Rating: 
Summary: Street Smarts
Review: "It truly is a brave new world for investors," writes Dave Kansas at the conclusion of this book. The phrase "brave new world" comes from Shakespeare via Aldous Huxley, who of course used it ironically. It will be the rare investor who can read those words today without a twinge of pain: most of the last two years have been a bad trip for stock owners. Many people with money in the stock market have seen their gains evaporate like snow in Tucson. The more you know about how the market works, presumably, the less you are likely to succumb to the investor's perennial traps - fear and greed - or pay the price for naiveté. TheStreet.com Guide to Smart Investing in the Internet Era has a splendid pedigree, namely the web site TheStreet.com (and its sister site, RealMoney.com), and Kansas has called on a number of its shrewd writers to contribute sections in their own areas of expertise. The book benefits from most of its writers having been "in the trenches," that is, actually having spent years trying to make money on Wall Street. They are not just journalists or academic theorists. The book, like the site that spawned it, has a pleasingly pragmatic quality. It is also easy to read, insofar as a subject with as many complexities as equity investing can be easy. Even the through-the-looking-glass world of options almost seems to make sense in these pages. (But although the discussion includes shorting stocks and buying and selling puts, there is, curiously, no section about selling covered calls - the only form of options trading that is appropriate for many nonprofessional investors. The book's other major gap is that there is nothing about the strategy of indexing, which deserves consideration.) It is evident that care went into this guide. It has been editorially polished, unlike so many quick-and-dirty productions from even supposedly reputable publishers today that appear to have gone directly from the author's word processor to type. Just about all the important topics are covered in enough detail to be useful but not so much as to be esoteric. Also included are two worthwhile features that I have not seen in any other investment guide: a table, based on specific quantitative and qualitative criteria, of the best stock analysts in a variety of sectors; and another table ranking online brokers, based on a reader survey by TheStreet.com. But while TheStreet.com Guide does many things well, and there is nothing particularly wrong with it, I have to confess to being mildly disappointed. The problem is style - or rather, the lack of it - rather than substance. If you are familiar with TheStreet.com or RealMoney.com web sites (which I expect most of those who buy the book will be), you know that James Cramer, the sites' co-founder and frequent contributor, is that rare bird who can write about stocks with color, flair and wit. Many of the sites' other writers have something of the same ability. The web sites flash lightning; they're a gas to read as well as timely and informative. The book goes down smoothly, but it's rather bland. To see what I mean, compare its prose with that of the glossary, which is written by Cramer himself. (Sample Cramer-isms: "Dumb money: Slow money, usually mutual-fund or pension money." "Flip: When you get a hot stock and you blow it out immediately. The brokerages try to discourage flipping, but in this crazy market where only small bits of stock get floated at the beginning, there are a ton of flippers on these pops.") If TheStreet.com Guide to Investing in the Internet Era as a whole had been written with this kind of sass, which appears regularly on the web site, it would have been more memorable. Nevertheless, the book is less work to read than most of its ilk, and will teach you things you don't know or encourage you to think freshly about things you do. For this "brave new world" of online investing, TheStreet.com Guide is worth its weight in armor plating.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow! Wow!! Wow!!!
Review: Do you want a book that will come right out and tell you what stocks to buy for the next year? Then you will need to look elsewhere. Do you want a book that will tell you what things to look for and how to find good investments for the next twelve months and beyond? Then this is the book for you. This will be as valuable to you as an investor the following year as this year. And the next, and the next. SImply put, this book offers in a no nonsense way a step by step basis to selecting winning stocks. I have read more books then I care to recall on investing that were next to useless as they didn't offer a clear strategy to selecting stocks that you could continuously use to make money. If you only read one investing book in your life then this is it!!
Rating:
Summary: Best Book ever for private traders and investors
Review: First, this book is written in plain English and is meaningful to anyone from age 16 high school student to college professor. Second, the book is lucid and comprehensive. Third, it's worth the price. By most standards this reviewer is a successful home office private trader and investor, not a broker or money manger. I'm a much better trader and investor because of TheStreet.com Internet site to which I have subscribed since it started some years ago. During twenty years of private investing I have read hundreds of books and periodicals and examined hundreds of Internet sites promising "personal trading and investing systems" and examined what to buy - the so called hot stocks and funds. Most are nonsense and a waste of money. TheStreet.com Internet site and book are different, they explain how to trade and invest with a combination of fundamentals and contemporary interpretations. As a former analyst in another field, I especially appreciate TheStreet.com's process because it is analytical. This is a book about how to use information, knowledge, analysis, findings, conclusions, and judgment to make sound decisions. That's the only process that works in the real world, good times and bad. In my opinion, TheStreet.com is superior to any university or broker house course on the subject. The explanation pertaining to why and when to sell a stock (or fund) described in this book is alone worth the reader's investment. The book, TheStreet.com, provides an understanding of the fundamentals of how to trade and invest free of brokerage nonsense. Whether investing in an IRA, 401k, 403b, for college, for savings, to supplement income, or to become independently wealthy this book is worth reading. The book includes basic mutual fund and stock investing and options. If you are a student, new, intermediate, or even an expert trader or investor, this book is worth reading. If you teach trading and investing use this book. This book explains why to use the Internet investing tools -- Moringstar.com, TC2000 technical analysis, and the Wall Street Journal. But...to get the full advantage of this book, a successful trader or investor also needs to daily read the full range of columnists at TheStreet.com Internet site. (This reviewer is not affiliated with TheStreet.com in any way except as a paid subscriber.)
Rating:
Summary: Good for the beginner, not sure about more than that
Review: I was looking for something a bit more adept -- this is "investing for dummies" -- which has its place, but the title makes it look like it has some new ideas when, in fact, it's mostly advice you've read on thestreet.com and elsewhere, in one book. Valuable to a novice, a nice but unnecessary compendium for more experienced investors. While this book wasn't what I was looking for, I also think the rips on Cramer and thestreet.com are unwarranted and childish and the reviews based on those criticisms are off the mark.
