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Rating: 
Summary: I would rate this a "sell"
Review: As a big believer in value investing, I have read most of the books on this subject out there. This was by far the most interesting and helpful I've found. It gives you the collective strategies of 20 top value investors. Kazanjian is an excellent interviewer and writer, who gets the managers to reveal their techniques in a way that's easy to understand. I think this book is also appropriate for new investors who want to learn more about what value investing is all about.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic Investment Insights
Review: I bought this book after hearing the author interviewed on KGO radio. He was very impressive, and so is this book. Lots of excellent investment insights on how to be a better investor from those who know. While the focus is value investing, I found that the information applies well to all types of investing in all markets. It's also a good read for mutual fund investors to learn more about how to pick good managers. It's clear the author really knows what he's talking about.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable even for New Investors
Review: I bought this book after seeing it highly recommended in a few financial publications. Even though I'm pretty new to investing, I found it to be very easy to understand and an enjoyable read. I especially liked learning about how the managers refined their investment techniques and learned from their mistakes over the years. It gave me a good feel for how to pick stocks and funds. Far better than most of the other investment books I have read lately. I also enjoyed the discussions on indexing, since I currently use index funds.
Rating:
Summary: Major disappointment
Review: I'm not sure I found one worthwhile idea in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Insight from Successful Money Managers
Review: This book is a very compelling analysis of 20 highly recognized value investors. The author interviews these investors with similar summary questions. Generally, he tracked their history of how they got into the investment business, how they developed their philosophy, a summary of how they analyze stocks, and any insight they would like to add about their approach. With the questions being similar to each manager, you are able to compare unique journeys by which the investors ended up as value investors. Most of the managers were very similar in their belief that investors have internal philosophies about value investing and you either get it or you don't. But the paths taken by the managers into investing were all different. It was very intriguing that not many grew up wanting to be value investors but rather in many cases just fell into it.As a proponent of value investing I did not find a particular analytical tool that will change my evaluation method. But I did see how different managers could look at the same problem and see different outcomes. In addition, I heavily marked specific passages to refer back. I intend to research some of the investors in further depth and track changes in their portfolios looking for ideas. I'm surprised the book was so poorly received by so many. I learned quite a bit, found the format to be helpful and look forward to following these investors in more depth. I've come to the conclusion that there is no book that answers all the questions novice stock investors may have but rather it is a slow journey where you pick up investing nuggets along the way.
Rating:
Summary: Major disappointment
Review: This is really a one of a kind book. Full of advice from the best value investors in the world. I learned so much about stock analysis and valuation from these gurus. The author does an excellent job of getting them to open up and explain their process in a way that can be understood by all. Truly an excellent piece of work.
Rating:
Summary: awful awful awful
Review: this is the worst investing book i have ever read. this guy managed to get 20 great investors like Marty Whitman to participate. . .and the best he could do was ask every single person the same dumb questions about P/E ratio and book value. what a painful and frustrating read. kazanjian manages to pull nothing insightful, nothing interesting, and nothing even remotely personal out of these interviews. this is an awful book that gives us nothing but 20 case-studies in bad journalism.
Rating:
Summary: Must reading for investors of all types
Review: While I'm an advocate of the value investing approach, this book is essential reading for all investors (even believers in growth). The author has put together a very eclectic group of outstanding investors. He presents them with excellent questions, and gets them to reveal in detail how they choose stocks. While I took several investment courses in college, I found the advice in this book to be more valuable than anything I learned in school. It's the kind of book you'll want to read, underline, and re-read many times throughout your investment life.
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