3 comments about Microfinance Handbook: An Institutional and Financial Perspective (Sustainable Banking With the Poor).

1. This is an excellent book to get a good overvivew of microfinance and how it works. It offers excellent forms to set up a successful program. I found it exceptionally helpful.



2. This handbook provides novices, professionals, - and skeptics - with the information they need to move through the microfinance world with confidence gained through an understanding of microfinance principles and practices. Ms. Ledgerwood's book has been an essential reference in analyzing and developing microfinance programs throughout the world, and is required reading for many MFI implementers new to the trade.



3. For those interested in Microfinance this is a must have for any library. It covers the basics of Microfinance including whose involved and where it is succeeding. It is really more of a reference guide than anything else and is very helpful for those starting out. I found it invaluable for writing papers related to microfinance. If you are going into this field or have an interest in international economics/ international political economy this is a must read.

5 comments about The House of Rothschild: Money's Prophets 1798-1848.

1. Those who already know Niall Ferguson do not need any praise for the books he writes: a few years ago I chanced to read his excellent "The Cash Nexus" and this led me to "The Pity of War" and finally to "The House of Rothschild".
   
   Ferguson is a scholar who loves challenges: not just challenging arguments, but also challenges in the sheer volume of sources and research, and finally challenges to the reader in presenting controversial theses (I think specially of those advanced brilliantly, and contentiously, in "The Pity of War" - see my review if interested).
   
   This last effort is mainly an attempt to unveil the Rothschild mythology, restoring an historically accurate perspective both of the family saga and of the banking and financial European history from 1798 to 1848.
   
   The book is a masterpiece for many reasons: not just story of a family (circumscribed to the male members), not just story of a great banking institution in the past two centuries, but also comprehensive financial history of the first half of XIX century... "a rich and nuanced portrait" as the book leaflet reads - that reveals and hides, but also creates an appealing and fascinated image of those turbulent years.
   So, it can appeal the history buff, and all those readers interested in financial history (and speculative bubbles) as well as those interested in biography and cultural history.
   
   The essay definitely has also - obviously maybe - a literary dimension: because in describing the five brothers Ferguson uses those same "colors" used by contemporaries, a literary dimension that cannot but appeal and enrich the more serious economic investigation: for Nathan the "meteoric" larger than life Napoleon-like image (passion for risk, high stakes on the table and the ruthlessness of a general), for James that richly colored literary portrait (full of mid-tones) we have been used by writers like Balzac, Zola and Stendhal (the mix of secretiveness and candid frankness, detachment and savoir vivre), for the others three brothers the age-old mythologies of Midas and the wandering Jew (specially in the portrait of the German and Austrian branch: they seem consciously prisoners of the Jewish stereotype in their inability to enjoy life and relax).
   
   Every reader interested in the story of the House of Rothschild want to know the why and how a middle class Jewish family confined in the Frankfurt ghetto was able in just one generation to become the richest family in the world.
   Ferguson's study is very good in the pars destruens, that is in taking down and unveiling the old mythologies (like the Waterloo myth, or the Hesse Kassel myth), less good in the pars construens that is substituting a coherent explanation. The surviving accounts are of course too tiny to cast light, and the accounting techniques used by the family in the early days too backward to be critically useful.
   So the impression is that of an unending race over speed limits, a sheer willingness to accept often uncalculated risks and to play for the highest stakes and at the same time an impressive luck (or God's favor) that stuck contemporaries (always expecting the meteoric rise of Nathan to end like the parallel story of Napoleon).
   So was their preeminence produced only by chance?
   Yes and no. Chance - according to Ferguson - played a striking role in the early stages - the building up, but consolidation and enlargement were due to specific attitudes of the family: solidarity between brothers, their informative network, their ability in cultivating diplomacy and - not least - to the fact that the family systematically reinvested in the business about 96percent of the net income produced (unlike - say - the Barings brothers, that in 1816 had almost the same size)
   
   The book will be also hugely helpful to readers interested in European history, casting a different - unusual to most readers - light in the inner mechanism of the early XIX century European politics.
   As for the nature of the Restoration, often liquidated by historians as a narrow and backward attempt to turn back the clock to pre-revolutionary times, Ferguson shows how different in reality was this period from the Ancien Regime and how the seeds of modernity were well present and working: the sheer preference of the banking institution for financing representative-backed monarchies, the consolidation in Jewish emancipation all over Europe, but also the frailty of arch-conservative governments (not just the case of Spain, but also of the Holy Alliance) compared to more pragmatic approaches.
   A rather under-developed theme is the rise of modern anti-Semitism: Ferguson - unlike most scholars - indicates the first traces in France well before the Affaire Dreyfus and hints how the irresistible rise of the Rothschild family (with their devotion to Judaism) was very instrumental in consolidating anti-Jewish mythologies (out of a sense of envy but also perceived in France especially as a alien "evil" power).
   
