25 Investment Classics: Insights from the Greatest Investment Books of All Time (FT) (Hardcover)

~ Leo Gough (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

For each of the 25 books, Leo Gough offers a revealing account of the author's life and work, explains the book's key lessons for investors, assesses its impact on the investing world, and suggests how its advice can be best put to work. Some of the books included are from grand masters such as Grahan & Dodd, W.D. Gann, Charles McKay and Edwin Le Fevre. Latter day legends include Warren Buffett, George Soros and Peter Lynch and the sharpest observers of life in the markets such as Michael Lewis, Tom Wolfs and Adam Smith.

From the Back Cover

There are certain books that have earned a place in investment history: old masters and modern classics alike which, word for word, page for page, have made the greatest contributions to the world's store of investment know-how. Year after year, their pages yield valuable strategies, potent insights and lucid observations of market psychology for those investors lucky enough to discover them.

25 Investment Classics is the invaluable companion to the world of great investment writing, bringing together in one volume a selection of the best investors and market commentators of all time; from Benjamin Graham and J.K. Galbraith to Peter Lynch and George Soros.

This is the starting point for any investor's library, uncovering and introducing the popular classics and founding texts that have shaped, and continue to shape, the foundations of investment wisdom.

A compelling mix of definitive techniques, market wisdom and incisive narratives, this collection will give investors instant access to the most influential, informative and inspiring moments in the history of investment writing.

Saving you time and money, 25 Investment Classics is the essential short-cut to centuries of investment insight, including:

Against the Gods Peter L. Bernstein

The Art of Short Selling Kathryn F. Staley

Barbarians at the Gate Bryan Burrough and John Helyar

Beating the Dow Michael O'Higgins with John Downes

Beating the Street Peter Lynch with John Rothchild

Buffett: the Making of an American Capitalist Roger Lowenstein

Common Stock and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings Phillip A. Fisher

Confusión de Confusiones Joseph Penso de la Vega

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds Charles Mackay

45 Years in Wall Street W.D. Gann

The Great Crash 1929 J.K. Galbraith

How to Lie with Statistics Darrell Huff

The Intelligent Investor Benjamin Graham

John Maynard Keynes Volumes 1 and 2 Robert Skidelsky

Liar's Poker Michael Lewis

Market Wizards Jack D. Schwager

The Money Game Adam Smith

The Money Master/The New Money Masters John Train

A Random Walk Down Wall Street Burton G. Malkiel

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator Edwin Lefevre

Soros on Soros George Soros

Technical Analysis of Stock Trends Robert D. Edwards and John Magee

Think Like a Tycoon W.G. Hill

Trader Vic Victor Sperandeo with T. Sullivan Brown

Where are the Customers' Yachts? Fred Schwed Jr.

A compelling mix of definitive techniques, market wisdom and incisive narratives, this collection will give investors instant access to the most influential, informative and inspiring moments in the history of investment writing.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Financial Times/Prentice Hall (January 25, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0273632442
• ISBN-13: 978-0273632443
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,720,588 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Waste of time, November 17, 2003

By A Customer

I bought this book hoping to get a useful summary of 25 great investment books. It would have been a great time saver to gain all that knowledge by reading a single book. I guess I was hoping for too much, and I was extremely disappointed.

The editor says from the beginning that he believes in fundamental analysis and does not believe in technical analysis. In fact he finds a way to mention this in almost every chapter / review. Given that he only has around 6 pages per book summary, he wastes far too much time repeating his personal opinions and spends far too little time discussing the major points of the actual investment classics.

He tends to write about the authors, rather than about the books. Maybe he thought that would make the book more interesting and relevant, but personally I wish he had stuck to (or in some cases, started to) discussing the actual book content. The chapter on Gann is a good example. Gough hardly seems to mention anything from Gann's book, but he wrote a lot about the famous Gann myths and mysteries. It makes me wonder whether he has even read Gann's book (in fact many of the chapters are so brief and vague that he may not have read several of the books). I don't care about the myths and mysteries or the editor's opinion on fundamental vs. technical analysis - I was just hoping that the Gann chapter would summarise the major points of Gann's book. Crazy huh?

The only time I got the impression that the editor was giving information from the books (rather than talking them down) were in the chapters reviewing the books on famous fundamentalists like Buffet and Lynch.

Don't waste your time and money.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A good effort but ultimately disappointing..., January 10, 2002

By	aseclyst (Short Hills, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

I appreciate what the author was trying to do with this book, introducing us to his own list of the 25 best investment books of all time. Although I am no worse for the wear after having read this volume, the exercise left me somewhat dissatisfied upon reflection.

The collection of books is haphazard, looking at areas of the market and investing that are widely dispersed. This is not a weakness in itself, but the disjointed way the author jumps from work to work with no transition gives this volume the flavor of reading a stack of unorganized book reviews. The writing quality is not terrible, but it does not hold attention well and could have used some serious editing in places. The book's main strength is its brief distillations of the 25 works it covers.

The author, a financial journalist, provides no evidence of any special competence or authority in any of the subjects he covers. This is a significant contrast to a work like Dean LeBaron's Treasury of Investment Wisdom, where Mr. LeBaron brings a lot of expertise in various areas and makes no bones about where he stands on various topics.

One quote that stood out for me near the end of the book was the following (p. 207):

"...He (Wittgenstein) was ever conscious of our inability to be certain. This is one of the great existential riddles, and I have every sympathy with the majority of people, who feel uncomfortable at this thought and prefer to find refuge in the arms of any number of ideologies and belief systems."

No, Wittgenstein is not one of the 25 authors covered among the investment classics (for an exact list, check the book's editorial reviews in detail). Wittgenstein is simply a manifestation of the author's wishy-washiness. He does not believe in technical analysis, is not quite sure he believes in fundamental analysis, and does not appear to have any shockingly special insights on these works.

Because some of the books he covers are very good, the wisdom of the 25 authors cannot help but affect you, no matter how buried in the author's prose. The few direct quotes from works that he inserts provided the fresh breaths of air I needed to keep going through these pages.

Hopefully digesting this book will inspire the reader to read the underlying "25 Investment Classics", which will be ultimately much more rewarding.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars next, May 5, 1999

By A Customer

You would be better off making three trades at ameritrade.com than spending $25.00 on this book. Worthless for an investor. Big dissapointment.