Customer Reviews

The Way of the Warrior-Trader: The Financial Risk-Taker's Guide to Samurai Courage, Confidence and Discipline

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is one of the best books I have ever read. It is also one of the most useful books I have ever read. I have traded futures for a couple years now and in the past 3 months I have decided to try to pick up my game. I have read Reminiscenses of a Stock Operator, Market Wizards, the New Market Wizards, High Probability Trading, and a few others. I am nearly finished reading Trading in the Zone by Douglas (a great book). I bought all of these from Amazon.com based on the reviews I have read here. I have learned much from all of these books and recommend all of them without reservation.

"The Way of the Warrior-Trader", however, is definitely unique. And I don't mean that it is simply an interesting novelty, it is much, much deeper than that. This book transcends trading and yet, at the same time, I think it is a more pertinent book for most traders than all of the above (in my opinion Trading in the Zone is equal to this book for traders, but it has a narrower focus). The other books tell you how others succeeded, but this book prepares YOU to enter the fray with the proper motivation and battlefield psychology.

PLEASE don't think this is just another mushy self-help, positive thinking book. Far from it, this is a reality-based, purpose-driven book that prepares you for the dangers and potential rewards that lie ahead. He eschews the typical shallow and covetous motivational approach, and takes a much deeper and much more effective "way". One that will not sound like every other "Retire rich in 3 years!!" book that you will forget 30 seconds after you finish the book.

This book is about more than trading, it is about risk-taking in general, be it financial, personal, physical, emotional, etc. If you have a dangerous or challenging job or are facing a challenging situation in life, I would not hesitate for a second to recommend this book. It is really that good. Just the "A" in "A.CT.I.O.N." alone has changed my entire approach and outlook to trading and others issues in my life. Very similar to Trading in the Zone, but from another angle.

This book does not appeal to your longing for riches or "lottery ticket" dreams, rather, it appeals to human issues that are much deeper and more enduring. You will find yourself motivated on a different and higher level, and this new motivation will be of a more permanent nature. I am what many of you would call a fundamentalist, right-wing, Bible-thumping Christian, yet, I was able to pass by some of McCall's Eastern religious views because I was moved by his message and his encouraging approach. Very much the approach of a kind and attentive instructor gently leading his pupils to a new way. Irrespective of my ultimate success or failure as a trader, I have gained much from this book that I can use in many other areas of my life. I highly recommend it.

I am loathe to buy trading books that are not written by full time traders, but made an exception for this one and am very glad I did. After finding it difficult to get through Musashi's Five Rings and The Unfettered Mind, this book described the Samurai philosophy very clearly. Not only that, but the author has worked with enough traders that he connects the two quite nicely. Upon completion of a trading book my first thought is, 'Was it worth the money?' In this case I would have paid three times what I paid for this book. I hope to take one of the authors seminars when my children are a little older.

This is my first book review on Amazon...I am not the most eloquent writer nor do I think my opinion on a piece of work is very important, but I felt I must leave some type of feedback to warn my fellow Amazon users after reading The Way of the Warrior Trader.

I am a full time trader and have read a bunch of trading psychology books, such as Trading in the Zone, The Disciplined Trader, etc. I also love what I do for living and I enjoy most books anything related to trading. However, this book was the worst trading book I have read. I should have put it down half way instead of wasting more of my time reading till the end.

The book has very very little to do with trading and all about Japanese Samurai warrior techniques and psychology. It seems as if the publisher took the book and inserted trading in the title and made a far fetched attempt to relate ancient samurai stories in the book with trading techniques and psychology. The samurai stories are a little cheesy and not well written at all, and there are maybe 25 of them in the book. After reading each samurai story, I was waiting for the author to make the transition to how it will help in trading- he didn't offer much in that regard throughout the whole book.

I can't see how this book got any positive reviews. Stay away from this book. Total waste of time and money. The author should stick to karate classes.

I'm a technical analysis/trading systems book "junkie", having bought most of the major titles in the trading genre (and I've tried to use a bunch as well!). If I had to cull down my trading psychology titles down to one or two titles, I'd probably choose "Market Wizards" and this title. I especially like his A.C.T.I.O.N. plan upon which the book is organized, because it outlines a framework through which one can get into the hallowed mental "zone" that so many other authors love to talk about, but so few give solid methodology to achieve. It was the best kind of book: an easy read, but I became a better trader afterward. Well worth the money.

This book is a good starting point for those unfamiliar with "The Way of the Warrior". Although it is for the "warrior-trader", the principles McCall writes about are applicable for everyone. If you apply the methods described in this book, you will definitely see an improvement in your life and also your trading.

