Rating: 
Summary: Misleading
Review: This was the first book I ever read on trading. After about 8 months and reading a dozen more books, I decided to re-read 'How I trade for a living'. A couple of things stand out. For one Gary says he does not place much value on charts and indicators, yet using these methods, he determines when he will increase his exposure to his mutual fund positions. The second (now being August 2001) he explains that most of his money was made by investing in technology funds with his various chosen fund families, funds that often mirrored the NASDAQ. Looking back at the times when he was most active and making money, so were most people. I mean he was trading at the time of tech hype and crazy stock prices for basically any tech related company. My point is just about anyone could have made money trading at this period in time, you could have thrown a dart at the telco or internet sectors and bought whatever you hit and made money. How many stories have been told of amatuer investors running small capital to vast profits by just playing tech stocks. Things are not the same anymore, and may never be in this relatively flat market, I would like to know how he is fairing now. I think a lot of contradictions come out of his book. The fact that he also trades primarily mutual funds and not individual stocks, options, futures etc, also makes me wonder how much of a trader he really is, Mutual funds are good for the grandma and grandpa investors, with empahasis on investors and not TRADERS. I always get weary of succesful traders who suddenly become authors, it may yet be the best sentiment indicator of tough times ahead in the markets.
Rating: 
Summary: The message and the messenger
Review: When examining books offering professional advise it is necessary to examine the message as well as the messenger. I believe the message, i.e. the contents of the book, is beneficial to rookie traders. It will guide them how to stay away from sharks that manifest this business. The messenger himself is more troubling. Gary claims to have taken his account to more than $650,000 in 15 years (1985 - 1999). This is approximately $45,000 per year. One has to ask - in what other endeavor can one claim to be an expert if you are earning $45,000/yr doing that? In fact this is a business, in which one can make a fortune, to make that amount over 15 years is pathetic. Just think how many other investors can claim to have made $650,000 in the market over the last 15 years - an awful AWFUL lot! Does that make all of them experts in the trading? Very unlikely. If one considers his percentage gain to be excellent then one has to ask - why is that after 15 years of superb trading does he only have $650,000 under management? People who have been successful over the same period can claim to have hundreds of million, if not billions, under management. Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that the gains accrued by Gary are not because of his skill, but rather a testament to THE greatest bull market in the history of US equity market, i.e. it's the system that created his profits.
Rating:
Summary: I hope for Gary's sake he revisited his feelings on shorting
Review: When I read this book a second time, it was because I couldn't believe a title that so many people recommended could really be so devoid of information. Well, believe it, because "How I Trade for a Living" combines almost no useful suggestions with an almost total lack of organization. While there is the occasional rambling bit from Gary that is thought provoking, and rank beginners might find information about how he schedules his day interesting, for the most part this text is a disjointed memoir of someone who made money during one of the easiest stock market eras ever after admittedly losing like crazy during eras when trading required real skills. I think I can summarize the clue level of this text with the following quote from the last page, on the topic of Internet discussion areas: "I also don't have much tolerance for the doom and gloomers who are forever forecasting an imminent stock market crash". This, from a title published in 2000. Think carefully how much you want to follow the advice of someone who was that out of sync with reality when writing his book.
Rating:
Summary: Less than impressed...
Review: Yes, there are some helpful hints in this book. But Gary starts off by explaining how as a chartist for 19 years he was a failure, how all the various indicators and technical analysis techniques failed miserably and only work on history. Then he admits that during those 19 years, most of his trades were entered NOT on the basis of charts and/or any technical analysis at all, but rather on the daily summaries in the WSJ. HARDLY a technical trading approach. I don't see how anyone who traded the way he traded for 19 years has any right to an opinion on technical analysis, charting, and indicators. He did not use them, or did not know how to use them. The guy had no trading discipline, plan or approach, so all he should be able to conclude is - technical analysis doesn't work if you don't use it. It's like hoping to win the lottery without buying a ticket. TA works if YOU work at it. Other than that, the book is okay. There are much better books out there, though.
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