Rating: 
Summary: Interesting but few tangible tips (other than don't short)..
Review: An intriguing book about an interesting guy for those readers who like business biographies and philosophical meanderings. Unfortunately, few practical investing insights are shared other than the one above (which I agree with!) To his ethical credit, Niederhoffer puts the reader on notice in the first few pages that no great investing secrets will be disclosed as this would cost him (and the reader) the advantage. However, judging from the way Niederhoffer lost his clients' money (heavily margined bet long on the S&P500 futures just before the Asian meltdown with no offsetting put hedge) [oy vey!], I am pleased he did not share his "secrets".
Rating: 
Summary: Read this immediately
Review: Quick: do you want to know whether you are really a professional speculator? Read this book. Then read it again. If you rate it five stars, you are a pro. If you rate it less, then you are an amateur. I have read this book many times, so much so that i seem to have memorised it. Yes, you don't get any "get-rich-quick" tips, but nor will you find any genuine ones out there in any other book either! This book is a priceless gem, full of ideas and insights into what trading is really about. NOT baloney on this or that B.S. trading system. Niederhoffer gives us the whole story. My only gripe is that it is long-winded in parts. Other than that, this book is one of the best on speculation. Buy it today. It will save you at least $3,000 on phoney books, systems and the like any may save you a lot more by providing salvation from the professional speculators all to eager to prey on your naive capital.
Rating: 
Summary: CANNOT REALLY HELP MY TRADING
Review: I haven't really found anything here that have been of use to me. But maybe its not my fault because the author makes it clear when he writes: "I DON'T INTEND TO UNLOAD ANY OF MY SECRET MONEY-MAKING SYSTEMS HERE....MAN CANNOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT IT HELPS IF OTHERS DON'T BAKE IT USING YOUR RECIPE...."Also there is a chapter in this book titled: "SEX" with information that I don't think should be put in an investment book!
Rating:
Summary: The Education of a Speculator
Review: A cynical guy gets the last laugh on us all - after all, we bought the book! Writing this autobiography helped Victor satisfy his personal, emotional needs but not many of this reader's needs for investing insight.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant! (or how the easy money crowd is gonna hate this!)
Review: As with most investment books - everyone is looking for the quick advice; buy when....sell when.....and of course, here's my golden rules of trading.....you get the picture (of course, those who hated this book didn't!) Has anyone seen an original trading book recently? Day trading book? Don't they all look the same? The same mindless technical analysis? (not to say technical analysis is mindless - just most technicians are!) Victor has written an original book - but just like trading, you GOTTA WANT IT! You've got to read this book 4-5 times. It's not going to tell you any secret strategy, and Niedorhoffer tells you this right up front! Just like the markets - few are going to like this book (those who succeed in speculation, and most won't (those who fail in speculation) This book will make you think - think about your OWN approach to investing, trading, and speculation. It will force you to not follow the "how to" guru approach. But you really got to "want" this book!
Rating:
Summary: The education of a speculator
Review: The education of a speculator Niederhoffer, Victo
Rating:
Summary: A winner that has stood the test of time.
Review: It is a story of the markets, of love lost, life, suvival, winning, losing, living and dying, games and gamemanship,and the contunual flux between forces of equilibrium and disequilibrium. Applied game theory. I turn to this book over and over again. One of the rare chances to look into the mind of a first rate thinker and individualist.
Rating: 
Summary: The Black Box
Review: In finance, "The Black Box" describes a hidden and usually quantitative process an investor might employ to select securities or markets. The author clearly employs such a box in his work though it seems completely subjective. The problem is, he does not see fit to explain the inputs; the book reads like a mystery novel without a resolution. In his defense, he does say, at the outset, that he is not going to teach you his methods. Yet you expect more. The book is a long (very long) recounting of his own personal history (including odd digressions on Coney Island, and his father, whom he worships through a nine-year old's eyes) as well as his interests--how these things created the savant. As Flaubert might say, it's the stuff of his "Sentimental Education." But investing is not strictly literary. Imagine a Brain Surgeon explaining his techniques by alluding to his liberal arts term papers and you'll grasp the essential frustation with the book. For example, the author equates trading with the performance and appreciation of symphonic music. Indeed, he says he hires musicians to move millions in options money. Why? He doesn't elaborate; only that they are better. Horse Racing is another analogy he mentions. But what are the statistical underpinnings? How does a Racing Form connect to the Wall Street Journal? One more: He claims that only old literature can train your senses for the markets. This strikes me as absolute hogwash, a philistine bowing to Aristotle to gain class. In all, it's as though he is trying to intellectualize his profession, as if just making money is vulgar; he's staking a claim for traders in the pantheon of artists. Of course, many of his points are good ones, but there are not enough of them (a few equations would have helped). Indeed, the book comes off as an exercise in self-congratulation. And God knows what debt he owes George Soros, venerated here with religous adoration. Strange, indeed. (OK, I admit I bought a Soros book after reading this one. He at least ties his ideas to the markets.) Next time, Victor, tell us your secrets. The good ones.
Rating: 
Summary: Amusing and educational though too pessimistic
Review: Victor Niederhoffer was an elite trader, equal or better than anyone mentioned in "Market Wizards" and "The New Market Wizards" with perhaps only a few exceptions. Mr. Niederhoffer is a consumate statistician; hence his trading philosphy is heavily biased towards various types of short term statistical relationships. However, I am guessing that he mainly relied on his discretion despite his mathematical proclivities. Victor paints a very doom and gloom picture for would be traders. It seems that he is projecting his failure onto us, the readers. I was also a bit irritated at his constant references to George Soros, whom we all know is the world's second best speculator. I do not know what compelled Mr.Niederhoffer to completely disregard a sound risk or money managment strategy on that fatefull day. Though I can say this, most people who take cheap shots at him really should not, they most likely do not even have an iota of Victor's intelligence. Many great speculators have blown out and come back with a vengence. Look at Richard Dennis. If Victor Niederhoffer were to make a comeback, I am certain he would have no problems raising the neccesary capital and in no time, reassert his dominance.
Rating:
Summary: Makes me more appreciative of Symphony Orchestra now !
Review: For those who have rated it 2 stars and below maybe they should rethink why they even bother to pick up the book. I guess you guys must be those that go for the "Simple" quick fixes.Unfortunately the richness of this book is outside your class. It reminds me of a proverb its better to teach someone how to fish then to hand them one, for which they will never learn. This book is like this. It offers lots of experiences and especially insights to how the "big" traders think and how the market ticks and move by Soros and the like, which ordinarily people will never know. On a personal note, now when I hear a piece of symphony being played, I am inspired to imagine the tempo and rhythm of the symphony as if the ebb and flow of the stock market.
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