My Life in Red and White

 

Arsene Wenger... a man who changed my life 25 years ago...

I was originally a Magpie fan... Arsenal football came into my life in 1996 when the flying Dutchman, Dennis Bergkamp arrived in North London from Inter Milan. This was then followed by the arrival of Le Boss. I was diverted to North London football since then. The beauty of non-restricted "Wengerball" really caught my attention those days and Arsene Wenger was my hero for almost 20 years...

As such, this book meant so much to me despite the legacy of Arsene Wenger almost tarnish at the end of his Arsenal era. This autobiography is a full story of Le Boss from his childhood all the way to the present situation. After this book is published, the media seems to focus on why Jose Mourinho was not mentioned in the book. To me, it is not only The Special One. The others like Sir Alex Ferguson (at least a bit), the late Gerard Houllier, Big Sam and many others was not featured in this book too. This may sound like a little flaw to readers. However, come to think about that, I think this biography is quite special compared to the others. At least Mr. Wenger focused on himself, and it makes this biography so unique and not so "gossiping" like others.  

For a full rating of 10, I am going to rate it at 10/10. Yes, I admit that I am so much bias to this Arsenal legend as he is the one who made me fall in love in football for over 20 years. Secondly, although the gossip content is below par, at least I can concentrate on the man I admire so much. Finally, there are some quotes from the book as below which enlighten my mind after reading this book:

A coach tends to over-estimate the effectiveness of his communication. So, there are some rules that need to be taken into account: 

1. On average two thirds of people would do more if their qualities were better recognized. 

2. Less than 30% of people apply the recommendations they've been given owing to a lack of confidence, a lack of respect for the coach or a lack of clarity or of practical recommendations. It's important to be clear in one's recommendations in order to boost confidence and improve performance. 

3. When expressing a negative point, one should put forward three positive points when speaking to somebody who needs to develop.

4. One should not aim for multiple objectives: just one or two are enough.

5. Never forget that time and place are very important.

The coach should promote collective expression by creating the conditions to allow the team to take risks, and encourage them to do so. And when faced defeat, he should stay firm, believe in his convictions, above all not blame the players. When he is preparing for a match, the coach's challenge is to succeed in destroying the opponent's strong points without preventing his own team from expressing themselves. If you exaggerate the opposition's qualities, you increase your players' fear and the risk they will hide away. At Monaco, our strength, was that they did not hide: they weren't afraid of anybody.

Putting the bias and favoritism aside, actually I learn more from the other legend (which I hate him so much those days, LOL). Relatively, I think the book "Leading" is much better. However, due to my utmost love to Arsenal, this book brings a lot of sweet memories to me, and I am so nostalgic while reading this book. As a conclusion, thank you so much to Le Boss for bringing us every hard-fought matches, awesome players throughout his time at Arsenal and ultimately, the memories on Arsenal journey which Mikel Arteta is building on it. As mentioned by current gaffer ~~~ "Trust the Process" and all the best to the club I love so much! 

The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution

Wow... what a book! Jim Simons... an idol for every trader. So far, I think this is the only book in the market about the mighty Quant. I read a Chinese version book about Jim Simons before. However, I remain suspicious on the contents of the book. Hence, when this book was introduced by Michael Covel, I have no hesitation to buy it.

Finally, we have a book that tells the whole story about Jim Simons. Well, I believe this book presented the real Jim Simons compares to those rumors and articles being circulated on the internet. The author did well in presented the whole chronology on how Jim Simons and co started till the latest. Along the way, there are newcomers as well as those who gave up. Hence, we can see how this quant revolution being made. Amazingly, it was an exciting but real tough journey.

You do not have to equipped yourself with great mathematical skill to read this book. The author did so well by presenting simple ideas that every reader shall be able to understand. After all, even if those coding was revealed, we might not understand at all. Basically, finance experts may not understand coding. Same thing applies to coder who may never understand the games of finance. So, again, what Jim Simons achieved, by combining both is really a remarkable stuff.

I believe some readers may be disappointed with this book. After all, this book does not reveal the real secret behind the success of Renaissance. However, like I mentioned above, unless you are a coder, otherwise, there is no point to show you the code. To me, this book is good enough. In fact, I rate it as excellent, 10/10! First of all, it is so hard to get the information on the mighty Jim Simons. Secondly, I am eager to know the history on how Renaissance being established. So, this book revealed what I want. This book is definately well worth reading. It is well written and surely a must read for those who works in financial market like me.