   As a reader interested also in financial themes, I was truly fascinated by those chapters dedicated to the bond and stock markets, particularly those regarding the default of Spanish and Portuguese consols.
   The Rothschild were the first bankers to export the financial facilities, long enjoyed in Great Britain, to Continental Europe and were decisive in creating a retail market for bonds and stocks.
   But the most interesting part is the one dealing with financial speculation, bubbles and defaults. Most remarkable is the feeling of a déjà vue: if you substitute Spain and Portugal with Argentina, you will observe striking similarities both in price, negotiations and very likely in the final outcome. Nihil sub sole novi, or at least it seems so.
   
   This is a book I greatly enjoyed.
   I cannot but recommend it to every reader interested in serious history.
   That is not to say that it is perfect: I was - as many other reviewers - incensed by the lack of bibliography (shame on Penguin), but on the average it is an outstanding achievement.
   
   Likewise, if you happen to be interested in the argument, you may be interested in other works I chanced to read about the same themes:
   - Muhlstein, Anhka - "James de Rothschild", this is a book I read long time ago, but it was more a biography in the classical way and as far as I remember, I found it rather inconsequential
   - Chancellor, Edward - "The Devil Takes the Hindmost" - a colorful and well-informed essay focusing specially on the XIX century. There are chapters dedicated to defaulting bonds in the XIX century as well as to the railway stocks bubble in the United Kingdom.
   - Conor Cruise O'Brien - "The Siege: The Saga of Israel and Zionism". I have many works dedicated to Sionism and Judaism, but this is the most concise and clear exposition of the birth of anti-Semitism in Western Europe in late XIX century.
   
   You are most welcome if you can suggest other readings or just share ideas and comments!
   Thanks for reading.



2. I have to start out by saying overall I enjoyed the book but I would only rate it as an average book. It is a little too detailed and didn't keep my interest from one chapter to the next. It would have been better if it left out 150 pages or so. I found myself doing a lot of skiming over what I would say was boring filler in the book. You can learn a lot about the type of business that that Rothschilds were in but not a lot of how they went about doing it.
   
   After reading this it seems that the Rothschilds were in the business of making large loans to governments and then packaging these loans as bonds and selling them to the public. They were as much bond and commodity traders as they were bankers, which I found interesting. There are numerous quotes from letters written back and forth between family members that will give you a sense of their personalities. The family history is very detailed so if this is the kind of thing you are interested in then you will probably enjoy the book more then I did.



3. [Also see: Fritz Springmeier's Bloodlines of the
   Illuminati]. Ferguson, who teaches at a Northea-
   stern University in the US, did yeoman work here
   on at least defusing some of conspiracy talk about
   how fools like Bernard Piper-Collins claim Roths-
   childs alledgedly control ALL things.The Rothschilds
   never ran the bank of England, the gentile Baring
   Bros. did. They are however a very corrupt family.
   Author Ferguson did excellent work here.



4. the book had some good pictures, however prof Ferguson not once, but on numerous occasions, claims to refute the story of how Nathan brilliantly deceived the London Stock Exchange players after the battle of Waterloo, earning $40 billion (2007 prices) in one day. A bit jealous I suppose.
   
   Verdict: Ignore the anti-semitic propaganda and the book is worth a look.



5. What has Ferguson not told about the Rothschilds in his seemingly exhaustive two volume set?
   
   He all too facilely dismisses Victor Rothschild's being the fifth man in the World War II Soviet spy ring of Blunt, Burgess, et. al. He does not bring up the 1776 Masonic Illuminati order of Adam Weishaupt with alleged connections to Mayer Amschel. And he dosen't discuss the Rothschilds' connection with Freemasonry at the highest level, and their gift to Israel of the Supreme Court building, a New World Order artifact, heavily laden architecturally with Freemasonry symbolism. Likewise, glaringly absent from note are 19th, 20th, and 21st century Illuminati activities, which the family has been widely thought to be involved with. History Professor Ferguson could fill in his blanks on some vital but shady Rothschild history from Henry Makow, a researcher and writer--and a Jew.
   
