Rating: 
Summary: Why write another???
Review: I am sorry, but this book should not even have been written. If you are at all interested use your money for his first and classic Market Wizards book. The last two have not really been worth the money or time.
Rating: 
Summary: The proof is in the results, period.
Review: Very few traders/money managers have results even close to the individuals in this book even in the graetest bull market of our time. It would be wise to read this book along with the previous two "Market Wizards" books twenty times each rather than sixty individual books, most of which are wriiten by people who never made a dime in the market. Buy it, read it and you just may learn something.
Rating:
Summary: A Real Disappointment
Review: Jack Schwager continues the downward trend he embarked on with "The New Market Wizards"; lower caliber traders (In general) and mundane, repetitive dialogue. Schwager, it seems, wrote "Stock Market Wizards" to capitalize on the market boom; ironically, it is now coming to an end. In their haste to put out a marketable book the author and his editor make a litany of errors. First and foremost, 4 to 5 years of trading/investing even if it is stellar does not make a world class manager. Very few of the traders detailed have public track records of even 7 to 8 years. Second, allowing the interviewees to edit their responses after seeing the manuscript leads to generic, boilerplate responses, making for dull reading at best. Lastly, on an equally egregious note, the overwhelming majority of managers profiled are not the premier in their respective areas of specialization. Included among the speculators are two Reg D/ Restricted equity managers, roughly speaking. No doubt both are very intelligent and highly capable but still not of the same ilk as Tom Hicks of Sovereign/Dominion or Promethean Investment Group. I should also note that Reg D managers in general rarely have losing months due to marking of assets issues and of course resetting convertibles. Hence the low to nonexistent drawdowns which characterize the return distributions of this style are to be fully expected. However, deteriorating corporate balance sheets will soon change this. D.E. Shaw is not the king of quants as many would have you believe. This honor belongs to Renaissance Technologies. They are considerably better than D.E. Shaw and quite possibly the best hedge fund around with perhaps the exception of SAC. Steve Cohen is the only legendary trader/investor in "Stock Market Wizards" and probably the best in the world right now. He is on equal if not superior footing than anyone in the "Market Wizards" installments. Ignoring long/short managers such as Raj Rajaratnam of Galleon group and Art Samberg/Dan Benton of Pequot/Andor puts the nail in the coffin. I use to respect Jack Schwager as an author, but after the puzzling inclusion of Mark Cook, Mark Minervini and a few others I now realize that Jack is no longer the original and erudite author who penned "Market Wizards". Please do not misunderstand, 80% of the managers profiled do seem to possess exceptional ability; however they are not World Class managers on the same level as a Bruce Kovner, Monroe Trout and so on, they could be in the future but it is still much too early to make that pronouncment now. I would have given "Stock Market Wizards" one star but for Steve Cohen and Mike Masters. Save your money.
Rating:
Summary: Always a recommendation with Jack S.
Review: This is another soon to be classic along with "Market Wizards" and "New Market Wizards". The traders in this book are top notched. It shows how you that others can trade consistently and be profitable. Trading when you understand the rules isn't being in Vegas sitting at the slots. It means being the house at Vegas. It gives me something to shoot for in my own trading.
Rating:
Summary: A traders book
Review: As one of the included "wizards" I suppose my opinion is biased. But know this. It was because of Jack's second book "The New Market Wizards" that I got interested in trading. His newest book is every bit as good. These books are for the trader who wants to get to the next level of success. I was amazed at how much certain traders revealed about how they traded. There's no question that I'll be studying certain subjects that were discussed. All very successful traders have certain things in common and one is they're all very analytical. Jack has an ability to tap into how a person thinks about the markets. I found the book very motivational in that I feel I need to continue to perform at a very high level to justify my inclusion. Readers can see how great traders make decisions and ask themselves if they have the ability to be as decisive and disciplined as the top traders. I read "Stock Market Wizards" from cover to cover and consider all three of Jack's books along with others required reading. I've read his first two at least tree times. If you're a dabbler in the market, don't bother. If you're serious about making trading a living you have to own this work.
Rating:
Summary: Another excellent book by Jack Schwager
Review: I found this book to be an excellent guide in showing what it takes to become a trader. The principles that Schwager lists at the end can be applied to any financial market. A successful trader must have an edge and the confidence to use it. The technique does not matter except that one must have a method to prevent small losses from growing into large losses. Schwager is an amazing writer who can show what makes excellent traders tick.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Some of the traders stories I found boring and a few of them were interesting and useful to me. The most valuable part of the book, however, is not any of the individual traders stories but the "Wizard Lessons" (pgs 293 - 318). This part is actually all the best concepts that Schwager has found from his interviews. These are the concepts that make the most exceptional traders. Just reading this part of the book alone is well worth the cost. I read this part 2 X and will probably read it again in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Its an upward trend book; complete with corrections
Review: Strange that Schwager starts out by not planning enough time for airpot delays, thinking wife ''irrational''; but he does wise up . This review is years later than most but some of this still proves true
Lives its subtitle of interviews with top traders of stocks;
shopped for a good price on new book so Schwager would get another well deserved book royalty.
Especially liked pattern fragments of John Bender, Mark Cook;
and Mike Masters ''write down what you learned'' & interesting average holding [or trading] time he mentioned .
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Some of the traders stories I found boring and a few of them were interesting and useful to me. The most valuable part of the book, however, is not any of the individual traders stories but the "Wizard Lessons" (pgs 293 - 318). This part is actually all the best concepts that Schwager has found from his interviews. These are the concepts that make the most exceptional traders. Just reading this part of the book alone is well worth the cost. I read this part 2 X and will probably read it again in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: Something here to learn
Review: As a neophyte that doesn't have a nickel in the stock market, I read this book with the intent of learning. For that I recommend it highly and believe it is definitely worth the investment of time and money.The downside was that a couple of the interviews were pretty useless for the average person, some of the traders have very complex computer trading systems and some use methods that require millions in capital or extensive understanding of legal aspects and other disqualify (for the average person) criteria. Nobody that is in that league would gain anything from the short interviews here, and the rest of us don't gain much. That being said the rest of the stories were either very encouraging or very helpful or both. Those interviews give a great overview of methodology used by the various traders and at the end of each chapter Schwager gives a recap that I found to be very enlightening. Also at the end of the book he gives a long list he calls "wizard lessons" and these as well are worth the time to go over. The bottom line here is if you are going to put money in the market, this book is certainly one to go over. One important lesson learned by using someone else's mistakes can be a huge windfall. I recently reviewed another good book called "The Honest Thief". The title to that book sounds like an oxymoron, however, this is a perfect example of what an honest thief does: "steal" the knowledge that other traders had to pay real money for. If you bought this book and just read the end of chapter reviews, you'd easily get your money's worth, a strong recommendation for any interested in the stock market.
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