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Summary: Bogle Is Dead Wrong!
Review: John Bogle is a nice guy, but he is dead wrong about the stock market and about active management of mutual funds. His thesis: All performance regresses to the mean, therefore you cannot beat the market over time. Better to buy the market via index funds, do so at lowest cost, and hold for the long term. That approach guarantees slightly better than average performance. Much better approach: rank order all no-load mutual funds by alpha, and select a diversified portfolio of those at the top according to your asset allocation profile. Monitor alphas over time. Periodically rebalance, but especially replace any mutual fund when its alpha falls below 0 with one that has a positive alpha. You will end up with a dollar balance far above that following Bogel's advice. I am surprised that Don Phillips, head of Morningstar,Inc. does not know this.
Rating: 
Summary: A great book for investors
Review: John Bogle uses a lot of data and rationalism to hit home the point. This is an excellent book for people wanting to start investing in the stock market, especially mutual funds. This book is also a good guide for the people who have been burnt by the markets recently and want to start afresh. John repeats his point again and again in multiple ways to make sure the readers get what he is trying to convey. I have also been a big fan of Vanguard. You might also want to read - "A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel".
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Summary: Beat the dead horse
Review: The central theme of this book is good -- that index funds are likely to deliver better returns than actively managed funds due to their low cost, high diversification, and tax efficiency. However the book just goes on and on and on with this same argument. It beats the dead horse a thousand times over.
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Summary: Not for rookie investors
Review: This is suppose to be an excellent book but if you are looking for an easy read, you are mistaken. I am a rookie investor and he just confused me.
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Summary: Great ideas, but a bit repetitive
Review: Bogle makes compelling arguments about the advantages of index funds and the importance of the costs/loads and tax consequences of mutual funds. I've become a firm believer in these ideas. However, the book is quite repetitive. In chapter after chapter, he gives examples of how much mutual fund loads or taxes cost you over the long run. I ended up skimming much of the content as I went on. He also had a section of the book about how the mutual fund industry in general which I didn't find very interesting.
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Summary: Essential content if you own mutual funds
Review: John C. Bogle founded Vanguard, the premier indexed mutual fund company. If you invest in mutual funds, especially if you invest in managed mutual funds, you must read this book. He reveals his intensely compelling case for passive management of funds (ie indexing) versus active management (ie stock-picking, market-timing, hot-manager style) funds.Most people these days hold the bulk of their investment assets in pension funds, IRAs or 401Ks usually consisting of mutual funds, and this audience will gain significant insight from Bogle's advice. Bogle also campaigns to save the mutual fund trader from herself, relentlessly presenting the mutual fund as a buy-and-hold investment vehicle. Those who have read a few other books on investing may find Bogle's single-mindedness and thoroughness a bit tedious. I found myself skimming for content throughout the book and especially after the first 14 chapters, finding the later material more visionary and less relevant to my investing. A good editor could probably reduce the bulk of the text by a half or two-thirds and retain the central ideas. By the way, you can get much of this material (for example, the chapter on bond funds) from the Vanguard web site under the "Bogle Lectures." All the ideas are there - they're what the company is based on. Save a few bucks - reduce your investing costs - "costs matter" as Bogle will tell you again and again.
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Summary: Excellent Book on Investing - Wish I Read It 15 Years Ago
Review: This was an outstanding book for investors to read. It makes a very strong case based on data for the principles advocated by the author. I wish I had read the book 15 years ago. It also provides some anecdotal insight into the Author's experience in founding the Vanguard Group of Mutual Funds.
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Summary: Index funds are the way to invest wisely
Review: This is the book that you would use to show hard evidence to fund manager friends as to how indexing is the most cost-efficient method of investing in the long run. It has everything you need to right a disertation on the subject of index vs. actively managed funds. It is a good read, but pretty dry at times. I can sum up the major points of this book:
1) Index funds, due to their low costs and tax efficiency, give you greater returns over the long term than similar actively managed funds.
2) Index funds are the way to go when it comes to large- and mid-cap funds. However, actively managed funds are better for small-cap funds.
3) International funds may not be needed since most US companies now have very significant international exposure.
4) Index funds are also the way to go when it comes to bond market exposure.
5) Very few investment companies will tell you about the above four points because it means that they would be admitting their own inefficiencies, their high costs, and their false claim of actively managed funds do better than indexed funds. There, I just saved you the cost of the book.
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Summary: Sensational
Review: How can one ever thank the Mr. Bogle for such a great book? - this has got to be one of the best investments anyone could ever make. Congrats to Mr. Bogle, and extrodinary human being to say the least, and his great Vanguard company. Long live the index fund!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best
Review: Before investing any money in any mutual fund, you should be forced to read this book. This is truly a book that will help anyone who is confused about mutual funds get started by bypassing the hype about what fund is hot for today. The general rule of Wall Street when it comes to the individual investor is that by the time you hear about it, its too late to profit from it. This book pretty much explains why. As for it being repetitive, thats only because those points need to be drilled home. COSTS MATTER, a forgotten point when 100% returns are not abnormal. That time has passed and you should be ready for that. Read this book and forget brokers and their commisions...especially when they can look you in the eye and suggest a bond fund with a 4% sales charge and a 1.5% annual expense ratio. When you expect to make 5% yearly in a bond fund, you then should expect 0 return in yr. 1 and you will be paying 30% of your return back to the fund in each subsequent year, unless they can make that percentage up by taking on more risk and, thus, jeopardizing your investment goals. It truly is absurd. I would also suggest What Wall Street Doesn't Want You to Know, and The Intelligent Asset Allocator for more on the subject.
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