The Next Big Investment Boom: Learn the Secrets of Investing from a Master and How to Profit from Commodities - Mark Shipman

Advantages: Humorous,whilst covering the subject matter well.
Disadvantages: Some of the Companies analysed in the first edition are in serious decline.

...of the novice. Considerable effort is devoted in the earlier chapters to illustrating the long-term outperformance of the stockmarket over other forms of investment, with shares shown to have produced an average annual return of more than 12% since l9l9, a period which includes the Great Crash of l929. The stockmarket section analyses a number of “great” British companies (eg. Vodafone, Glaxo Wellcome, Unilever, Rentokil Initial, Marks & Spencer) measuring each against a checklist of criteria – brand, “best in the business”, profit margins, repeat purchases, low debt and past record. Some of these recommendations detract slightly from what is in general a first-rate book since, with the benefit of hindsight, several of the companies designated as “great” can be seen to have faired quite badly since the book was first published. Marks & Spencer... Read review

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Advantages: Clearly states the principles on which the book is based
Disadvantages: Where's the detail?

...use of corporate shells to reduce their tax burden. They also make the most of opportunities and are not afraid to take risks. b) Rich people are financially literate - they appreciate the difference between an asset and a liability (an asset generates money, e.g. property, shares, etc, while a liability costs you money, e.g. your own home, car, etc.). c) Rich people create money - they create rather than make investments and know how to raise money, or work the system to minimise the amount of money they need to commit. d) Rich people try and learn from the best - they don't try to invent the wheel themselves, but try to build on what others have already done. They know a little about a lot rather than specialising to a high degree as you would in a conventional career. They also employ the smartest people to work for them. The book... Read review

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Advantages: An engaging account of human folly
Disadvantages: Reminds us that we are all fallible

...from history,” as Hegel said, albeit in rather more Germanic language. Despite this discouraging axiom, many people do go on trying to learn from history, especially when profit beckons from doing so. I understand that Extraordinary Popular Delusions (EPD for short from here on) is required reading in many investment banks, stockbrokers and similar financial institutions. This is because three of the case studies cited in EPD focus on financial “bubbles” – times when the prices of particular assets were inflated far beyond any conceivable intrinsic value – and their subsequent bursting. Full marks to the financial folk for trying to learn from the experience of their forebears, but apparently reading EPD on the subject of the South Sea Bubble, the Mississippi Scheme and Tulipomania did nothing to avert the Wall Street Bull Market... Read review

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