Soros on Soros: Staying Ahead of the Curve (Paperback)

by George Soros (Author) "There's a story going around Wall Street these days that opposite Mount Rushmore, there's another mountain, and it's devoted to the world's greatest money managers..." (more)
Key Phrases: international lending boom, static disequilibrium, changeable society, United States, Soviet Union, United Nations (more...)

Editorial Reviews

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.

From Booklist
Investment wizard, speculator extraordinaire, and magnanimous philanthropist, Soros is the less-than-cooperative subject of Time reporter Robert Slater's nonetheless admiring portrait Soros: The Life, Times, and Trading Secrets of the World's Greatest Investor, also due this fall. Unwilling to talk to Slater, Soros perhaps wanted to tell his own story. He does so here in the form of two extended interviews, with questions softly lobbed by German journalist Krisztina Koenen and Soros' friend and Morgan Stanley investment strategist Byron Wien. With Wien, Soros talks about his personal background, his career, and his philosophy of making and spending money. Koenen and Soros discuss his political views and his philanthropy, which are guided by Hungarian-born Soros' desire to bring stability to eastern Europe and by his belief in the concept of the open society. Because Soros has heretofore limited the media's access to him, his discussions here, controlled though they are, will help remove some of the mystery. David Rouse --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (August 4, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471119776
• ISBN-13: 978-0471119777
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #195,973 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Insights from a Financial Guru, March 5, 2003

By	Christopher Hefele (Lawrenceville, NJ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

George Soros is unquestionably one of the finest investors of our time; his returns over the life of his Quantum fund have put the random-walk theory to shame. In this book, which is essential a long interview, Soros expounds on his market philosophies and political views. Personally, I found this book better structured and more informative than his previous book, "The Alchemy of Finance."

As the book begins, Soros goes into the details about how he founded and runs his fund. He started as a trader, then an analyst, then created a model portfolio that he managed as a sales tool for when he talked to his clients. He left his firm and started his hedge fund at age 43, with $12M in 1973. In 1981, retired from active management and hired other fund managers to run the Quantum fund.

When running the fund, he is a macro investor, since he claims he's better at picking the tide rather than surfing the smaller waves in the markets. He tends to form an opinion on the direction of a currency, stock market, or interest rates, then trades within the view he set.

Soros also describes his market philosophy, which he described previously in "Alchemy of Finance." His concept, dubbed reflexivity, claims that market's movements influences people's perceptions, but since people trade based on their biased perceptions, they in turn influence the market. The result is that perceptions and market movements co-evolve, and may drift away from the fundamentals and, in some cases, change the fundamentals. The result is familiar boom-bust patterns, such as trend-following behavior in markets followed by crashes. As a result, Soros follows trends, but remains alert for signs of reversals.

Soros is also a major philanthropist, and has created foundations to spread open societies into Eastern Europe. There is a significant portion of the book devoted to his political work, however I found that less interesting, not because his views aren't valid or well articulated, but because I bought the book primarily to learn about Soros' work in finance.

Overall, I found this a good read in finance. Although you won't come out with 10 sure-fire stock tips for your 401(k), this book is certainly a must for Soros fans, or any intrigued investor who would like to learn from one of today's most successful financiers.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful!, May 7, 2001

By	Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract.com" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Like a 21st century physicist, George Soros is looking for the universal theory, the theory of everything. In Soros on Soros, he tries to express his vision of that theory, that one formula that will link his insights into markets, group dynamics and the historic and political evolution of mankind. While he never succeeds, you'll get a full education in Soros-think as you watch him lurch through a series of anecdotes, observations and philosophic lunges. Soros is an investor and self-proclaimed failed-philosopher, not a wordsmith. The power of this book lies in its ideas, not its art. He has learned from his role as the world's most powerful investor that mere thoughts - whether correct or incorrect - can move markets, motivate people to action and alter the course of history. For that reason, we [...] recommend this book to all investors, executives and students. After a series of financial defeats since 1998, Soros might not be what Soros was, but his ideas and beliefs still sway markets and shade international policy in a manner that few people on the planet can match.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Man Who Moves Markets, August 8, 2003

By	Mohit Kapur (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book covers many facets of George Soros's life- his investment philosophy, family history, quantum fund, his own theories of investing, philanthropy, diplomacy, and some of his selected writings. Mr. Soros talks about macroinvesting and how leverage has given the quantum fund greater flexibility than a two dimensional portfolio. He surprisingly admits that he is a very critical person who looks for defects in him as well as others- calls himself an insecurity analyst. Mr. Soros also talks about the tension between his parents and how the Nazi invasion of Hungary influenced him. I would suggest that one read his book, The Alchemy of Finance to learn more about his approach to investing. Classical economic theory assumes market participants act on the basis of perfect knowledge, his philosophy is based on imperfect understanding. The Alchemy of Finance talks in detail about the general theory of reflexivity and boom/ bust theory. Using the sterling crisis, Mr. Soros emphasizes the need for Euro. Karl Popper at LSE influenced him greatly and Mr. Soros invested millions on promoting an open society in Eastern Europe. His foundations have failed in China and Russia. He does not want anything but the Central European University to outlive him. Mr. Soros talks extensively how the west failed the Soviet Union and states that it would have been better had it not collapsed like Yugoslavia It is a must read for anybody interested in philosophy, diplomacy ,and business.