Rating: 
Summary: SlammaJamma!
Review: If Cramer were not such a colorful personality and writer, this book might have been yet another dull account of an successful investor that thinks his career makes good reading -- but, in this book, Cramer hits a home run with his quick wit, unbridled emotional outbursts and self-deprecating humor. No doubt the guy must have been a tyrant to work with, but its not surprising given his terrific results. It's a very readable book, and filled with fascinating episodes of his trading strategies, personnel troubles, and an unbelievable account of the development of thestreet.com. He also gives a pretty good flavor of the high pressure hedge fund work environment, which trades off any sense of job security or collegiality in the name of making money for the clients (from personal experience!). Winning traders/analysts are compensated with rich rewards, but a cold hand gets you a one-way trip down the elevator to the street. You really are only as good as your last trade because your next trade could wipe out all of your gains. After reading the book, you cant help but admire the guy for his straight-talk, quick intellect, and humorous account of his experiences.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book, despite Cramer
Review: Even if you hate Jim Cramer's brash, obnoxious, maniacal style (as I do) do NOT let that make you pass over this book. I was pleasantly surprised -- Cramer gives sharp insights into the world of hedge funds and into what makes him tick, and a well as a behind-the-scenes look at his web-site, 'thestreet.com'. Cramer was a journalist before he worked on Wall Street, and his writing makes for a good read.Cramer takes us through his life, from his stock-picking days as a teenager, to his years as a newspaper journalist, to his schooling at Harvard, to his first securities job at Goldman Sachs leading up to the early days of the hedge fund he founded. He devotes 3 chapters to a blow-by-blow description of what he was thinking during a few volitile trading days in 1998, which really gives one insight to how fund managers think (despite what you may think of Cramer's personality, he claims to have significantly outperformed the market, which is no small feat). Also, the chapters on 'thestreet.com' were fascinating -- how his web site got started, how he lost management control of it, how he gained it back, and also how its IPO was a disaster. Another interesting aspect of this book is the descriptions of Cramer's lifelong loyalties -- loyalties to his wife (for whom he seemingly has infinite respect both personally & profesionally), to his business partner Marty, to his former employer, Goldman Sachs. Overall, this was a good read. Cramer's book is part hedge-fund expose, part biography, and part dot-com saga. And after reading it, I've learned a bit more about the inner workings of hedge funds. I also admit I have a bit more respect for Cramer's accomplishments -- though I'll still continue to lower the volume whenever he comes on CNBC.
Rating: 
Summary: Crackhouse Cramer
Review: Cramer is being honest when he couches his life in the argot of thestreet. He's the touting speculators who incubate the cynical view that American Capitalism is zero sum. Cramer's the Jerry Springer of your 401K. Read no further than the Preface where Jim applauds himself for giving his father IPO shares to flip. Why should anyone think that an IPO is an opportunity for an ordinary investor to capitalize a great venture when they find out that they have to pay vigorish to play. Cramer is a speculator. He's fascinated by Brownian Movement, and wants you to heat up the pot (and get in it). Jim's neighborhood is too tough for me. I'll stick with Omaha. I'd rather bet ON America.
Rating:
Summary: Confessions of a Creep
Review: Ask him about "laddering" and other things that happend during dot com mania. Sadly the public has no idea.
Rating:
Summary: Like him or not, this is a great book
Review: This is a great story about the nuts, the bolts, and the back-stabbing that occurs on the street. No matter what your opinion is of James Cramer, this is an interesting and entertaining story. It is also very revealing and enlighting. This is a story of a poor man, who turned into a money crazed trader, and back to a human again. If you have followed Jim and his appearances on CNBC, going from an egomanic, to a broken man with a failed business, to a consumer advocate, this book fill in the gaps to the story, while educating the reader onthe way the investing world works. This is a must read for anyone who wants to invest in individual stocks, or is about to turn their money or to a broker or mutual fund manager. This book could have saved people a lot of money. Amoung many things, this book answers the daily volitilaty of the market, like only someone with Jim's expirience can. This book is hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: More Nonsense From James Cramer
Review: Read the book by his former employee to learn about the real James Cramer. The book is called Trading With The Enemy by Nicholas Maier.
Rating:
Summary: Brutally honest self-portrait
Review: Jim Cramer is not a saint. He is impatient, domineering, egotistical, and almost certainly there are other unflattering things you could say about him. Yet he is a true rarity in my mind because he tells you he is all of those things repeatedly in his own autobiography. He does a fantastic job of honestly outlining the major events of his life. He acknowledges the things he has done well but spends far more time detailing his excesses and failings as well as being generous in giving credit for his success to others. What makes this book so interesting is that it is neither a tearful apology nor a chest-thumping self congratulation. Cramer matter of factly details his journey to success as well as the toll it took on his personal life including his utter insensitivity in dealing with his family. The passages dealing with His wife alone are worth the price of the book. The woman is nothing short of amazing both as the "Trading Goddess" that truly lives up to her name as well as the woman who puts up with a workaholic husband that is virtually never around when she needs him. All in all, this is a fascinating book that anyone would do well to read.
Rating:
Summary: good book....interesting take on his life and the market
Review: look, you either love your hate this guy. i happen to really enjoy watching him on cnbc and remember when he got kicked off. it was nice to hear what was going on in the background. there's some really good stories in hear about his life and he certainly is one dedicated character when it comes to what he does. if you like reading cramer's style, you should certainly enjoy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: better than I thought it would be but still not very good
Review: Cramer has the omnipresent visage that everyone either loves or hates. He comes across to me in the media as being a tireless self- promoter, flatulating ego stroker and a perma- bull at heart. My expectations were low before I started to read this book at Barnes and Noble (not worth buying). Those expectations were modestly bested. It turns out that he tells a fascinating story of his life but this book is really not useful to the reader other than being a disposable form of quick entertainment (in the vein of a comic book). Confessions of a Street Addict is a personal account of his rise from a grade school stock picker to the heights he now enjoys as a financial journalism equivalent of Charles Foster Kane. The arrogant self- aggrandizing spirit that he exudes as a pundit are subdued as he recounts the rise and various setbacks. It would hard to write arrogantly about being a homeless reporter straddling a gun, a hatchet, a bottle of Jack Daniels and waiting for a plane to crash at LAX so that he could write a story about it. Cramer's trading style of "gaming" brokers and analysts to provide upgrade and downgrade info before it is released to the general public is definitely in the grey area of what is legal. Cramer paints the picture in this book that this form of semi- insider trading is standard operating procedure on Wall Street and immune from possible prosecution. Wonderful, but he basically admits in one chapter that he used a high powered and well connected law school professor to profit from a trade in a way that could not be construed as anything other than insider trading.
Rating:
Summary: Trading excitement
Review: As a professional trader I found this book to be quite exciting. Cramer is a love him or hate him character, but his ability to tell a good story is evident here. A great read. The thrills of watching his ups and downs were real for me, and the reader is able to empathize with the extremely tense trading situations.
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