Confessions of a Street Addict

Rating:
Summary: Like a shot of Adrenaline: high-octane exciting read!
Review: James J. Cramer, opinionated and bellicose founder of the Street.com and hedge fund manager distills his fire-breathing personality and stock-market enthusiasm and serves it up in this riveting and compulsively readable tell-all of Cramer's life and times on Wall Street.

Cramer rips through his early life as a young Pennsylvania kid fascinated with stocks, zips through his years as an undergrad and burgeoning journalist at Harvard, shoots through his days as a rookie reporter at the L.A. Herald Examiner and his nights sleeping in a battered Ford Fairmont---and by page 14, we're already knee-deep in Cramer's passion, the stock market.

Cramer writes engagingly and keeps up a roaring pace, and reading his material is like being ensconced inside the guy's feverish, always calculating head. It's about as close as most will come to having a seat at a hedge-fund trading desk, and whether you're just interested in the Market or have years of experience, you'll find "Confessions" a tasty and addicting read.

The writing is amazingly candid, and the most refreshing thing about "Confessions", apart from the fact that it's rippingly good fun and fine writing, is Cramer's honesty. For all his bluster and arrogance, and for all his consumptive attention to outperforming the indexes and his rivals (and for better than 13 years, his hedge fund Cramer Berkowitz did just that) Cramer is willing to accept the lion's share of the blame here. Who threw bottled water and telephones at the heads of his henchmen on bad trading days? Who pancicked and wrote a capitulatory "get out NOW!" article on TheStreet.com on October 8th, 1998, just as the worst had occurred and the markets were beginning the roaring rally that would not end until 2000? Who, surprisingly, had abolutely no clue what was going on in the company he had poured his name and his money into, and didn't have any kind of feel for the circus of the coming IPO?

Cramer, Cramer, and Cramer. There are really three Jim Cramers in "Confessions": Cramer the trader, Cramer the stock-market commentator and journalist, and Cramer the dot-com businessman and New Economy darling. Guess which "Cramer" gets him in the most trouble?

But let's cut to the chase: "Confessions of a Street Addict" is loads of fun and a wild perch to look out on what has been a real revolution in the financial markets; Cramer's honesty, experience, wide-ranging connections and candor make this the funniest and most introspective book on Wall Street since Mike Lewis wrote "Liar's Poker"---and hey, Lewis even has a cameo role in "Confessions", in which he's credited with coming up with the name "TheStreet" for the company that became TheStreet.com.

That's just one character in a roster that looks like Who's Who of Wall Street, 1982-2003: Cramer meets up, socializes, trades and schemes with Robert Rubin, Roger Ailes, Joe "The Big Kahuna" Kernan, David "The Brain" Faber, and Mark Haynes.

He crosses swords with Barron's Alan Abelson and Money's Frank Lalli, and engages in the time-honored Wall Street passtime of making fun of the corrupt Dan Dorfmann. During his Harvard Law years, he works as a research grunt for high-powered defense attorney Alan Dershowitz, putting together briefs on the Klaus von Bulow case (and, apparently, played by "some Indian guy" in the movie "Reversal of Fortune"). He gets interviewed by Oliver Stone's research henchmen when he's a salesman at Goldman Sachs, and, according to Cramer, serves as Stone's inspiration for getting Buddy Fox in to meet Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street". He even opens his uber-restrictive hedge fund up for redemptions when a major client, Elliot Spitzer (then running for Attorney General of New York), asks to withdraw some funds to fuel his campaign, and suffers a nearly disastrous run on the fund that almost swamped him.

But the real attraction of "Confessions" is the way Cramer weaves his life and career into the seminal events that have defined modern Wall Street and moved us through a financial revolution, and we get a trench-level tour of the really seismic events: the 1987 Black Monday crash, buying into the 1991 Iraqi war, the implosion of Long Term Capital Management, the Asian Contagion and Russian collapse that nearly ended a 16-year old Bull Market, and the stock bubble that defined the twilight years of the "New" Economy.