Last but not least... as listed below, I pick out certain points from the book which I found interesting. Thumbs up to the author in writing this book.

Simon quoted: "God gave me a tail to keep off the flies. But I rather have no tail and no flies. That's kind of the way I feel about publicity."

"The lesson was: Do what you like in life, not what you feel you 'should' do," Simon says. "It's something I never forgot."

Lenny Baum developed a saying that became the group's credo: "Bad ideas is good, good idea is terrific, no ideas is terrible."

Markov chains, which are sequences of events in which the probability of what happens next depends only on the current state, not past events.

In a Markov chain, it is impossible to predict future steps with certainty, yet one can observe the chain to make educated guesses about possible outcomes. Baseball can be seen as a Markov game.

A hidden Markov process is one in which the chain of events is governed by unknown, underlying parameters or variables.

"I don't want to have to worry about the market every minute. I want models that will make money while I sleep," Simons said. "A pure system without human interfering."

Stochastic equations, the broader family of equations to which Markov chains belong. Stochastic equations model dynamic processes that evolve over time and can involve a high level of uncertainty.

I strongly believe, for all babies and a significant number of grownups, curiosity is a bigger motivation than money. ~~~ Elwyn Berlekamp

Berlekamp argued that buying and selling infrequently magnifies the consequences of each move. Mess up a couple times, and your portfolio could be doomed. Make a lot of trades, and each individual move is less important, reducing portfolio's overall risk.

Berlekamp and others developed a thesis that locals, or floor traders who buy or sell, like to go home at the end of trading week holding few or no future contracts. Similarly, brokers on the floors of commodity exchanges seemed to trim future positions ahead of the economic reports. Medallion's system would buy when these brokers sold, and sell the investments back to them as they became more comfortable with the risk.

Certain trading bands from Friday morning's action had the uncanny ability to predict bands later that same afternoon, nearer to the close of trading. If market moved higher late in the day, it often paid to buy futures contracts just before the close of trading and dump them at the market's opening the next day.

"I don't know why planets orbit the sun," Simons told a colleague suggesting one needn't spend too much time figuring out why the market's patterns existed. "That doesn't mean I can't predict them."

Simons, too, became nervous when his fund went through rocky times. On the whole, though, Simons maintained faith in his trading models, recalling how difficult it had been for him to invest using his instincts. He made commitment to refrain from overriding the model, hoping to ensure that neither Medallion's returns, nor the emotions of his employees at Renaissance, influenced the fund's moves.

It continued to identify enough winning trades to make serious money, usually by wagering on reversions after stocks got out of whack. Over the years, Renaissance would add twists to this bedrock strategy, but, those would just be second order complements to the firm's core reversion to the mean predictive signals. 

Never place too much trust in trading models. Yes, the firm's system seemed to work, but all formulas are fallible. This conclusion reinforced the fund's approach to managing risk. If a strategy wasn't working, or when market volatility surged, Renaissance's system tended to automatically reduce positions and risk. 

Simons often emphasized the importance of not overriding their trading system. But, in market crisis, he tended to pull back on the reliance on certain signals, to the chagrin of researchers who didn't believe in ever adjusting their computer programs. 

Medallion made between 150,000 and 300,000 trades a day, but much of that activity entailed buying or selling in small chunks to avoid impacting the market prices, rather than profiting by stepping in front of other investors. What Simons and his team were doing wasn't quite investing, but they also weren't flash boys. 

Medallion still held thousands of lonf and short positions at any time, and its holding period ranged from one or two days to one or two weeks. The fund did even faster trades, described by some as high frequency, but many of those were for hedging purposes or to gradually build its positions. "I am not sure we're the best at all aspects of trading, but we're the best at estimating the cost of a trade, " Simons said. 

Medallion still did bond, commodity and currencies trades, and it made money from trending and reversion-predicting signals. The gain on each trade were never huge, and the fund only got it right a bit more than half the time, but that was more than enough. 

How the firm wagered was at least as important as what it wagered on. If they found a profitable signal, the wouldn't buy when the clock struck nine, potentially signalling to others that a move happened each day at that time. Instead, it spread its buying out throughout the hour in unpredictable ways, to preserve its trading signals. 

Instead of the hit-and-miss strategy of trying to find signals using creativity and thought, now you can just throw a class of formulas at machine learning engine and test our millions of different possibilities.