Rating: 
Summary: Easy Reading, Painless Learning
Review: I've read through the other reviews and people seem very polarized over this book. Either you love it or you hate it, but there doesn't seem to be much of a middle ground. I would like to make an argument for that middle ground. The book is quite readable. Although it conveys some useful information, it is not as dry as many books on investing. Each chapter is actually penned by a different author, but the text flows well from subject to subject. It reads more like a lengthy magazine article than a book. Although the informal and almost conversational tone of the prose makes for light and quick reading, the authors do convey some practical advice. The book is full of references to various websites (and not just their website, street.com) for researching stocks. Although this is extremely useful for the internet-savvy investor, it may tend to date this book. I suspect it will become less useful as it becomes farther away from its publication date. It covers the major aspects of fundamental analysis well, and has a particularly good chapter on when to sell a stock (and its relative tax implications), which is often missing from comparable investment books. Although it touches upon technical analysis and charting, the discussion is very superficial and is better addressed in other references. Overall, it's a useful book and even somewhat fun to read. It is by no means comprehensive and probably not the only investing book you'll ever need. But as an amateur investor with a moderate amount of experience, I found enough to justify the purchase price and even enjoyed reading it too.
Rating:
Summary: Easy Reading, Painless Learning
Review: I've read through the other reviews and people seem very polarized over this book. Either you love it or you hate it, but there doesn't seem to be much of a middle ground. I would like to make an argument for that middle ground. The book is quite readable. Although it conveys some useful information, it is not as dry as many books on investing. Each chapter is actually penned by a different author, but the text flows well from subject to subject. It reads more like a lengthy magazine article than a book. Although the informal and almost conversational tone of the prose makes for light and quick reading, the authors do convey some practical advice. The book is full of references to various websites (and not just their website, street.com) for researching stocks. Although this is extremely useful for the internet-savvy investor, it may tend to date this book. I suspect it will become less useful as it becomes farther away from its publication date. It covers the major aspects of fundamental analysis well, and has a particularly good chapter on when to sell a stock (and its relative tax implications), which is often missing from comparable investment books. Although it touches upon technical analysis and charting, the discussion is very superficial and is better addressed in other references. Overall, it's a useful book and even somewhat fun to read. It is by no means comprehensive and probably not the only investing book you'll ever need. But as an amateur investor with a moderate amount of experience, I found enough to justify the purchase price and even enjoyed reading it too.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful!
Review: If you can make it past the typical James Cramer stock-market cheerleading, The Street.com's guide to investing is well worth a look for novices. Skip over the dated, New Economy hype and get right to the overview of global equity markets, including risk factors, economic indicators and corporate performance measures. Author Dave Kansas does a great job of summarizing these voluminous concepts in a way that's easy to digest and remember. This book reads much better than most of those in the investment field, perhaps because it was written by actual writers, not economic experts fumbling their way through the writing process, or ghostwriters churning out personality-free prose. We from getAbstract highly recommend this book to beginning investors, with a word of warning: The tone of this book is still very much of the optimistic '90s era, and does not seem to reflect the subsequent market retreat.
Rating: 
Summary: Facts on Jim Cramer's ............work+Book
Review: Let's start with facts first 1. JC did a bad investment in TheStreet.Com, a money losing proposal. 2. JC is quitting his job of managing hedge funds, and turn to journalism. My personal investing experiences tell me that, as an investor, when you hear a journalist tell you a story, you laugh at it, as you don't invest in the jokes. Books you probably could learn or should learn from are real classic books by Jesse Livermore(speculation legend), or Richard D Wyckoff(Accumulation and distribution theory, millionaire), or Buffeit(A true billionaire). You don't want to learn investing from people whose major is journalism. JC can't survive in this market, he still talks about it.
Rating:
Summary: Well written, fundamental advice
Review: The information in this book is by no means ground breaking. However, it is a well written book that provides solid all around advice for the new investor. The book touches on many aspects of investing without being biased toward any particular one. It basically gives an overviews of many of the tools available to make investing decisions and leaves it to the reader to choose and learn more. For example, it starts out with an overview of economic factors and then moves into fundamental analysis, charting and buy/sell guidelines. It then touches on options, IPO's and tax issues. Compared to other "newbie" books such as those by the Motley Fool, I think this offers a much more rounded approach. These books (and others) tend to present a biased view of the "correct" way to invest. This book gives a broader view that gives the reader more starting points to continue their learning and ultimately make better investing decisions. One final comment -- there is not a lot of advertising for the thestreet.com in this book. Many chapters are accompanied by lists of websites to help you explore the topic presented in the chapter. Naturally, thestreet.com is often in the list, but all websites are given very fair treatment throughout the book.
Rating:
Summary: Beat 'the street'? not easily, without TheStreet.Com
Review: THe Street.com , and RealMoney.com, provide a resource almost too good to be true- hard to imagine the wealth of expertise that simply materializes, instantaneously and routinely, to hash out issues- and not a homogenized group from the same gene pool- traders, chartists, fundamentalists, skeptics, tech whizzes-- the Editor -in- Chief [DaveKansas] keeps a low profile, so his presence [ and ego ] are seldom on display.. it is clear, though, that someone has gently guided _this_ opus along- it's a quieter, calmer, yet impressively thorough look at stuff that 'we' need. I'm a big fan of the project [thestreet.com/ realmoney.com]: I hope the excellence manifested at the site results in a commercial success; apparently, the book already is well on the way.. after I finish typing this, I'm ordering two more copies, as gifts[and they thought that they were getting CD's.. !!]
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