Rating: 
Summary: Very readable and informative.
Review: A book written in a flowing, readable style, well researched and full of information, even for one who has read Soros himself. Indeed too much was dedidicated to Soros' misguided charity but then, Soros himself would rate that as his most important activity.As an observer, I came away with the portrait of a tragic figure. A man who has done what Freud termed "identification with the oppressor". Expelled from Hungary and humiliated there, the first country to received huge sums of his money was Hungary. Other countries with equally rich antisemitic pasts receieved no less. Another way explain this would be as what is termed in Anthropology, following Marcel Mause in the Spirit of the Gift, "inflicting gifts" or giving to humiliate. I kept thinking while reading the book that a man who made most of his money within walking distance from Harlem should look in his own backyard for noble causes first. And talking about his own back yard, isn't it pathetic that he never gave anything to his own people? And yet, the boyish smile of the man is endearing and heart warming and even heart breaking. And again, the writer, a pleasure to read.A minor technical detail: he should have given his manuscript to a native Hungarian speaker to edit the spelling and also to tighten some of the explanations which refer to the lnaguage or the culture or the country. (I am just being pedantic here, I know) Though not new, read it if you have not done so yet.
Rating:
Summary: Textured, with many intriguing details
Review: A textured, intriguing, well-written bio of George Soros that contains many new and interesting details. The book is flattering toward its subject without being sychophantic, as is the flaw of some other bios of this ilk.
It does, however, lack sufficient detail about his investing techniques, for which I have deducted one star. This book is about a person who is fascinating as a man as well as an investor, so the absence of sufficient details on his investing techniques, while regrettable, is understandable in a sense.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Although this book is lacking on investment/trading ideas, I feel that by reading it, invaluable lessons can be learnt that will help one become a better trader/investor. No doubt George Soros is the greatest money manager in the world, but do you think it is his investment ideas and analysis that gives him the edge over others? No! It is his personality, and this book gives you an insight look into the character of this amazing man. If you wanna know how this man can bet billions against the Bank of England and still be able to sleep at night, read this book. Critical elements of George Soros' personality as the world's greatest trader:
1. Believe in your own fallibility. To put it in another words, be humble and always believe that you can be wrong and when that happens, don't hesitate to change your stance. You will be surprised how this man can change his mind with such ease, in all aspects of his life, just so long as there is a reason for it. It is his central philosophy in life to believe in his own fallibility, therefore, he is so self-critical. 2. The ability to compartmentalize. Which means this man has an extremely high EQ. As a trader, it is important not to let your personal affairs affect your trading performance, as mental concentration is of utmost importance. Soros has shown this trait throughout the book where he can immerse himself into his million dollar philantrophic activities just minutes after losing a couple of millions in a trade. Perhaps this man is so rational that he is devoid of emotions? 3. The ability to take risk. A life that is always on the edge and full of uncertainty is not something that everybody can live with, much less excel in it. But hey, this man survived the holocaust through his childhood living on the edge of life and death. What's so big deal about money? Personally, I feel without the experience of his childhood, he will not be what he is today. 4. Competitive intensity. As a trader, you make what you deserve, and when you are wrong, you pay for it. If you are not one who embrace free competition, you can't be a trader. And this man likes competition so much that he will hire expert tennis players to play with him. In terms of money managing, his desire to achieve maximum returns is a crucial factor. And mind you, it is not greed that we are talking about, it is the desire to compete and be challenged. 5. Intuition. Some say George Soros has strong survival instinct. One example is how his back aches serves as a warning about a position in a portfolio. Is it trading intuition at the highest level? An extraordinary man indeed!
Rating:
Summary: Highly worthwhile book about an admirable man
Review: George Soros has based his investing, philanthropic and life career on trying to discern when he is mistaken and act quickly. This book told me so much I didn't know about this heroic figure.
Pursuing his lifelong interest in philosophy, he paid philosphy students to critique his ideas and, when older and richer, held parties to which he invited well-respected philosphers to do the same. How many people are that serious about self-criticism?
I was fascinated that he became friends with Allen Ginsberg and was influenced in his views about the harmfulness of harsh drug laws by Ginsberg's belief that it was a way to continue to fund those who had benefitted from alcohol prohibition after that ended.
