced today, wanna have lunch?" Perhaps it is me, but that's a little too dispassionate. Perhaps that is what Soros is really like, I can't say. I think the book would have benefitted from some real interviews with people who knew and worked with Soros isntead of second hand accounts with people who interviewed people who knew Soros. As for the "secrets' of Soros' success? Hard work and sheer determination. But how he got that intial seed money, which you need to make any fortune, is simply glossed over.

I found this book good in a factual sense, but poorly written. It seems that the author is trying to be poetic in every sentence. It seems that some of the stories offered are also irrelevant, or at least he doesn't explain the relevancy. I would have much rather preferred that he simply tell the story of a great man, rather than trying to tell a great story.

The writer, amongst other mistakes, made one very common in this kind of biography: at one moment, Soros is a poor Hungarian kid, going to London with his pockets totally empty; then, all of a sudden, he is accepted into a great British College; then, all of a sudden, he's employed in the investor's market in London, then he goes to America, according to the author, with only US$ 5,000. Then, all of a sudden again, he's a millionaire. No explanations, nothing. Well, about his career, the writer is fairly imparcial, but the impression the book gave me is that Soros is a humourless Hungarian, that never created any real jobs and only made people that were already rich more richer ! His intentions of changing economic life in Eastern Europe and RUssia are pathetic, and can only be seen as the quintenssential example of world globalization, as Soros tried to make new markets to earn more money! He is the best example of these guys with suits and ties that see everybody as a potential buyer for his products, not as human beings. Sad...

The author seams try to hide the little information he was able to gather from outside the Soros's circle with a poetic writing about his rise to be a "Master of the Universe". But the fact remain that the book give only a very superficial idea about Soros and for sure do not address the big question about him: "Devil's Master of Globalization or Saint of a New Economy?"