从战争中走来（张爱萍人生记录）

我对这类书籍一直是感兴趣的。但是，这20年来，这类书籍我也读得太多了。因此，想购买时，其实也犹豫了一下。最后，还是忍痛买下了它。毕竟，漏掉知识的代价也太大了。

结果是。。。这类书籍真的不再吸引我了！作者很用心的阐述他和父亲两代人一起探讨战争以及整个人生的心路历程。整个旅程有快乐，有忧愁。人生的酸甜苦辣视乎都有。但是，对于读了一辈子中国现代史的我来说，感触真的不多了。。。毕竟，我也进入了不惑之年。感动的事不多，倒是一直活在自己的回忆里。如果是自己的回忆都来不及回去，怎能深入回去别人的回忆呢？

10分满分，基于个人原因，本人给予4分。这本书如果是十年前阅读，或许我会感动到落泪。但，在不惑之年以及岁月的摧残下。。。很多酸甜苦辣都不再那么容易触及心底。 书里倒是有句话我影响挺深刻的。据说，毛泽东曾经跟作者的父亲提及：“信心过高，容易犯左的错误，信心不足，容易犯右的错误。” 如果换来现今社会，左当成逻辑思考，右当作创意思考；毛主席的这句话还是挺有意思的。对于不了解中国现代史的读者，这本书还是值得推荐的。至少，两代军人父子的对话没一般历史书籍般沉闷。而且，里头的故事，我相信也真实的反映了当年的零零种种。

Street Smarts: Adventures on the Road and in the Markets

While arranging my old books, i found this book. Damn, I forgot that I bought this book and I never read it before, hahaha...

This book is interesting. First of all, Jim Rogers's books are always interesting due to his very indifferent life and exciting way of leading his life. Secondly, this book is interesting as the author pointed out a lot of future progress in the world. As I am reading it late (after few years, oh my god!), some predictions by Jim Rogers either becomes reality or becomes irrelevant at the moment. Thirdly, this book is interesting to me as the whole book is not bored at all. After all, every human beings dream to have life like Jim Rogers. Hence, since we cannot make it, why not envy him? Haha... Finally, we got a book that travels all around the world. There is a Chinese idiom that says: A book holds a house of gold (书中自有黄金屋). Well, this book certainly meets that.

I read every book by Jim Rogers. Surprisingly, this book rates as one of my favorites. Perhaps, I am in the age of getting old. As such, I am no more the guy who is searching high and low for investment holy grain. I appreciate more on Jim Rogers's life journey. From there, I found the wisdom I want and I hope it will help to shape my entire life.

The small flaw in this book perhaps lies with the facts that there are some repetitions from his past book. Hence, a new reader may find this book perfect. But, old timers who had follows Jim Rogers for the past few years might get bored with the repetitions.

This book offered a lot of wisdom and interesting insights. To me, this is a book of Jim Rogers's life journey. The title itself tells the whole story. It is not only about how to be street smarts in the market. It is also about how to be street smarts as human beings. I highly recommend this book despite the small flaw as mentioned above. For a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 8.

Last but not least... we just could not ignore the street smarts quotes from the book. Here we are:

Do not worry about failure. Do not worry about making mistakes in life. It is good to lose money, to go broke at least once, and preferably twice. But if you are going to do it, do it early in your career.

You can diversify, and you will be safe, but you are not going to be rich. Stay with what you know, do not jump around.

There are plenty of ways to make money on Wall Street, and just as in any endeavor, whether it is a music, art, or finance, you have to find your own way. 

The fact is that these politicians and bureaucrats, including the secretary of the Treasury, know little about currencies. They speak out of both sides of their mouths, often at the same time, and will say whatever is most politically expedient at the moment.

Plato, in The Republic, says that the way societies evolve is by going from dictatorship to oligarchy to democracy to chaos and back to dictatorship. The Asian way seems to suggest that Plato knew whereof he spoke.

The Chinese are among the best capitalists in the world. California is more communist than China. Massachusetts is more socialist than China. People would rather do business in China than just about anywhere else in the world, including South Korea, including Europe and certainly including United States.

All the growth rate figures are unreliable. It is stupefying to me that India could claim to have a clue what is going on even in India, much less in China or in the United States. America is always revising its numbers, and most of them are made up. I have learned over the years not to pay attention to them. They are mainly exercises in public relations.