With his philanthropic endeavors as with others, he has been willing to change course when they didn't prove fruitful, abandoning futile efforts in South Africa some years ago for example.
His financing of initiatives behind the Iron Curtain may have had more to do with the fall of Communism than Reagan's bluster; he worked covertly to encourage dissidents at a crucial time.
Kaufman is candid about Soros and it only made me respect him the more. Soros's own prose tends to be rather turgid; read this book to understand him better.
Rating: 
Summary: I tried to like this book, but I failed
Review: I knew in the very beginning that it's not a trading book that an investor/trader would immediately relate with the name "George Soros". I had even scanned through chapters before I picked it from the shelf. However, I had been charmed by the eight pages of photos and the very handsome portrait of George on the front cover. The result: I was still very disappointed by the sheer absence of trading content/stories. Disgarding the content, the writing of Kaufman was far behind the standard set by Sylvia Nasar in "A Beautiful Mind".
Rating: 
Summary: a book about his personal life (not financial life)
Review: I was disappointed. Even if you do want a book about Soros' personal life, the presentation was boring. It was doubly boring for me because I was hoping to learn something about his financial history. There is Shamefully little of that in there. Even the 1/3 of the book entitled "Making Money" was not about that. There are enough uncritical biographies written about his personal life. When is someone going to write a critical account of his financial history? That is the interesting part. There is the story. Too much about his philanthropy...this book had an agenda.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good reading and well written
Review: In going over this book, I came across many experiences of my own family going through the same period of WWII. I find the personality of Soros utterly fascinating, and can well understand why in the context of US culture, a man of this type is so little understood. What comes across is that people will only pay attention when there is money involved and when there is a lot of it, all the more. The fact that Soros has actually made substantial contributions to society are appreciated mainly because of the back drop of "money bags", rather than the intrinsic nature of his efforts. Sad to say, but that is what comes across clearly, in this very well written book. The narrative is good, the substance is highly entertaining, I enjoyed every minute of it.
Rating:
Summary: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire
Review: Kaufman (New York Times journalist) chronicles George Soros's life and wide-ranging accomplishments as creative hedge fund manager, destroyer of foreign currencies, innovative philanthropist, and promoter of open societies and democracy. The author traces his youth growing up in Hungary, hiding from the Nazis, taking a degree at the London School of Economics, and working in London at an initial salary of seven pounds a week. Soros departed to America at 26 for a job on Wall Street with a five-year plan to accumulate $500,000. By 1973 he left his lucrative Wall Street position to set up Soros Fund Management and attracted wealthy investors. Every $100,000 invested grew to $353 million by 1998, and the value of his Quantum Fund reached $6 billion. In the 1970s Soros commenced philanthropic activities, strongly influenced by the "open society" ideas of Karl Popper but motivated somewhat by the reduction in estate taxes. Kaufman describes the foundations and Open Society programs Soros established in Eastern Europe, China, Russia, the former Soviet republics, and the US. See also Robert Slater's Soros (CH, May'96). This biography of the remarkable life of an eclectic billionaire is recommended for public, academic, lower-division undergraduate and up, and professional library collections.
Rating:
Summary: A Terrific Book on a Fascinating Individual!
Review: Michael Kaufman has written a terrific biography on a fascinating, complex man. Soros has been revealed to be a man who has carved his own way in the cookie-cutter business world. I was pleased the way Mr. Kaufman wrote how Soros' dreams of becoming a philosopher manifested itself from his childhood. The book is short on investing techniques and how he got rich as a hedge-fund manager. However, it shows a man of surprising depth, integrity, and the ability to survive no matter what he has faced in his life. The book is a must-read for investors and others who want to understand what it takes to follow your dreams.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad...perhaps a bit unbalanced
Review: The book basically divides Soros' life into three phases:
1. Childhood survival against the Nazis in Hungary during WW II
2. Financial successes and philosophical failures
3. Philanthropy What I found puzzling is how much of the text was spent on Soros' philanthropic activities. They deserve a significant portion of the text, but well over half of the text is devoted to this. I would have been interested, for example, in seeing some experts from Soros "Burden", and trying to understand a bit better what issues Soros was trying to describe in his own book, but could not. Having said all this, this was a well researched, well written, well referenced biography. This is not a trading book, and those seeking trading advice should look elsewhere.
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