Having read "Confessions", I thank God for a man like Jim Cramer: it shows me our hard-charging capitalist system is still working if it can produce a man like him. Cramer's chief virtue is that he says what's on his mind, an attribute, noble as it is, that got him in trouble in the SmartMoney event that he chronicles. In a way, Cramer is like Wall Street's answer to G. Gordon Liddy, a man who says and does what he pleases, and damn the torpedoes.

And Cramer is, was, and always will be a tireless and funny stock promoter, and his enthusiasm is infectious: if you aren't already gunning for equities and watching that ticker, you will be after you read this book---just be careful to take the lessons herein to heart.

"Confessions of a Street Addict" is a high-octane shot of raw adrenaline and compulsively addicting, and provides a 20 year ride inside the mind of a premier hedge fund manager---for that alone, it's worth the price of admission.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent! Read it no matter you like Cramer or not!
Review: I had no idea of who's James Cramer before reading the book "Trading with the Enemy: Seduction and Betrayal on Jim Cramer's Wall Street" by Nicholas W. Maier, who described Cramer as nothing but a sucker, a monster, a maniac and a workaholic torturing and throwing whatever handy at his staff during a losing trade. Cramer really is, as he confessed in his own book about simply everything in his life, his quasi insider trading type of fund management style that gave him 14 consecutive years of positive return, his fund's proximity to drowning with LTCM in 1998 saved only by luck and his wife Karen who he respected as the trading goddess, his conflict and later reconciliation with his friend Marty the publisher of Republic, his involvement in Street.com, his retirement to become a full time writer and TV host blah blah blah.

I never expected the book could be that interesting, a real pager turner. He's really a good writer. No matter whether you like Cramer the person or not, you shouldnt miss this.

p.s. As a trader, I do envy Cramer for his luck in trading and getting such a beautiful, understanding and intelligent wife. As per the last sentence of the book, "Now I know the truth: I am lucky, and it is better to be lucky than good."

Rating:
Summary: A Non-Investor Review
Review: First off, this is a review of the abridged audio CD.

I went into this book not knowing what to exepect. I had no idea who James Cramer was, what TheStreet.com was, or what a hedge fund was. I knew very little about investing and that hindered my enjoyment of the book. The beginning starts off with a discussion of his early days as a child and teenager when he was engrossed with the stock market. I found this section to be the easiest for me to follow. Soon however, Cramer talks about his journey into working on Wall Street and his eventual creation of the hedge fun. The way that Cramer discusses the pressures of trading at this point is amazing. From here, TheStreet.com is introduced and that begins to be the main focal point of the book. Throughout these sections I seemed to lose focus, mainly due to the barrage of market terms that I was not familiar with. Hedge fund, options, shorting, calls, etc. was not in my vocabulary.

Aside from my personal limit on market terms, I loved this book. Hearing Cramer speak made trading seem exciting, but also offered a glimpse into the darker side of Wall Street. My only reason for not going it 5 stars is that I believe the reader (or listener) should have a good understanding of the market going in to fully enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: An Investors Adventure
Review: As someone who loves the market,and has watched James Cramer at every opportunity, I found this book full of interesting revelations. For example, I was online reading "Thestreet.com" in October 1998 when Cramer gave the alert to get out of the market immediately. He wrote, at the time, that his wife, "the Trading Goddess, said it was time to throw in the towel. In the book he admits, that she was trading like crazy at the time and the last thing she wanted was to get out; he capitulated at the very bottom of the bear market. One of the best things about the book is his honesty, showing both his strengths and frailties, his hits and misses. I love and respect the guy even more now. Living several decades on the street called Wall; he has been there and takes you along on the journey. A great read!

Rating:
Summary: Confessions of an Ex-Street Addict
Review: I picked this up after recently meeting Jim when he spoke at our commencement. He gave a great speech and was very personable, hanging around to chat with graduates and their families. He does seem to be enjoying his "retirement."

I enjoyed the book. Cramer takes us on his rollercoaster and it was hard to put down. He does not cut himself much slack on his shortcomings.