Robert Kuok: A Memoir

Robert Kuok... a well-known Malaysia tycoon with business interests around the world. I read few books about the mighty tycoon. However, there are so far zero good books on him. So, when this book was published, I was so excited with it. Unfortunately, this book lies on my shelf for quite some time. I wanted to read it so much. But, I need to find the right time as I do not want my reading journey disturbed by the routine responsibility. Since I am kind of free recently... this is the right time to start it.

This book cost RM 139.90! It might sound expensive to some. But, let me tell you this: if you own this book, you are sitting on a gold mine. The memoir traces Sugar King's life from depression, world war two, Malaysia establishment up to the rise of mighty China. Overall, this is not only a story of the tycoon. It is a mixture of business, politics and opportunities. Readers will find it inspiring, motivating and interesting. After all, this is the only book penned by Robert himself. Hence, relatively; compares to other Robert Kuok's book, this book is definately number one choice for readers.

This book offered a lot of wisdom and perspective in life which was inherited by Robert's late mum. Surprisingly, Robert's mum was not born with silver spoon. In fact, she was rise up in the turmoil of real mess in china and colonial Tanah Melayu. However, the book clearly showed that this woman was born with natural intelligence. Robert mentioned umpteen times that whenever he got a problem, the mother's advice was always his best options.

This book also touched on with political situation after Malaysia was established. With the recent reformation on Malaysia, Robert's vision was spot on those days. Imagine if Tun Hussein Onn had listened to Robert. Malaysia might be one of the mighty giant countries alongside Singapore and Korea now. Well, there is no "if" in history. Main point is... Robert obviously is the man with great vision!

For a full rating of 10, I have no hesitation to rate this book at 10/10! There is a lot of great stuff to explore in this book. Everyone needs to read this book. It is a must read book since it brings along tons of wisdom in business, relationship and life. Last but not least, listed below are some of the great stuff from the book. I tried hard to choose the best part. But, it ended up with a long list. So, that sums up everything about this book. Excellent is the only word to describe it. Thumbs up!!!

Man must work; work is therapeutic, it binds your mind and body together. When you work, you wake up earlier than everybody, you go to bed earlier than everybody because you need to charge your batteries.

Bankers live by simple creed: Lend money to those who do not need to borrow. When you are penniless, your bank will desert you as if you're a leper... "Bankers are not my friends. Among my friends, some happen to be bankers."...Now, if that doesn't drive you forward in life to make as much money as possible so you can thumb your nose at those bankers, then what will?

I have always felt that wisdom is in the air. Structured learning is fine. But you can pick, you can distil, wisdom by yourself.

Now, there is only so much time in any given day. When you're awake, you must focus on what you really want in life. Many young men go in for the loviest sports cars and other material things. I saw very early on that these symbols of luxury and pleasure are not the real things in life, and they tend to distract you from focusing on what is important.

All my life, I have sought partners, because I know that there must always be teamwork in a society. It we cut each other's throats, the fourth or fifth dog gets the bone.

The experience drove home to me the importance of speed and trust. You must be super quick in driving towards your goal, since you are not working in isolation and competitors will come at your from all angles. You must also develop resilience, and be able to bounce back after the inevitable reverses.

Having made friends with all the major sugar brokers in the city, I was winning, dining and spending money like water on them. It was good public relations as only a Chinese knows how, practicing thrift on yourself, but generosity toward your friends.

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the oceans were teeming with fish. While volatility has not changed that much since then, there are many more sharks now. Sometimes, it seems like there are no fish in the sea - only sharks. Honours graduates in science and engineering are being recruited. PhDs are hard at working algorithms, and I don't even know what that means. If today's technology and speed of information had existed in the 1960s and 1970s, I would have been like a fish out of water.

One thing I learned from the Japanese is that you should focus on products which there are large, established markets and for which demand is uniform and sustainable.

I was eager to diversify from commodity trading. Why? Commodity trading is inherently risky. The only way you can trade commodities and make a fortune is to take substantial risks. There is no joy in getting too big in commodities trading. If you reach too high, you are in danger of going burst.

If you own just one hotel you might as well sell it at the right time - it's more of a burden than anything else. You must expand logically and sensibly.

I could make the same statement about the need for simplicity in doing business in general. Within a complex business you don't have to make it more complex. There are simple ways of tackling problems and operating the business.

All business on earth is management. In the hotel world - in any business world - you must look for three ingredients when you hire staff: talent, integrity and the stamina for hard work.