   According to an article on Ferguson in Harvard Magazine (May/June '07), he is about to take on biographical writing of Henry Kissinger, at Kissinger's request. This should generate caution. Could Kissinger's "papers" be entirely relied on? Kissinger probably saw what sheen Ferguson could put on the Rothschild's archives as raw material, ignoring or minimising important but dark concerns.
   
   Same question on the Warburg's family papers that he is availing himself of. What will Ferguson tell us about Paul Warburg's role in establishing the egregious Federal Reserve, and Max Warburg financing the Bolshevik revolution?
   
   Let's hope that Ferguson can either put this and other allegations to rest once and for all or illuminate them if true--but now that he's shown his colors with the Rothschilds, I doubt that he will, either way.
   
   It seems that sympathetic academic interest in these elitist families and individuals is inevitable in part because that is where the big bucks for research and publishing would be, especially for a scholar who professes to have, as he says in the Harvard Magazine article, "become a thorough philo-Semite".
   
   Is there a whiff of opportunism here at the expense of objectivity?

5 comments about The Motley Fool Personal Finance Workbook : A Foolproof Guide to Organizing Your Cash and Building Wealth.

1. I bought this book about a year after college, when I wanted to come up with a plan to get rid of some credit card debt and begin saving money. This guide is fun and interesting, yet informative. It guides you step-by-step through good personal finance habits, and allows you to prioritize what goals you have for the future. The most insightful to me was when it asks you to name the things you spend that LEAST contribute to your happiness and MOST contribute to your happiness. I.E. - it's not wasteful if the spending improves your quality of life - versus you're just spending to spend! The workbook section asks you to guess how much you spend on things each month and then actually track your spending for 6 months to help you develop a realistic budget & see how you did. It's definitely a wake-up call to people like me, who seemed to piddle their money away without realizing exactly where it's going. This exercise helps you find the answer to that question!



2. David and Tom Gardner have once again succeeded at making something difficult seem easy. As an estate planner, I know that many people avoid financial matters out of fear . . . fear that they're not smart enough to understand them. The Personal Finance Workbook puts valuable financial planning information at your fingertips and the forms to keep track of your finances are right in the book. If you are just starting out after college, or a Baby Boomer beginning to think about retirement, or someone retired, this workbook will be immediately useful. On a more personal level, as a dad, I am glad that a personal finance book like The Workbook exists. Young people who take early action on managing their finances and developing good savings habits will be infinitely better off in the long run.
   
   James Lange, CPA/Attorney and author of Retire Secure! Pay Taxes Later: The Key to Making Your Money Last as Long as You Do



3. I got this book a few weeks ago to get a feel for personal finance (I just turned 23 and i figured it was time) and it was oen of the best book purchases I ever made! It was laid out very simply with helpful charts and graphs so the math doesn't seem so abstract. Highly recommended!



4. I bought 3 copies of this workbook - one for each of my kids. I love that it provides the basics for them to learn budgeting, etc. and how to support themselves!



5. Terrific workbook...great to buy along with their other book, "You Have More Money Than You Think". Can't go wrong with these guys.

5 comments about New Market Timing Techniques: Innovative Studies in Market Rhythm & Price Exhaustion.

1. There are both good and bad things about DeMark's book.
   
   Good - two chapters on Sequential and Combo. It is the most detailed examination of the various contingencies one finds himself in when applying these indicators. The text is sometimes copy/paste identical - but that's partly because the indicators are similar.
   
   DeMark took a very intuitive, but confusing notion of trend exhaustion and designed two systems around it - built primarily on the time aspect of trading.
   
   I also find DeMark pivots useful in combination with other indicators.
   
   Bad - droning monothone of the presentation. The two "good" chapters, for example, would have benefited greatly from a flow-chart presentation of the indicators.
   
   Bad - excessive self-aggrandizement and trade-marking of things known long before him. Retracements - both relative and absolute - go back to at least 1920's. Similar for TD Lines, TD Channel I-II and, let us not forget, TD Wave...
   
   I guess, I wouldn't mind if he were to simply explain why 1/4 of a Fib. retracement makes a good daily channel (because it's so darn close to a round number of 5%) - it's the endless TD'ing of everthing in sight that is objectionable.



