Super Searchers on Wall Street: Top Investment Professionals Share Their Online Research Secrets (Super Searchers, V. 3) [Paperback]

Amelia Kassel (Author), Reva Basch (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0910965420 | ISBN-13: 978-0910965422 | Publication Date: August 2000 | Edition: 1

Interviews with expert researchers reveal to day traders and investors the secrets for finding investment-related information on-line. The best Web sites, on-line databases, and other electronic resources used by investment professionals to gather and analyze market data are detailed. Experts interviewed include researchers from General Motors Investment Management Corporation, State Street Global Advisors, Oliver Wyman & Company, and other top firms.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Amelia Kassel is the author of the "Web Wise Ways" column in Searcher magazine. She lives in Sebastopol, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 241 pages
• Publisher: Cyberage Books; 1 edition (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0910965420
• ISBN-13: 978-0910965422
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,877,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Learning from Experts, November 25, 2000

By 

judith j field (Detroit,Mi United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Super Searchers on Wall Street: Top Investment Professionals Share Their Online Research Secrets (Super Searchers, V. 3) (Paperback)

Each of the books in the Super Searcher series continues to provide valuable tips and searching strategies in specialized subject areas. With the information environment rapidly changing,it is from experts who are doing very specialized searching that the rest of us can learn from.

The first thing these books do is to acquaint the reader with experts in the a particular subject field in this case investment including providing contact information for each person profiled. As you look at the people that have been profiled in this book as well as others that have been profiled in the other books in this series, you know that many of them are people that you are familiar with by reputation even if you have not had the opportunity to meet them or to hear them speak. The interview structure used for each profile allows the reader to gain an insight into how each of these ten information and investment professionals do their work,gain an understanding of their philosophy of customer service and how they attempt to stay current as their resources change.

It quickly becomes evident as you read the interviews that they all agree that search engines can not be relied upon to consistly retrieve precise, timely and relevant information needed to answer a query. The shortcomings of relying on the current search engines and their relevancy rankings are pointed by more than of the researchers profiled. This information alone makes the book a good buy to provide back-up information in justifying the value of what you for your organization. As the need for competitive intelligence as a way to stay competitive grows these searchers provide the reader with additional justification to continue to refine one's searching skills.

Several of the people profiled also stressed the need not to just rely on the Internet and commercial databases but that it is still equally as important to know what is still only being published in paper or on CD-ROMs. It is also stressed that you need to be aware of specialized libraries and to maintain an extensive network of people that you can contact for information.

Each Super Searcher provides three to four power tips and wisdom at the end of their interview. While they are all based on common sense they do serve as useful reminders that we do not have to reinvent the wheel in order to be successful.

There is a listing of 242 Web sites at the end of the book which were mentioned throughout the book and a glossary of terms. Amelia Kassel was able to make these Super Searchers seem human and approachable. The Super Searchers in turn not only shared their expertise, but shared with the readers the reasons why they use particular sources and how they tackle their information requests.

Information professionals who find themselves doing extensive searching for investment and economic infrmation will find this a good book to read and then to immediately craft new searching strategies. Not all of us will ever consider ourselves as Super Searchers but we have an opportunity to benfit from their wisdom and strive to become "Almost Super Searchers".

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Super Searchers" A Super Value!, November 20, 2000

By 

Richard Drezen (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Super Searchers on Wall Street: Top Investment Professionals Share Their Online Research Secrets (Super Searchers, V. 3) (Paperback)

Building on the success of the popular "Super Searcher" series, Amelia Kassel offers her own contribution, "Super Searchers on Wall Street", in which she interviews ten individuals from various investment banks, consulting firms, investment organizations and vendors, all experts in searching the Internet and online services for financial information critical to the success of their employers.

A book like this could suffer in the hands of an unskilled interviewer. Not to worry, Ms. Kassel is not only a competent researcher, but a trained librarian as well and shows adeptness in conducting revealing interviews. Utilizing a question and answer format, she allows her subjects plenty of room to elaborate to her sophisticated and probing questions. Not only do they tell what methods work for them, they share their own sources and also offer fine practical advice. Each profile concludes with a list of power tips distilled from each interview and these golden nuggets are alone worth the purchase price of the book!

The Internet, not surprisingly, assumes an increasingly important role in conducting any kind of research. Even as all of the super searchers utilize it in their work, they do urge caution. True, the Internet allows access to much information online, but there can be a problem with "data integrity" of much web-based information. Several stress the importance of being able to verify information found on the Internet. Others suggest checking web-sites of companies, especially those that are privately held, for material not found elsewhere. Monitoring electronic discussion groups or "news groups" are also cited. The book contains excellent appendices listing referenced web-sites, as well as a helpful glossary of terms. Books with a limited scope like this unfortunately tend to look alike. Some of the people who have been interviewed sound as if they've been coached in their responses and there is a great deal of overlap in the answers. But these are minor quibbles. Anyone engaged in any kind of online financial sleuthing will benefit from Ms. Kassel's fine work.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invest Smarter, January 3, 2001

By 

John F. Lescher (Wakefield, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Super Searchers on Wall Street: Top Investment Professionals Share Their Online Research Secrets (Super Searchers, V. 3) (Paperback)

Buy this book if you are an investor. Quit investing on stories found in chat rooms and learn how the professionals research stocks and businesses. The book is valuable no matter your previous experience in investment research. The book is a collection of concise interviews with investment research professionals. The book is further enhanced by a list of the referenced sites and resources and a valuable glossary.

A great place to start is the interview with Gary Klein -- it is useful for the novice and professional. Then read the book front to back. Everyone will learn something from each interview. A particularly valuable feature is the Super Searcher Power Tips and Wisdom found at the end of each interview. Those alone would be worth the price of the book.