Rating: 
Summary: Security blanket
Review: If you can read this book wihtout falling asleep, more power to you. Some of the principals still apply. But a lot of this is so out dated. I made it about half way, then had to put it down. I might pick it up again, but it will be painful. I am sure that in its day, it was prime material, but it has out lived its usefulness.
Rating: 
Summary: ripping off graham and dodd
Review: In a moment of confusion, I bought the so-called "fifth edition" of Security Analysis ... what a scam! This almost unreadable text may be more "up to date" than the 1934 or 1940 editions, but it completely lacks the beautifully elegant prose of the original. The "fifth edition" is just another fat and overpriced textbook, taking advantage of the Graham and Dodd brand to sell a quite unrelated product. By all means, buy the classic written by the original authors (1934, 1940 editions), but stay away from this "fifth edition." It's really the "first edition" of something quite different and not very impressive.
Rating: 
Summary: SA is not for those looking for the easy path to riches...
Review: In this book you will receive an education in interpreting the balance sheet and other financial documents related to the past, current, and potential future profitability of a compay. The often complicated "investigations" the authors expect you to undertake have a seemingly simple mission in mind: Find the undervalued stocks. That is, the stocks that are worth more than you would have to pay for them. Such a simple destination, but such a difficult and winding road to travel. "Security Analysis" is the roadmap for your trip.
Some of the road markers you will see along the way include a host of financial relationships, such as Price/Earnings ratios, Price/Book value ratios, Growth rates, etc. You may not know what these are now, but you will by the time you are finished. These mathmatical relationships are the arrows that lead you to your destination.
You will also learn the value of dividends, something often overlooked in our current investment climate. Dividends, you will see, are the shock absorbers that help smooth the potholes in the road you will be traveling on. You may later find that there is a very sucessful group of value investors out there completely devoted to dividend yield, inspired by this book.
Mssrs. Graham and Dodd also didn't forget about diversification. The book is not limited only to common stocks, but a wide variety of investments. This includes bonds, preferred stocks, and many other creations of Wall Street.
If there is a knock on this book, it is that it isn't very user friendly. It is a complicated text, originally written as a textbook for analysts presumably already well versed in the terms used by the authors. Given the value of the book to the reader's worth, such a hill to climb should be greeted with pleasure. Once at the top, the ride back down on the other side will be a thrill.
Rating:
Summary: Security Analysis
Review: It is a book that comes from the 30's and has stayed in the 30's. Being such a technical subject full of quantitative proceedures and techniques, this book disregards it all to focus on qualitative bla bla. This book is all about literature, don't expect to learn any technical insights or even less to see any numbers. One can do much more either with a simple Financal Analysis text or even with Equities tutorials from the web. Don't waste your time and money with this aged and useless book. Just to let you know I am an Equities Portfolio Manager myself.
Rating: 
Summary: Warning: Not Light Reading
Review: Just like Intelligent Investor, my only complaint here is that they should make a travel sized version so you can keep it with you all the time. This one is at a higher level than any other investment book out there, but it is difficult without being convoluted. If you work in investing and have never read this, you should be ashamed. Of course, people who don't read this book are the people who make the market inefficient (thanks guys!).
Rating:
Summary: Investors should all own this book
Review: Like some investors today, I am a student of Warren Buffett, "the Sage of Omaha". Mr. Buffett claims that Ben Graham taught him much of his strategy to picking the right stocks. Buffett has read this book at least 12 times, according to some sources. Read this book and perhaps you will profit from it, too. And sleep better at night! The book gets 4 stars only because his examples can be rather tedious with math and companies from the 1930's. Graham is a terrific writer and easy to read, though.
Rating:
Summary: The perfect book for back to the basics investing!
Review: Nothing much has changed in the world of investing. Many of the principles identified in this text can be applied in your everyday investments. This book also serves as a handy reference. Thanks Graham & Dodd!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Security Analysis is a truly great investment book. One of the world's greatest investors, Warren Buffett, has said that he refers to this book regularly. Security Analysis looks at investing from a logical and rational veiwpoint and is definitely not a "get rich quick stock traders book". I have read and re-read this book several times. It is extremely informative.
Rating:
Summary: Everything after 1934 looks suspicious
Review: Someone wrote reviews to this book indicating that the major downside to it is its age. The book was written in 1934 therefore it misses all the modern developments of finance - modern portfolio theory for example - and all the new techniques that Wall Street "experts" use today. As an answer I give an anecdote from Warren Buffett's life:
When stock investments started to become popular, the volume increased ten fold, and the modern techniques to make a profit were developed, Warren Buffet was extremely worried. He remembered what happened in 1929. He loathed the new trends in investment that tried to predict the future price of a stock. Therefore he had a meeting with all his fellow Graham students, he expressly forbid to bring anything newer than the 1934 edition of Security Analysis. This happened decades ago, but history repeats. We all know what happened 3 years ago. We all know how "experts" thought that the market was booming, and how they let it crash. We all know how they made a profit on the money that private investors lost. Nowadays when I go shopping for a book I always look at the date of pubblication, if it is between 1997 and 2000 I'm very wary. All those books about "new economy", "digital era", "e-commerce", "dot coms", etc. have to be taken with the maximum attention. Usually they contain a lot of inflated ideas that as we look at what happened after they were written we understand how much those "experts" really understand about stock investments. If they were wrong then, why should they be righ now?
Trust me, but more importantly, trust Graham, trust Buffett, (those that have been consistently right for 50 years) this is the book to buy, "anything newer looks suspicious."
Rating:
Summary: Masterful!!
Review: This 1934 edition is the best of them all by far! Its informal style can be easily read by most. Although some examples are outdated, the concepts and predictions it presents are so true that you'd swear this was a historical perspective written in recent years. A must read for all serious investors.
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