2. This is an extremely convoluted book that takes a Philadelphia lawyer to figure out. Mr. DeMark launches right into extremely technical applications of his different trademarked bar identification codes without first giving the slightest clue to basic structure and premise of his bar identification counts. This book is quite expensive too, even through a discount seller such as Amazon. To be retained by such fabled traders as Paul Jones, Leon Cooperman, Steve Cohen and others it makes me wonder if they couldn't figure out bar his count system either and the only way to find out was to hire him? This is a sophisticated technique with anything of the slightest technical nature. To make it so complex the publisher can't figure out what he is publishing and the reader has to think the writer is pretty smart because he sure as hell can't figure out what he is writing about. I cannot recommend this book. Save your money.



3. Wow, what an amazingly correlated set of Amazon reviews. Something like 90% display the following curious features:
   1. Written by a big cheese wall street guy or equivalent
   2. Effusively positive about this astoundingly important book
   3. Uniform contention that detractors are ignorant
   4. You'll lose out on big bucks if you don't buy it
   5. Book can bring famously great financial results
   6. Only the industrious deserve to reap
   7. Jillions of people find the positive reviews to be *extremely* helpful
   
   Or not.



4. This book is software flyer. The differences is that most flyers are free. This one you have to pay to read the flyer. Don't waste your time and money on it. There's very good trading psychology book that you you don't want to miss---What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars. The author of the book is a registered seller @ Amazon.com. Buy from him through Amazon. You will love this book if you are a serious trader and want to be successful. Guaranteed. Best luck trading to everyone.



5. Did not receive this book. Where is it. I'm very annoyed. Mayb you can do something about this
   
   Robina Asti

5 comments about A Complete Guide to the Futures Markets: Fundamental Analysis, Technical Analysis, Trading, Spreads, and Options.

1. This book could be renamed as "The Mathematics of Trading". The traget readers are traders who use lots of Mathematics and Statistics.

   The experience of Schwager helped me a lot. He said he was good in analysis but not trading. Many people, including me, thought Mathematics, Statistics and Economics were essential for good trading. So they went to college, studied hard, got a degree and hope they could make money in the market. This simply never happen! Otherwise everyone should got a PhD before trading. You still need to develop a method or system. But what is vital is to control your ego. Admit mistakes quickly. This was the most interesting and useful conclusion that I got from Schwager.




2. Schwager's textbooks while not specifically about spreads are comprehensive and complete about futures. This book has a small section about trading commodity futures spreads.



3. Schwager is the starting point for any serious reading on futures and options trading. Disregard comments below on its being to quantitative. No, you don't need a Ph.D. in math nor high school calculus (there isn't a single integral or differential equation in the whole book). You should have a starting basis in statistics as well as some pre-existing intuition about markets.

   It is well-written and clear,and truly encyclopedic in scope : every conceivable options trade, with all permutations thereof, is discussed and dissected, even inadvisable ones (they too are informative). A classic book whose age (mine is copyright 1984!) testifies to its enduring worth. To summarize, you can't really trade futures or options and expect to make money without it.




4. Schwagers book is captivating and informative. The discussion on regression provides useful insight for people interested in fundamental and technical analysis but may offend random walkers. Overall the book will enhance any readers understanding of the stockmarkets.



5. This book is a must read for anyone interested in starting a trading business. While it is an old book it provides an excellent and objective look at the different methods of analysis (Technical and Fundamental.) The emphasis is on the futures market. In my view it provides and excellent introduction to this market but, I find the techniques applicable to stocks and currencies.
   
   I only wish I had discovered this book 15 years before.

5 comments about Prodigal Sons and Material Girls: How Not to Be Your Child's ATM.

1. The book opened my eyes to the some of the psychological manipulations that advertising and marketing companies use to influence children. The strategies Mr. Dungan suggests for instilling traditional values like donating and saving money as well as reasonable spending can help children learn how to be successful financially in adult life.
   As a professional financial adviser and I see many financially successful people. In virtually every person that has accumulated substantial wealth I find several consistent attitudes and habits. These attitudes and habits for success are rarely found in today's youth. If this materialism doesn't change the future will not be as bright as we would want for them. I have been searching for resources that will help me teach young people in my community the value of money and how they can make choices which will provide long term happiness and security and at the same time live a life of joy and fulfillment today. Mr. Dungan's research and suggested strategies do just that.
   This book has become the centerpiece of my community education effort.