As a martial arts instructor, McCall of course knows a lot about the principles he writes about. However, his comparative lack of knowledge of trading shows and the book is weakest in the parts where he attempts to describe how to apply those principles to trading.

The beginning chapters are better written than the last few chapters. The author prefaces everything with "The Way of Warrior..." and uses "warrior this" and "warrior that" over and over again which gets rather tiresome. It should be understood that when reading a book entitled "The Way of the Warrior-Trader", the principles contained within are those of "the Way of the Warrior". Zen meditation, the central concept of this book is well described and easily understandable and applicable for those who have never meditated before. However, deeper understanding of the techniques of Zen meditation should be obtained by reading other books such as "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind".

Still, you should definitely read this book to understand the importance of self-discipline and self-mastery not only in successful trading, but in all aspects of life. Other books to read that further explore this subject are:

Trading in the Zone- Mark Douglas (for more specifically applicable trading psychology)
Art of War- Sun Tzu and The Book of Five Rings- Miyamoto Musashi (for more on warrior principles and tactics)
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind- (for more on zen meditation).

I've read several books on the market related to trading psychology and found "The Way of the Warrior Trader" to be the best for me.

Subsequent to reading this book I developed an interest in Zen and Taoism which I continue to research. This book, however, is still superior from a trader's point of view.

The lessons imparted in this book have been particularly valuable in helping to "Pull the trigger" and maintain a balanced mental state while trading. This book also serves to offer many valuable insights which inspire the trader to continually improve.

The format for each chapter of this book has 3 parts. Part one is an introduction by way of Samurai legend. Part 2 offers the main teaching lesson. Part 3 involves how the lessons of this chapter have helped improve the performance of a particular trader.

Due to this format and the author's writing style this book has not only been the most helpful for me, but the easiest to read and most entertaining.

Any serious trader, I believe, should continually try to improve his/her performance. I also believe that a trader should read more than one book related to trading psychology, but if I had to choose one this would be it. For me, a few chapters of this book were worth much more than the price of this book.

Trade Hard!

I rarely write a review, even though I have personally read well over 2,000 books. The reason is simply due to time constraints, as I am a full time professional trader. When it comes to trading, I have read most, if not all, of the well known books, including a lot of books on trading psychology, such as Van Tharp's Trade your way to financial freedom, Mark Douglas' Trading in the Zone (which is the best in my opinion) and his other book titled The Disciplined Trader, Alexander Elder's Trading for a living and come into my trading room, Brett Steenbarger's Enhancing traders psychology, etc., but none as bad as the Way of the Warrior-Trader by Richard McCall. There is absolutely no reason for me to write a negative review on this book, other than to tell the reader to save his money and look elsewhere. I mean, this is not a book on trading, his title was probably the Way of Warrior, and he simply added the word trader to attract more readers. This may seem like a harsh review of a book that is described by some to be one of the best (though I suspect that these reviews might have come from people known to the author to bolster up sales). But, really, this would not be such a harsh review if I knew that there was even one thing that you can learn from this book. So, save your money and buy any of the books I mentioned above (especially Trading in the Zone & Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom).

don't waste your time let alone your money on this book. The author is so full of it and i seriously doubt he could trade his way out of a wet paper bag. I've been to his "Casino War Games" seminar and he talks the talk but he can't walk the talk or put his money where his mouth is, especially not in the casino or the markets. All he cares about is upselling his snake oil seminars etc...

This is one of those books where you truly wish to thank the author for taking the time to create it. I am not a Trader but am involved in my own business. As timing would have it, the contents and the message of this book saved my business from ruin over the past 4 weeks. I do not say this to be dramatic but simply to relay a truth. By applying McCall's ACTION process, I was able deal with several extreme financial issues that required 100% of my focus and attention. This book provided the tools to do this. A must read for anyone in business or even a life adventure, high risk or not!

The Way of the Warrior Trader is the best book I have ever read on being mentally prepared for any activity that you do. Dr. Richard McCall, a psychologist who teaches martial arts principles to professionals, has used his background in the martial arts and the samurai to add a zest to an easy read about discipline, mental approach and adding confidence to your stressful daily activities. I am a skilled craps player, or rhythm roller, and staying in the zone when I am throwing the dice is important to winning money at the tables. I had heard that McCall does his training of discipline at the craps tables so I decided to read his book. What I found is a book that is a must read for any trader, athlete, gambler, or anyone that needs to be mentally prepared for their daily tasks or activities.

Dominator