Rating: 
Summary: Very Very Basic Stuff
Review: Although he does introduce you to options that is about it. He tells you very little, spends much time discussing Calls Puts with load of examples but never moves beyond that. Nothing on volatility, nothing on different options trading strategies, such as Straddles. Very very basic. Never talks about how a stock could jump 6 points and the option price doesn't change. I don't understand how anyone who has spent anytime at all trading options could rate this book as five stars. I've referred the to the book several times over the past year and have found nothing in it that helped. Unfortunately I can't recommend any good books, If you want to trade options look for free material on the web, there is a lot of good stuff out there. 21st century options education offers an excellent and free options course that simply blows this book out of the water! My own opinion is that unless your very carefull, Options are a great way to lose money fast! Me I'm going to stick with Stocks, at least for the time being.
Rating: 
Summary: Fair but Not the Best
Review: Explaining options from the ground up is hard, and Thomsett gets most of the particulars right... but the book itself is not well designed, making it harder to read than need be. Since no beginning options book is perfect, this one is worth buying. No matter where you start, you'll need to read more than one book.
Getting Started in Options does have some very strong points for beginners... presenting the results of a complex trade in a table format (if the stock goes to $40, you make $X; if it goes to $45, you make $X...) instead of the usual cryptic risk profile graphic is good. On the other hand, there's peculiar misinformation such as the claim that the "striking price" (read strike price) is always divisible by 5. Not true, options come at 7.50, 12.50, 17.50 etc. strikes. And then there are the weird post-split prices. The major points are OK, though.
However, the reviewer below, who complained that she (he?) stopped reading when Thomsett told her that if she bought a put she wanted the stock to fall, which outraged her, was completely off base. She needs to read this book again, or another. Puts have multiple roles, and Thomsett give several uses. Thomsett started with the simplest case, trading puts. You certainly do want the stock to drop when you buy a put in that case. But if you owned the stock or similar stocks before buying the put,that's a different purpose with a different objective. That's a hedge, which is an insurance move, and the reviewer is right... we usually don't want to collect insurance.
But this is the kind of mistake that can happen when reading this book, and it is more the publisher's fault than the author's. It's a case of very poor design and somewhat tatty organization. Wiley is an indifferent publisher... if a manuscript comes in strong, OK, but if the author needs a professional editor, Wiley's not the place to find one. In this book, some key points will sail right by the beginner, others are hard to find. I have the third edition, which even has barely readable light green type.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent in it's simplicity & use of examples
Review: Great starter book. As a new concept is developed, the author provides many examples to help make the concept sink-in.
Rating:
Summary: You can probably find a better introduction to options
Review: I bought this book because I had read a ton of praise about it in various investing forums on the Net. However, after reading it, I must say that I am a bit disappointed. You will certainly learn the basics about options if you read the book. However, I think the book could have been better in some ways. First of all, a better job could have been done in the proofreading process. For example, there are several instances in the book where the author refers to a "call" option when he is really referring to a "put" option. If you know anything about options, you should know that a call option is the opposite of a put option. Those are potentially huge mistakes that the author makes, because if you don't catch them, then you'll end up being seriously confused. Second of all, the examples can be confusing. I thought that the author had left out certain critical pieces of information in several examples. However, after continuing my reading, I realized that those pieces of information actually weren't necessary. It took me a while to figure that out, because I didn't know too much about options at the time. Given that the book is for people who are beginners at options, I think the author should have explained in each example why he left out certain bits of information. Finally, the book goes into various options strategies, but I was disappointed that it didn't talk about the "collar" strategy. This is a very simple strategy that fully protects your investment if it goes south, and it ensures a maximum profit if it goes up (for no additional cost if you play it right). It's a strategy that's easy to understand, so I don't know why the book doesn't mention it. So, this book is okay, but I'm sure you could find better resources on the Net, or a better book on options.
Rating:
Summary: Best book to start learning about options!
Review: I read this book over a year ago and now i'm training to be an options trader in the CBOE pits. It opened a whole new world for me. The options world is enormous and this book is the best intro for someone who wants to learn about options. Prior to reading this book, I had heard that trading options is the way to make a lot of money but I didn't have a clue as to what options were. A friend suggested I read this book and I did. This book will not teach you everything about options nor will it make you an expert on options. What it will do is explain the basics of options and some strategies that are commonly used. And it does this magnificently! Its an easy read and everything is explained very clearly.
Rating:
Summary: Very repetitive
Review: I stopped reading this book when I read: "When you buy a put, your desire is that the underlying stock's value will fall below the striking price; the more it falls, the higher your profit." I was afraid the author would try to convince me that, after I buy insurance for my car, I should hope for my car to be crashed. OK. I understand this book is written for people that do not know much about options (like me). But this does not mean the author has to write things that are not true. I buy puts and I hope the stocks I buy puts on to soar.
Rating:
Summary: Getting Started in Options.
Review: I strongly agree with those reviewers who suggested that this was an excellent introductory book on option trading. Like many, I had no idea what's option and how to make good use of it. I've benefited from this book because it presents concepts clearly by giving examples and charts. However, if you've not new to option trading, this book may be too basic for you. I've begun to apply some of the trading methods introduced and already made some money. However, like the book has reminded me, pick a good stock and use option wisely. Good luck to all of you.
Rating:
Summary: Very good for novices
Review: The book uses simple and easy way to explain the concepts of long/short stock options. Giving a lot of simple examples to let you understand the profit/loss on a simple long/short call/put, time values, intrinsic values, premium. If you are a novice on options, I strongly recommend this book to you as a first book on options. The book do not express much on professional terms like delta, gamma, theta,..... No detail usage of options strategies like straddle, strangle, butterfly spread, condor..... If you are well known on the concept of options, this book is not your choice.
Rating:
Summary: boring read
Review: this book is sooo boring.It reads like a vcr instruction manual.For a REALLY useful book on options,try guy cohen`s "options made easy". You won`t regret it.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Introduction To Options
Review: This is a good first step primer for those that are unfamiliar with options. It really attempts to break down the vocabulary for the lay person to understand the concepts. Where it fails is no fault of its own. With the addition of security futures and single stock futures, many of the strategies of picking market direction and synthetics are not as valuable. In order to get most out of a book like this you need to have a second book ... that explains how futures and options can work in tandem.
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