2. I just finished reading the book, "Prodigal Sons and Material Girls: How Not to Be Your Child's ATM..." I was very impressed with Nathan Dugan's share-save-spend strategy, similar to what I was raised on--and eventually converted my husband to. Mr. Dugan's strategy combines spiritual and practical values into an easy to follow formula. Another aspect that I was impressed with was that Mr. Dugan also emphasizes understanding who you are and where you come from, in relation to your financial mindset--something that leads to our spending habits. I am trying to teach good financial habits to my three young children. When they come shopping with me we talk about the things that our family "needs" versus our "wants." I firmly believe in investing in oneself by saving money, instead of satisfying immediate wants. I appreciated Mr. Dugan's philosophy of grouping values and financial habits together, something I think people in financial straits don't realize. I've had extended family members approach me from time to time, asking for help in teaching them how to budget, etc. This book is a great reference that I will recommend to those who are struggling and to those who aren't, but need reaffirmation.



3. Nathan Dungan's philosophy for teaching children to be responsible with money has its roots in a church program he designed at the behest of a friend. Dumbfounded that the kids in Sunday School hadn't thought about the possibility that money could be shared, he developed an approach to financial literacy focused on Sharing, Spending and Saving.

   Many parents will identify with the profiles and stories of kids who ask for and are given too much. These same parents will likely be depressed by the evidence Dungan presents surrounding the influence of advertising, promotion and media on kids' inability to distinguish between wants and needs. Dungan offers solutions to these problems, providing parents with the ammunition to stop the madness and, not only to teach, but to lead by example.

   Dungan acknowledges that its difficult for any parent to run counter to prevailing cultural imperatives to buy more, more, MORE. The tools he offers in this book should help make the job much easier for the committed parent.




4. While Nathan Dungan makes a good case that our culture is becoming more and more materialistic and there is more and more pressure on kids to conspicuously consume, I think that he spends too much time making the case. I bought the book precisely because I was concerned about instilling sound financial values in my own children, so I think he didn't need to spend well over half the book convincing me that it's something to be concerned about.
   
   His share/save/spend philosophy is a good one from a 50,000 foot view, but I would have appreciated more concrete actionable plans. Don't get me wrong, there are specific suggestions and exercises (some of which I plan on impleenting), and discussion topics for dialogs with your kids, just not to the level I was expecting. There are also plenty of anecdotes about what other families have done, both good and bad, but I'm always a little uncomfortable with "advice by anecdote" vs. advice by research. There are plenty of citations, and I may be wrong, but it seemed to me that most of the citations regarded the impact of our materialistic society and the current state of affairs with young people getting into financial trouble, rather than studies regarding specific advice and how kids react to the peer pressure and financial environment. Also, a lot was said about peer pressure, and a lot was said about not caving in to it, but not a lot was said about helping kids cope with it in their daily lives.
   
   In the end, I suppose this is a very difficult subject to write about. Every family situation is different, with different levels of income and affluence. Even if I can afford to buy certain things for my kids, where do I draw the line? The world is certainly different than the world I grew up in, but I think it's unrealistic to say "this was how it is when I grew up, so you should live in that world too.



5. This is the best book on the subject of Finances for the parents of children of all ages. Companies are constantly battling for our dollars and we need to teach our children that they don't need EVERYTHING that they see on tv, hear on the radio, see in a store, etc. I highly recommend this book for sound advice on teaching financial responsibility to parents and children alike.

5 comments about The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance.

1. "The House of Morgan" by Ron Chernow gives full reign to the author's access to never-before seen material and lively prose as he majestically takes the reader on a tale that spans two centuries and intersects global events. Despite being a historian without an insider's knowledge of Wall Street Chernow has sculpted a book that covers not only financial happenings but their political and social contexts. Chernow doesn't flinch as he discusses the larger-than-life John Pierpont Morgan Snr's controversial role in shaping early corporate America (not to mention his penchant for attacking hostile media with his cane), the House of Morgan's role in World War I and II and the movement of Morgan Stanley and its associates into the hostile takeover arena as the clubby world of investment banking gave way to the democritization of capital. The only question left is whether Mr. Chernow may continue the book from 1990 to the present as great changes in the Morgan House have been wrought such as Morgan Stanley's disastrous merger with Dean Witter and subsequent management upheavel as well as JP Morgan re-entering the investment banking game and the buying of Bear Stearns. In short - a classic and a must read especially for those looking to enter into the world of high finance and "do business in a first class way."



2. Ron Chernow is one terrific writer. Hard to put down his books, including the biography of Alexander Hamilton and the House of Morgan.
   His in depth research and writing ability are superb.



3. Chernow pioneered the popular study of corporate history with this sweeping history of the Morgan banking empire back in 1990. This is a superb bit of history writing on almost every level: it's intensively researched and documented; it's a great story with a real narrative arc and emotional tension; it has far reaching implications in the fields of economics and American history and synthetically knits together these two areas with insight and revelatory vision.
   
