Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$3.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
SOROS: The Unauthorized Biography, the Life, Times and Trading Secrets of the World's Greatest Investor
 
See larger image
 
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

SOROS: The Unauthorized Biography, the Life, Times and Trading Secrets of the World's Greatest Investor [Paperback]

Robert Slater (Author)
2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

Price: $16.95 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Usually ships within 1 to 3 months.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover --  
Paperback $16.95  

Book Description

May 1, 1997
Until now, the brilliant methods and tactics that world-renowned investor and hedge fund king George Soros used to amass billions have remained a closely-guarded secret. In Soros: The Unauthorized Biography, renowned biographer and former Time reporter Robert Slater has looked behind closed doors to reveal the unique philosophy and investment strategies that have given this Hungarian-born billionaire enormous influence over world financial markets. This intimate and insightful biography examines SorosÕ extraordinary life, his outspoken opinions, and the hundreds of millions of dollars in philanthropy that have made George Soros an influential business, social, and political figure throughout Eastern Europe and the world.

Frequently Bought Together

SOROS: The Unauthorized Biography, the Life, Times and Trading Secrets of the World's Greatest Investor + Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire + Soros on Soros: Staying Ahead of the Curve
Price For All Three: $57.79

Some of these items ship sooner than the others. Show details

Buy the selected items together
  • Usually ships within 1 to 3 months.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire $16.95

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Soros on Soros: Staying Ahead of the Curve $23.89

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details



Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This interesting, readable, unauthorized biography of George Soros traces the life of a successful money manager across two continents. A blue-eyed, blond boy who enjoyed playing a Hungarian version of Monopoly in Budapest soon was delivering deportation notices to other Hungarian Jews after the Jewish Council of Budapest recruited children for that task. After WWII, Soros waited tables in London before enrolling in the London School of Economics. He came to New York in 1956 armed with a competitive edge?a knowledge of the European financial markets. This insight and his ability to discern long-term trends enabled him to become a successful investor and later successfully manage the Quantum Fund, according to Slater, a reporter for Time magazine. The life and times of George Soros are indeed interesting, but the "trading secrets" of the title are based more on his intuition than on objective evidence. An example: when choosing stocks in an industry, pick two?the best and the worst. The reader is left without further guidance in applying this rule (e.g., what is the worst software company?). Read this biography to learn about the interesting life of a successful financial manager rather than specific steps on how you too can successfully manage money. 25,000 first printing.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Hungarian-born investor Soros, already well known for the unmatched success of his Quantum Fund, achieved additional notoriety in 1992 when he amassed over $1 billion in profits with the collapse of the British pound. He is also recognized for his philanthropic activities, having established foundations in several Eastern European nations. Soros on Soros is a book-length interview, conducted by the managing director of Morgan Stanley and a Hungarian journalist. Its scope reaches far beyond the topic of investing and includes Soros's responses to questions about life influences, philanthropy, international politics, and philosophy. The book should be a hit with those wanting an in-depth look into the mind of the master investor, but the interview format does not allow for the broadest coverage. Reporter and biographer Slater's Soros is better suited for those approaching the subject for the first time. Slater's presentation is balanced and well organized, and he succeeds at providing clear, concise summaries of Soros's sometimes confusing ideas and theories. Both titles would make good additions to business collections.?Mark McCullough, Heterick Lib., Ohio Northern Univ., Ada
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (May 1, 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0786312475
  • ISBN-13: 978-0786312474
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,145,514 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Slater was born in New York City on October 1, 1943, and grew up in South Orange, New Jersey. He graduated from Columbia High School in 1962 and graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania in 1966, where he majored in political science. He received a masters of science degree in international relations from the London School of Economics in 1967. He worked for UPI and Time Magazine for many years, in both the United States and the Middle East.
Slater has written 16 books about major business personalities before his new book on Donald Trump:
' The Titans of Takeover (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1987).
' Portraits in Silicon (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1987).
' This ... .Is CBS: A Chronicle of 60 Years (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1988).
' The New GE: How Jack Welch Revived an American Institution (Homewood, IL: Business One Irwin, 1993).
' Get Better or Get Beaten! 31 Leadership Secrets from GE's Jack Welch (Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin Professional Publishing, 1994). This book made the business best-seller list in Japan.
' SOROS: The Life, Times, and Trading Secrets of the World's Greatest Investor (Chicago, IL: Irwin Professional Publishing, 1996). This book profiles superinvestor George Soros, and it appeared on the Business Week best-seller list.
' Invest First, Investigate Later: And 23 Other Trading Secrets of George Soros, the Legendary Investor (Chicago, IL: Irwin Professional Publishing, 1996).
' John Bogle and the Vanguard Experiment: One Man's Quest to Transform the Mutual Fund Industry (Chicago, IL: Irwin Professional Publishing, 1996). This book profiles the most important business figure in the mutual fund field.
' Ovitz: The Inside Story of Hollywood's Most Controversial Power Broker (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1997). This book made the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times business best-seller lists.
' Jack Welch and the GE Way: Management Insights and Leadership Secrets of the Legendary CEO (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1998). This is an updated look at the business secrets of General Electric's chairman and chief executive officer. It made the Business Week and The Wall Street Journal best-seller lists.
' Saving Big Blue: Leadership Lessons & Turnaround Tactics of IBM's Lou Gerstner (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1999).
' The GE Way Fieldbook: Jack Welch's Battle Plan for Corporate Revolution (New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 1999).
' The Eye of the Storm: How John Chambers Steered Cisco Systems Through the Technology Collapse (New York, NY: HarperBusiness, 2003).
' Magic Cancer Bullet: How a Tiny Orange Capsule May Rewrite Medical History (New York, NY: HarperBusiness, 2003), co-authored with Novartis CEO, Dan Vasella.
' The Wal-Mart Decade: How a New Generation of Leaders Turned Sam Walton's Legacy into the World's #1 Company (New York, NY: Portfolio, 2003). A paperback version was published in June 2004.
' Microsoft Rebooted: How Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer Re-Invented Their Company (New York, NY: Portfolio, 2004
' No Such Thing as Over-Exposure: Inside the Life and Celebrity of Donald Trump (New Jersey, Pearson, Prentice Hall, February 2005)


 

Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.9 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting story book, but not for trading, July 17, 2003
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.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting. A must for understanding the great speculator, February 9, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: SOROS: The Unauthorized Biography, the Life, Times and Trading Secrets of the World's Greatest Investor (Paperback)
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.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Not a good book, June 15, 2010
This review is from: SOROS: The Unauthorized Biography, the Life, Times and Trading Secrets of the World's Greatest Investor (Paperback)
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.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews




Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums





Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject