Rating: 
Summary: Solid grounding for stock investors
Review: It's not hard to see why this book is recommended by Morningstar both as one of the best books on stock investing and generally as an investing classic. Siegel successfully makes the case that the stock market is the major driver of successful portfolios--returning about 7 percent after inflation with remarkable consistency over the last 200 years.But just as striking as his case for stocks as a group is his case against trying to pick individual stocks. The reason Peter Lynch and Warren Buffett are legends is that they are so rare: what they do--consistently picking stocks that substantially outperform the market--is virtually impossible. Luckily, you don't have to be the next Lynch or Buffett to make money in the stock market. A diversified portfolio of low-cost index funds, using dollar-cost averaging and rebalancing, has a good chance of outperforming most professional money managers on a net basis. This is the best book I've seen for those who want to know how we know that stocks outperform other investments over long periods. A good brief presentation of the same principles, with specific suggestions on how to implement them, is Bill Schultheis's book The Coffeehouse Investor.
Rating: 
Summary: The classic guide to long term investing.
Review: James K. Glassman of The Washington Post called Stocks for the Long Run "one of the 10 best investment books of all time" and Forbes called it "a simply great book." Stocks remains the classic, step-by-step guide to building a portfolio of both domestic and foreign stocks that maximizes your return while minimizing your risk. With valuable information, thought provoking research and lucid, entertaining prose, Jeremy Siegel invites all investors to build wealth the historically proven way---in the stock market. Barron's praised Siegel by declaring that Stocks "should command a central place on the desk of any 'amateur investor' or beginning professional."
Rating: 
Summary: This book is an education, not a panacea.
Review: Many reviewers are disapointed that Siegel doesn't tell them how to get rich quick. He's a researcher, not a guru. His goal is to understand the truth about his subject and convey that understanding to his readers, not tell you what you want to hear. Anyone who wants to base their investments on the most scientifically grounded information available today should read this book. Anyone want an excuse to gamble in the name of investing should steer clear.
Rating:
Summary: This book is an education, not a panacea.
Review: Many reviewers are disapointed that Siegel doesn't tell them how to get rich quick. He's a researcher, not a guru. His goal is to understand the truth about his subject and convey that understanding to his readers, not tell you what you want to hear. Anyone who wants to base their investments on the most scientifically grounded information available today should read this book. Anyone want an excuse to gamble in the name of investing should steer clear.
Rating: 
Summary: More trivia that advice
Review: Partly an investment advice book, but more filled with history and trivia about the stock market, plus many of the author's academic studies rewritten as book chapters and thrown in. This book is for you if you want to know what happened to the original 12 companies in the Dow Jones average, or what the author found about the success of using 200-day moving averages as a market indicator. The trivia is interesting, but if you're looking for investment advice, look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Essential for Investing Perspective
Review: Personally I found Stocks for the Long Run to be an essential addition to my library. It systematically covers most of the important long-term trends in the stock market, showing conclusively why long-term investing yields superior performance and lower risk. It also shows the value of patience and brings home the importance of knowing your time horizon before deciding on your mix of investment vehicles. One limitation to such a book is that the knowledge is good, even essential, background information but does not pertain directly to individual stock valuation, only to market indices. But stock picking was not its intent. Siegel achieves his goal of convincingly proving the superior long-term performance and lower risk of investing in stocks, as opposed to other investment vehicles.
Rating:
Summary: Its all true: you can get rich (but it takes a long time!)
Review: Professor Siegel does a great job of advancing the thesis that everyone can "get rich" in the stock market. The caveat: you may have to wait a long time. In other words, over 200 years the US Equity market has always delivered positive returns if you are willing to wait at least 15-20 years (over 1 year periods the results are +66.6 to -38.6%). The book is well written and you do not need a financial background to enjoy it. It makes a great addition to professional's library as well.
Rating:
Summary: Historical Investing Information for Quantitative Thinkers
Review: Psychologically, almost every human being believes that he or she is potentially able to outperform every other human being. This optimism is a useful quality for spurring people on to strive for better results. When it comes to investing, it can lead to harmful results, however. Too much risk can lead to too little reward. This book is the best summary of the historical data on investing. Some of the data go back to 1802. Rather than summarize everything the book shows, let me focus in on a few key points that might slip past you. These are contrary to the conventional wisdom in some cases, and different from what you will hear on television. I suggest you pay careful heed. (1) Diversification and historical data suggest that you should be sure to invest outside of the United States with part of your financial assets. Currently, for many people, this should be up to 25 percent of the total portfolio in international stocks. These stocks should be equally weighted between Europe, Asia, and emerging countries. (2) Written in 1997 for this edition when the Dow was 7400, nothing in the book justifies a Dow of 11,000. If you look at the long-term chart of stock-price multiples, there has been a severe downdraft after the two other times when multiples expanded so much. This suggests caution. (3) Small cap value stocks provided superior returns historically, and those returns were highly concentrated in January of each year. This suggests a potential trading strategy opportunity of owning those stocks in January and shifting into other stocks at the end of January, depending on the 200 day moving average trends. (4) Almost no professional investors keep up with the market averages over 10 years. Although he doesn't express it, individual investors tend to do worse. Why will it be different for you over the next 10 years? Therein lies the case for index funds and the Dow 10 strategy (buy the 10 highest yielding Dow Industrial stocks each January). (5) The main cause of more rapid stock price growth in the last 30 years was the ending of the gold standard. Central banks pump up the money supply after gold is taken away, which expands multiples. Over time, this also drives up inflation, which is brutal on stock-price multiples. Alan Greenspan is very aggressive in building up the money supply, even when he is raising interest rates. All of that money eventually causes prices to rise. This will probably happen in this country as the growth in the baby boom population reaching 45 slows. Companies eventually overcome inflation, but the near-term losses can be large. Witness the fact that many Internet stocks are down over 80 percent in the last year. Whether you agree with these perspectives or not, you should be aware of them. Professor Siegel has done us a service by making the information available. On the other hand, this book needs a third edition to update the data to reflect on the current multiples. If you are not a quantitative thinker, you will not like this book. Just read my comments and think about them. If you are a quantitative thinker, you will get many new and important perspectives from this work which suggests that it's not a random walk after all. Good luck with your investing. Before taking any large risks, be sure you know what the risks are and think through how you will handle them if they turn out to be irresistible forces pushing you in the wrong direction.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Right up there with Edwin Lefevre's classic on the dynamics of "the market". Well-written and a welcome relief to the pseudo-intellectual "mind candy" that makes up much of the popular investment book market.
Rating:
Summary: a compelling case for the stock market
Review: Siegel makes a compelling case that the stock market holds not only higher average returns than alternative forms of investment, but actually lower risk (over the long run)!
The book addresses l-o-n-g - term trends, and always cites relevant studies. It addresses some particular investment strategies, as well, such as "Dow Dogs" and contrarian investment. Overall, an excellent book for those with a technical interest in the subject.
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