   The story of the House of Morgan isn't just the story of JP Morgan and it isn't just the study of Morgan Guarantee or Morgan Stanley. (The House of Morgan historically has encompassed Drexel's Philadephia bank, Morgan's NY bank, Morgan Grenfell in London and Morgan Harjes in Paris.) The House of Morgan has its roots in George Peabody's London merchant bank of the 1830s hawking junk rated US State securities, then passed to Junius P. Morgan, then on to his son J.P. Morgan, and then on to his son J.P. Morgan (Jr. - known as "Jack") and then goes right through to the modern era (the book ends in the heyday of the corporate takeover binge of the 1980s). There have been a number of excellent biographies of J.P. Morgan (such as Jean Strouse's excellent "Morgan: American Financier" of 2000), but they all pick up the story of the Morgan banking empire in mid stream and then drop out when J.P. dies in 1913 - right before things get really interesting. The Morgan Bank was instrumental in arming England in WW1 and was in the very thick of the war reparations morass following the Treaty of Versailles. The Glass-Steagle act of 1933 (which forced the split between investment and commercial banks) was aimed straight at the House of Morgan - one of a series of government actions (including the creation of the Federal Reserve banking system) designed to limit the tremendous power of the House of Morgan. Glass-Steagle forced the creation of Morgan Stanley which arguable only increased the House of Morgan's reach and power. "The House of Morgan" gets it all and puts it all in its place. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the Morgan banking empire - and by extension anyone who wants to understand American finance in the period century of the United State's ascent.
   
   The heart of the story is J.P. Morgan, of course. Morgan was the consummate guardian of the "Gentleman Banker's Code" - a Victorian notion of serving the greater good through serving the client that formed the heart of the finance culture - with some Protestant spiritual overtones thrown in. Morgan's bank, with its twin loci on either side of the Atlantic, sat astride the flow of capital between England and the US. In the 19th Century English capital investment was vital for American industrial development and Morgan helped tame the destructive competitive business practices common in the railroad wars where rival rail lines would squander millions building parasitic parallel lines in an effort to drive the competition out of business. Morgan learned the lesson that cutthroat competition was wasteful of investor's capital and he ever after strove to build peaceful vast monopolies. This kind of business value system seems at odds with our current notion of free market capitalism it certainly wasn't very popular with labor or with those who feared the power of vast trusts. Vast trusts were Morgan's specialty. He personally assembled the first billion dollar stock offering in knitting together the vast majority of US steel production into US Steel. He set up a host of other vast monopolistic conglomerates including General Electric, International Telephone & Telegraph, International Harvester, International Mercantile Marine, and a host of railroad accumulations (just to mention the highlights). In defending foreign investment interests he defended the dollar's value on the International market by defending the gold standard - putting him at odds with bimetallism and William Jennings Bryan. In the East Room of his fabulous 36th St. Library there is a huge 16th century tapestry representing the sin of greed. Morgan clearly thought of himself as a force for moral order among robber baron thieves. When JP Morgan died he left less than $120 million - a figure that shocked many people who had figured he was worth far more. Morgan assembled vast economic power through board voting proxies with the goal of orchestrating a smoother running economy for the profit of his clients. While Morgan did good business on legitimate business, he didn't skim or abuse his position (granted "insider trading" wasn't considered a sin in those days - if it was done discretely). JP Morgan died in 1913 a year after the Titanic (which was built by IMM - his new shipping trust; thus stressing Morgan doubly because he had friends who died on board and the disaster stood to devastate the bottom line of a huge project/client of his) and the Pujo hearings where Morgan was grilled for his role in resolving the Panic of '07 which involved a massive hat trick of capital manipulation that featured putting Teddy Roosevelt over a barrel and forcing him to approve a critical bit of monopolistic corporate takeover business for the US Steel concern.
   
   As juicy as all that is, things actually get even better during the reign of Jack Morgan (who ruled the House of Morgan from 1913 to 1943) when we get to see Morgan banks' involvement with the rise of fascism in Italy and Japan and driving home the spike of reparations in post WW1 Germany. It's fascinating beyond that too. We see the rise of corporate wealth and access to capital in the post WWII period with a tide of legislation, but also the critical post Bretton Wood's unmooring of the capital markets. With corporations gaining direct access to capital markets banks struggled to stay relevant with the balance of power tipping to consumer banking. Commercial and Investment banks were forced to get creative and the leveraged buyout and corporate takeover booms are seen as an adaptive response by the banking industry to the new economic reality - with the final abandoning of the Gentleman Banker's code as a consequence (and a metaphorical Jolly Rodger flag as its replacement). I really can't recommend this book more highly to anyone with any shred of interest in any of this vitally important stuff.