The insights into the advantages that Wall Street insiders have and use gets depressing. What an amazing waste of resources and talent. Watching an experienced Hedge player like Cramer go through the dotcom/IPO game like a rookie tells a lot about what an absolute self-serving charade that was for Wall Street.

Rating:
Summary: Autobiography of a Winner
Review: This book is an autobiographical account of one of the most successful money managers of our time -- that's not just an opinion, it's verifiable fact. If you want a behind-the-curtain, no holds barred look at Wall Street on its way to the bubble pop, then this is a must read. More importantly, it's written by one of those intelligent and capable guys who can see themselves as one mistake away from stupidity and failure. The book is hilarious, honest, and well written. I couldn't put the book down, except the few times I was rolling around laughing. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Great View on The Street
Review: This is a rich book full of great, in-depth info on the live of one of the newer market pundits to step onto the scene in the past years. Cramer brings a fresh, full view of Wall Street and what goes on with it. This book should be recommended reading for any investor professional or not, and Cramer's unique views on the market add to this fun, interesting read. Definitely should be high on the Summer reading list, as Cramer delves into the rich history of Wall Street and what it means to be a hedge fund manager surviving in today's anything-but-easy marketplace.

Rating:
Summary: You either like him or you don't...
Review: I recently had the chance to read this book and would like to point out that, in order to enjoy the book, you have to like Jim Cramer and his antics. If you're not a fan of him, this book probably won't change your opinion.

All in all, I found the book very enjoyable. He does a great job of presenting the excitement of being on the "street" and what it's like running a $300 million hedge fund. I also found it fascinating to read about the startup of TheStreet.com and all of the problems they faced.

The only things that kind of held me back from giving this book five stars is that he often talks about stocks he bought but gave little reason behind purchasing them. And sometimes the book seemed like a poor attempt at humility by glorifying those around him. But, all in all, it was a great book to read and kept me interested all the way until the end.

Rating:
Summary: A really funny book!
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It was funny and made me laugh. Mr Cramer's style is so natural you think you are in a conversation with him, instead of reading a book. His trading adventures were most interesting and I learned a lot. It is clear that day trading like this is not a healthy way to make money. While he spent 14 years working himself into a nervous breakdown to make a paltry $$ million, Warren B. was playing golf every afternoon and coming out with $$ million. Clearly, while reading the book, it becomes apparent that Karen, his wife, is the brains of the family. Her coolness under pressure is really impressive. I recommend that, in future editions, he dump the photo of himself on the front cover and replace it with hers. His photo is something from The Godfather. I particularly loved her comment about "Harvard-educated buffoons". So true! The Dean of the Stanford Business School was on the audit committee of Enron. These schools are not worthy of respect.

Rating:
Summary: Stress Fracture
Review: This is really three books rolled into one. First, a Horatio Alger story of the boy from Philadelphia who rises to the top of Wall Street. Second, an inside story of what it was like to found a dotcom during the internet bubble. And third, an account of how the stress of running a hedge fund drove an otherwise decent guy to be a real Mr. Hyde. Amazingly, the book works on all three levels.

On the first count, Cramer shows that hard work and monomaniacal interests can take a person to Harvard, to running the Harvard Crimson, to sleeping in one's car, to being a top producer at Goldman Sachs, and to founding a money-minting hedge fund. This Cramer is clearly the most likeable, and is nice to know about as you watch him with Larry Kudlow.

Cramer the entrepreneur is fascinating on multiple levels. As he recounts his adventures with VC's and recruited management, he displays a naiveté that is truly jaw dropping. I have been involved with a number of VC-funded start-ups, and I always thought that Wall Street types like Cramer understood how the game is played. The fact that he was so befuddled by it helps to explain how the internet bubble fooled so many of his colleagues.

Finally, there is Cramer the hedge fund manager. Cramer became so enraptured with this role that he let everything else in his life go-from simple courtesy to friendships to his family. If Cramer was even half as nasty as he describes, his wife must be one of the saintliest women of our era to put up with him. The fact that he recognized what was happening to him and walked away while at the top of his game, before dropping dead of a stress-induced coronary, puts the icing on the Cramer cake.