<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Great intro to Wall Street for the college grad.
Review: As a recent graduate, I lacked the historical knowledge needed to excel when dealing with people who have worked in finance since the turn of the twentieth century. If I had not read this book it would have taken me a long time to grasp how our economy evolved through hostile takeovers, the savings & loans scandal, insider trading, and the dot-com boom and bust. Never before had I heard the names Michael Milken and F. Ross Johnson; nor had I understood the power of J.P. Morgan and the influence he and The Street had on the growth of the United States. This is a must read for anyone getting into finance.
Rating:
Summary: see the brilliance of wall street's greats
Review: Editor David Colbert collected a multitude of printed source material - diaries, private letters, memoirs and articles - that spans 400 years, and, as the title promises, provides plenty of accounts from eyewitnesses to Wall Street. Organized chronologically, the book also includes Colbert's timelines and his original introductions for each piece. Divided into sections that reflect every era, the book is an insightful and often hilarious romp through financial history. We [...] recommend this book to all readers - there's something here for everyone, even if you don't think you give a hoot about the stock market. Colbert's collection is a sweeping, unusual look at social, economic, political and cultural history.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent! A must read for any investor
Review: I completed this 369 page "story book" in two days. It had been so interesting that I just could not put it down. It's no exaggeration to regard it as a story book. Somehow the reality is more harsh and crueler than fictitious TV drama and movies, and the history of the investment world is surely no exception. Back to the book. This is in fact an excellent collection of writings from books, journals amd newspapers of different witnesses to the author's selection of major debacles of the past four centuries. There are twelve parts of unequal period, with a timeline of critical incidents in the beginning of each part, followed by selected witness reports as mentioned above. Certainly, not everything could be accounted detailedly (so I would like to recommend "Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation by Edward Chancellor", a book that dug deeper but not as wide) but readers certainly would have a very correct idea of what went wrong. As a CFA charterholder (not yet, passed all three levels of exam but not paid the fees), I strongly recommend AIMR to put this book into the required list of reading to warn its members of the limitation of the financial techniques or theories or calculations or integrity stuff we try to preach. Anyway, a must read for anyone, especially serious players! p.s. One minor drawback: Soros was not there. He should have been.
Rating:
Summary: see the brilliance of wall street's greats
Review: this book gives you a window look into the brilliance of wall streets finest players , as well as the big scammers. this book gave me a better knowledge of how the market works and how the economic cycle is always repeating itself. it gave you a nice history into how wall street was established and how it evolved into the market it is today.
<< 1 >>
| 