4. I will not restate the excellent reviews already published here about this monumental book. I have been interested in JP Morgan since he appeared as a character in Caleb Carr's mystery novels, The Alienist and Angel of Darkness. He and Teddy Roosevelt, then Commissioner of Police in New York form a team of crime fighters, an incongruous image for the forbidding banker. Recently, I read The Panic of 1907: Lessons Learned from the Market's Perfect Storm and that led me to Chernow's somewhat dated but still important book. What is eerie is the parallel between 1929, with the securitization of junk Latin American bonds sold to millions by bond traders, and the Fannie Mae junk mortgage securities. In both cases, caution went out the window and a frenzy of trading led right over the precipice. Why did people think the laws of economics had been repealed ? This history of the Morgan banking empire provides a background explaining how we got here and a disturbing picture that suggests this has all happened before. It is excellent history and timely now that history seems to have repeated itself, perhaps this time as farce.



5. The House of Morgan is essentially a biography of a family, a house of banking and the US banking industry. The banking industry which began in earnest after the Civil War and developed through the railroad system is chronicled in a biography of J.P. Morgan and his family. The family became a powerhouse in banking when families were extremely important in the business. The family adapted as the years went on finally forming several corporations and enduring the difficult years of the New Deal where bankers were the enemy. The House of Morgan has survived in some form right into the present. This book is a winner of the National Book Award and is a very good book. Highly recommended.

5 comments about The Econometrics of Financial Markets.

1. I'm not sure what the audience for this extremely poorly written book is. Is it graduate-level students? If so, this book will drive them totally crazy and depressed, thanks to its confusing structure, lack of contextual motivation for the topics covered, and nonsensical, semi-rigorous mathematical treatment of the subject. Is it "quant" practitioners? If so, it'll leave them more confused and pessimistic about their trade than ever -- or just leave them feeling disappointed and frustrated, which was how I felt when I tried to read this book.
   
   This book is so bad it serves as neither a textbook nor a reference. It has no value whatsoever. Want to know the technical details of VAR models and when to use them and when not to use them? You won't find it here. Ditto for GARCH models. Ditto for ECM models. Ditto for dynamic pricing models. I'm pretty well-grounded in advanced math, statistics, econometrics, and financial economics, and I have to confess I had no clue what the word and sentences and math notations in this book meant. The contents are totally incoherent.
   
   Please do everyone a favor and don't buy this absolutely worthless book, so publishers won't be encouraged to kills trees in order to print such trash.



2. For the past ten years, this boook was the standard of financial time series and cross sectional analysis. There are several more recent books on the subject, but as the first good book in the field, it is still keeping up. Lot of the derivation in the book is a bit spotty - but that is expected at this level of sophistication and originality. There are some frustrating parts in the book, but if you cannot chew through that material, you should probably read an easier book.



3. This book used to be a must the first time it has been published but after ten years it is getting old and the topic is now better covered by some others authors. The arch/garch section is really weak and this book by its sole is not enough to implement advanced models.
   The authors also forgot to include practical implementation of the models with Splus or Matlab or whatever language, which is now almost a standard in many financial engineering related books.



4. I was also skeptical of the negative reviews surrounding this book ("CML"). However after buying and reading this book, I now believe they had merit.
   
   Simply stated, this book does not cater to its readers. If you have the prerequisites that the authors demand, then this book is comprehensive but ultimately below what ought to challenge you. And if you don't, then I guarantee you will be very lost. Unlike many similar volumes, CML is not self-contained (nor does it claim to be). And unlike many books that build a self-contained "model" of asset pricing dynamics, CML is full of literature-specific jargon and inconsistent notation. In fact much of this notation changes intrachapter.
   
   Suppose you are a reader at the level CML insist their readers be. Then all the better to spend more time understanding Duffie's "Dynamic Asset Pricing," or Cochrane's veritable tour-de-force, "Asset Pricing." Both books are more contemporary and also at a better level for the readers CLM had in mind.
   
   If you don't have the requisite knowledge, please ignore CML and try Luenenberger and Casella/Berger, as well as Greene for econometric-specific stats, Hamilton for time-series. You will not regret these purchases.
   
