Financial Risk Taking: An Introduction to the Psychology of Trading and Behavioral Finance

Rating:
Summary: Commodity, stock and options traders need this book
Review: Financial Risk Taking by M. Elvin contains a fascinating blend of practical trading ideas from the trading masters and psychological studies from the academic world. It covers more than the title implies and discusses trading methods, trading as a business, trading standards and trading psychology. Dr. Elvin is himself a trader, clinical psychologist and business person whose illustrations on trading covers his own errors as well as his developing wisdom as a trader. Recommended for traders at any level, from novice to advanced. If you need a first book on trading or a last book on trading, this is it.

Rating:
Summary: Another view
Review: Well, I don't know if "fascinating" is the word I'd choose for this book, though I'm not entirely sure that the word "book" is appropriate to describe it either.

I'm sure Elvin is a very nice person and I applaud him for the journey he undertook to achieve trading competence, assuming that he ever did (achieve trading competence). However, this is not so much a book as a very long -- and I mean VERY long -- research paper. In effect, Elvin provides the glue to hold together not only the views of others but also sometimes lengthy passages from their books. Rather than contribute anything new to the literature, he provides what is called a "review of the literature", and that review is somewhat shallow. For example, the facility with which he assumes the value of certain elements, such as Fibonacci, even though there is no evidence that they have any demonstrable value at all, toots "new trader", giving the book a sort of What I Learned During My Summer Vacation After Being Screwed By A Guru quality.

In a way, it reminds me of those compilations one sees advertised on late-night television: a few minutes of one movement from some symphony, a sampling of an aria from some opera. If this style encourages one to investigate the source material, all to the good. But at $45 ($70 MSRP), it's a bit steep for a sampler.

I suggest, therefore, that dear reader get this book from the library first in order to find out if it's truly what he wants. It may instead provide leads to those books which might actually benefit the reader in the way he had in mind when he sought out the book in the first place.