I sometimes employ this tactic when I'm in doubt about a project: I chat with a man cleverer than myself and offer him a joint venture deal. If he says, "Oh my God, it's an awful thing," then you know it's poison, and you are able to see the deal clearly through other people's eyes.

Another businessman's reaction might have been to sue the guy. I say: In life, when you can get out, get out. Life is not reasonable. You mustn't face life thinking everybody is going to be reasonable. You must look at life and assume everybody is going to be unreasonable.

I have not come across any people as loyal as the Chinese. The Japanese have a kind of loyalty, but it's an uncritical, bushido type of loyalty: they are loyal even if the boss is a skunk. Unlike the Japanese, every Chinese is highly judgmental, from the most educated to the uneducated.

The decent Chinese have helped to build up Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, and made these countries what they are today. But you also had the rise of the unscrupulous and ruthless Chinese, who in turn have devastated many parts of Southeast Asia. Why were these people allowed to wreck havoc? It is because the leaderships have been weak. Singapore had the same number of Chinese crooks, but you try and find one today.

Man must always remain humble because no matter how strong you are today, one day there will be someone stronger than you. Even if you have a lot of material wealth, please remember that you cannot live in isolation; you are always just a member of society.

Many people think that shyness is a great virtue. Well, if you want to join the business world, leave that outside your door. You have to be thick-skinned, able to take knocks. You will be insulted; you will have people slam doors in your face. But there is always another door, another road, and a way to forge on.

Before you enter business, you should vow that in whatever you do, you will be guided by the laws of morality. This will ensure long term survival. Adopt good, clean and honorable means of doing business, avoid dirty, tricky and unscrupulous methods.

The golden rule for good health is to lead a simple life, physically and mentally. 

医院，我的乌托邦

我很好奇这本书一直徘徊在大众书局的书架上。基于近期也没什么新书看，于是就买了这本书籍来读一读。老实说，这类书肯定不是我的那杯茶。但是，试一试无妨。。。

结果还真的出乎我意料之外。这本书我只花了三天时间就解决掉了。理由不是因为这本书太薄；也不是这本书太没趣。主要是这本书太好看了！作者是一个很感性的医生。因此，作者的生活基本上都徘徊在理智和感性的灰色地带。里头所记录的每一则小故事都是发生在你我身边的点点滴滴。你和我肯定都遇过这类矛盾的抉择。作者虽是医生，肯定也和你我一样过着凡人的一切酸甜苦辣。因此，这本书读着读着，感触真的良多！

很佩服作者身为医生，却也不介意的把医生袍下真实凡人的一面呈现在读者面前。这是一个很不虚伪的医生。作者没有高高在上的医生光环。有的更多是你我都努力在进行的凡人工作。我个人家族里的几个医生应该更有同感。这本书很值得推荐。有时做人真的要秉持开放态度以及不断接受新事物。从来没想过我会喜欢的这杯茶原来转个身还是可以细细品尝。10分满分，我还真的找不到瑕疵。谢谢作者让我度过这三天感性的阅读旅程。在此，与家族里的医生们和饱受疾病的家族成员们分享这本书籍。与你们共勉之。。。

凯希八十无畏无悔

我对陈凯希一直有种莫名的崇拜。理由是，政商勾结一直不是我很赞同的。我倾向于政治的搞政治，工商的搞好工商。但，如陈凯希般又工商又有政治抱负的的确稀有。虽说陈凯希是前半生搞政治，后半生创业，但两者始终很难混为一谈。但是，陈凯希在这方面真的很成功。

如同书里描述的，陈凯希是因为出狱后别无选择而选择了从商。但是，试问几个政治人物能够把政治理念运用在商界呢？再来，这个商人堪称完全不了解甚至不知道公司里的任何数字。往往，捐了钱，还得自掏腰包!试问，这样的生意人怎能把生意做大呢?但，事实是，这位不像商人的商人却把海鸥王国建立起来了。佩服！！！

这本自传的前半段挺闷的。我把它纳入自传因为书的封面很明显的是一本关于陈凯希的故事。但是，前半段一直纠缠在海鸥的事迹。或许，作者和出版社还沉溺在【新兴】这本自传里。因此，前半段完严格来说简直是海鸥的自传。

前半段我读的沉闷。后半段反而给了我很大的惊喜。我要的陈凯希自传终于在后半段呈现了。后半段关于陈凯希太太的事迹还真的启发了我不少。一个连公司数字都不清不楚的人之所以能够建立一个庞大的商业王国主要是后面有个懂得管理数字的伟大太太。同样的原理，一个懂得管理数字的男人往往因为后面的女人不善于管理数字游戏而垮台。时代也必须接受一个事实。女人管理数字其实真的比男人更能胜任。