   CML claims to fill a gaping hole in the secondary literature. But in reality, CML sits right in the middle of two types of readers, and caters effectively to none.



5. Fresh look at the beating heart of the financial markets by one of the best people in the field.

5 comments about Investment Science.

1. This book serves very good introduction to mathematical finance. Particularly,
   I enjoyed the discussion of bonds immunization, mean-variance theory, CAPM, APT.
   It's most suitable for senior undergraduates or any junior graduate students.
   But it doesn't deserve 5 star for the following reasons:
   
   1) Most of the theories discussed so far in the book are TOO idealized and
   over simplified. Financial data is dynamic and massive. In model quantitative/computational finance, the most important thing is to understand what the data says rather than what one thinks the data structure might be. With the book, one probably can only do some macroeconomic/very coarse analysis. Author should incorporate more data analysis evidence together with proposed theories.
   
   2) The proof of ito's lemma is wrong(i.e. "Deltaz^2 --> deterministic as Deltat --> 0"). It's surprising since most books make the same mistake. It is the law of the large number contributes to the equality!(i.e. integration sense). The misunderstanding of the proof might lead to the misunderstanding of the hedging process.
   
   3) In the commodity option pricing session, author demonstrated the use of futher market to price the option. This should be discussed further (i.e. black's model).
   
   4) The volatility pumping session should be further researched. The explanation is
   not satisfactory.



2. Prof. Luenberger currently teaches at Stanford and this book is used as the textbook for a 2-quarter series in investment science there. The coverage is concise and the math is manageable and yet extremely practical. I agree that this an excellent self-study book in the subject of investment science.



3. but it's a terrible math book.
   
   Too often, explanations, examples, and problems do not clearly explain the meanings of variables and applicable assumptions. This poor presentation of material makes the book barely usable to someone trying to learn the material for the first time.



4. The book was fine, but the shipping was absolutely horrible. This is the first and last time I ever try to buy a textbook online - I hate UPS!



5. I used this book for an undergraduate intro to financial mathematics course. As an electrical engineering student, I had no previous exposure to the subject, but this book did a great job of explaining finance and the mathematics behind it. The book contains many excellent examples and figures, and really helps you to gain an intuitive understanding of the mathematical and financial topics it presents. This book would be great to use for self-study; Luenberger explains everything in detail and with a friendly, conversational style. Highly recommended!

5 comments about Security Analysis.

1. Security Analysis is the most important book ever written about the subject. (...)
   
   Sven Klein, Santa Barbara, CA



2. Yes, this is the best investing book I've ever read, but I never read the 2nd or 3rd editions so maybe they are better? I do know that the 5th edition is absolutely horrible, it wasn't written by Graham and has nothing to do with this book, and you won't learn anything about investing from reading it.
   
   You do need a strong background in accounting to understand this book. There are some archaic accounting terms used in the book that no longer apply today. A law school course in Corporations Law is helful here too.
   
   Nevertheless, every more modern book on "value investing" never really explained it as well as this book written in 1934.
   
   Yes, the book is long, but who said investing should be easy? If you want easy money, go to Vegas. I made hundreds of thousands of dollars in the stock market after I read this book. This book is more valuable than a college education and a lot cheaper.



3. The best book for stock analysis. The thing that impresses me the most is that it takes investors emotions into account--the main reason people don't make money in stocks.



4. My star rating is for the 1934 edition, but this review may appear for other editions of the book.
   
   The 1934 edition came out before the creation of the SEC and deals with a lot of accounting irregularities that are not such a problem today. I suggest you buy a newer edition.
   
   Some people seem to have a preference for the 1940 edition. The 1951 edition was the first one written after the Great Depression, so it dealt with businesses in a more normal economic environment. The 1962 edition was the last written directly by Graham and Dodd, but it is currently unavailable. The 1988 edition is the most recent edition of Security Analysis, but it was updated by other authors years after Graham had died. The 1988 edition is the one currently used as a textbook for Columbia University's Security Analysis course.



5. After reading "Intelligent Investor", I wanted to get into the more technical stuff so I got this book. There is excellent stuff in this book but for an individual investor managing her own money some of the recommended research is not practical. The book is more appropraite for someone who works in the industry such as a mutual fund manager. For example as an individual investor it is just not possible for you to obtain all the necessary information on competitors, industry, suppliers, etc... on every company whose stock you own. The book is very thorough and certainly an excellent reference. In order to follow the authors' recommendation you will have to quit your day job however. Great text book for a business school class.