10分满分，本人基于前半段太过“海鸥”，而打了个6分。这本书整体来说还是不错的。只不过，作者如果能够深入的探讨陈凯希商业以外的一面或许会加分很多。

Pep Guardiola: The Evolution

I bought this book last year. However, the year of 2017 was too hectic at times and I just could not find the right time with the right mood to open up this book. Now, I am ready for it. The best part is... at the moment, Pep Gaurdiola is flying high with Citeh in the Premier League. So, the moment to touch this book seems right.

On the cons side, this book is a bit boring at times. First of all, it is not a genuine biography. The book focuses more on the tactics side of Guardiola. Overall, readers will be disappointed with lacks of details on Guardiola's life. The worst part... although the cover of the book is blue, the book itself only mentioned about the "blue" side in the last chapter. 95% of this book is about Bayern Munich. Well, nothing wrong with that. But, the facts that Bayern was never my favorite team and I think there are better stuff on Pep Guardiola (which never revealed in the book). The author seems fall in love with Guardiola. At the end, it is more like propaganda than a book!

On the pros side... amazing! Like I said above, the timing to read this book coincides with the tremendous form from Citeh at the moment. The more I read this book, the more I appreciate the beautiful football being played by the troop of Guardiola. This book is a fantastic insight into Guardiola's coaching and managing at the highest level. The title of "evolution" is just right as we are having a great coach who simply evolve non-stop. This reminds me on his first press conference where he mentioned he came to Manchester City to learn and practice new stuff. What a humble man!

For a rating of 10, I personally rate this book at 6/10. As mentioned above, certain part of this book (the Bayern stuff) really annoyed me. However, this book explained in details on how this man evolves on his ideas all the time. It gives us an insight into the mind of Guardiola, which transforms Citeh into a great team at the moment. I would recommend this book only if you do not hate Bayern Munich. If you hate them, this book is definitely not your cup of tea... (LOL) 

周星驰：做人如果没有梦想，跟咸鱼有什么分别

近年来，对艺人自传都不太感兴趣。理由是，很多自传都很容易对号入座。作者往往随意扭曲事实，然后乱七八糟的胡乱评论。最糟的是，很多这类书籍都是东凑西凑般，把一些道听途说或报章杂志上的文章合拼，然后就造就了一本所谓的自传。但是，这一本的主人翁太吸引我了。从小就看着星爷的戏长大。对星爷的确有一份说不出的怀念。。。

结果是。。。老样子。很多书里提到的都是略有所闻的事迹。整本书没什么新鲜事。作者和星爷的互动几乎是零。读到一半时，已经很想放弃。但，还是勉为其难的把整本书啃完。最后，得到一些对于偶像的怀念，但想要的惊喜（尤其是更多关于偶像的内心世界）真的少之又少。最糟糕的是，作者免不了还是会对号入座的细说星爷的事迹。然后，又很勉强的加入了自己的感想。事实是如何，只有星爷能够告诉我们答案。。。

唯一的优点是。。。作者把整本书排序的井井有条。整本书的次序非常棒。完全不会又凌乱的感觉。可惜，这也只是这本书仅有的优点。。。

弹了那么多，评分方面肯定不高。十分满分，只能给予两分。这本书的主人翁如果不是星爷，我相信评价会更低。有时，名人效应还是存在的，呵呵！

Barometer of Fear: An Insider’s Account of Rogue Trading and the Greatest Banking Scandal in History

"One of the world's most infamous rogue traders"... This is how Sky News describes this book. But... I honestly think it is oversold. Well, it is a nice story that exposed the darker side on a trading floor. However, for those in the similar industry, there is really nothing new under the sun.

Having said that... I would not claim that this is a bad book. After all, the readers of this book may not belong to the same industries as mine. As such, it could be an interesting book to them.

The author did his best to expose all the darker side on his personal journey.  In this book, we have the author's biography on his trading life. At the same time, the author tried to point out the roots of the manipulation scandal. In short, we have the best summary on the on the shameless collisions to manipulate the financial market.

For a full rating of 10, I am going to rate it at 6. Overall, this is a good read as the author covered the details of the whole scandals from the perspective of a trader. Unfortunately, this book may not be so attractive to those who know the dark side rules inside the financial world. I would recommend this book for those who want to venture into derivatives and forex stuff. It is a must read before you step into the cruel part of the game... 

Confessions of a Wall Street Insider: A Cautionary Tale of Rats, Feds, and Banksters

The title of this book is so serious. In fact, after finished the whole book, it was a real serious issue to ponder about...

First of all, traders around the world realized that rules and regulation are ready to serve any traders when things gone wrong. However, the facts that many "good" traders ended up facing charges are happen now and then. So, what is the real justice especially when we see that money games are all over the world with better and easier route to escape...hmm...

Secondly... as a trader, the more you read on this book, the worst fears as a trader will haunt you throughout your career. One mistake not only damages your career. You could lose your freedom, family and your entire life too. Sounds scary, but true...

I am very much sympathized with the author of this book. The justice system did not provide adequate justice to him. To make things worse, the family support particularly from wife changed overnight eventually. End of the day, a simple justice system damaged a life of an ordinary human beings. Sigh...

For a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 8/10. This is a book with full of excitement, emotional and tons of humor too. I appreciate the author for sharing his stories. The only flaw perhaps lies with the fact that the justice system and execution may differ in our country. As such, certain aspects may not be applied here. However, I highly recommend this book to all traders. It is a story that needs to be heard... 

Pit Bull: Lessons from Wall Street's Champion Day Trader

I read this book twice (somewhere between 10-15 years ago~ wow, long time ago!). This time around, as I rearranged my book shelf, I suddenly found this book. The urge to re-read this book was there. So, here I am with a long time but well-kept book.

Well, last two read was not so nice as I felt the market environment seems not really suitable with the idea presented in this book. This time around, I found that I enjoy reading this book despite the fact that I learnt less. It sounds ridiculous but true... I am on the 17th year of my speculating career. I went through lots of similar scenario in this book which including all the sweet moments and hard times. As such, although I found I learnt less in this book, but I certainly enjoy it. After all, it was part of my stories too. Of course, the only exception is that I am not yet the "Champion Trader" and I am still far being the "Champion Trader", haha...

Overall, this is a real "entertaining" book. But, instead of labeling it as "lessons" from the great trader, I would classify this book as one of the biography type of books. The author focuses on his whole stories from day one and never reveals any specific "lessons". The ending chapter was all about the scarification of health behind the author's successful trading. As mentioned by wikipedia, the author continues his success in horse racing these days. In another words, the author seems to finally distance himself partially from trading which was his target as mentioned towards the end of the book. This in fact turned out to be the best "lesson" in this book. Trading itself is additive. But to trade to an extend that you lost your whole life does not justify the successful part of trading. As a human being, we still need to have life.

For a rating of 10, I might give 10/10 if this book is quoted as "biography". But, since the title itself is kind of misleading, i am rating this book at 7/10. At least the final "lesson" justifies the rating that I gave. (Haha) All in all, this book is one of my favorite books, not for its trading method, but for its entertainment value. 

华尔街第一个华人大亨

这本书挺过瘾。怎么说呢？从书名来看，它本该是一本非常励志的华人奋斗史。结果，原来是一本负面教育。再来，这本书应该是一本自传，但是我读到的不只是一本自传，还包括很多金融历史。第三，这本书刚开始挺闷的。作者长篇大论的探讨美国金融历史。但，原来其长篇大论是为了铺陈后面主角的事迹。过瘾，哈哈。。。

故事主人翁基本上是一个超级投机家。因此，个人认为书名的“大亨”并不是很贴切。或许，把菜至勇称为“华尔街第一个华人枭雄”会更适合一些，哈哈。故事主人翁整个人生就是伴随着美国各大牛市熊市而活。更凑巧的是，故事主人翁的起落几乎和美国股市是一致的。中华民族始终没能像西方大亨般把企业做大做久。更多的时候，短浅的目光吞食了原有的使命。荣华富贵，菜至勇是赚到了。但是，流芳百世方面，菜至勇是彻底失败了。

竟然是这样，这本书值多少分呢？满分10分，我给予9分。其实，这本书真的挺好看的。书中主人翁的确称得上华尔街的一个传奇人物（现任美国总统还曾是他的超级粉丝）。有一点我是很赞赏的。作者很用心的运用大量历史背景来衬托故事主人翁的反面教材。虽然过程烦闷了点，但是读者可以更明确了解整个事迹的来龙去脉。重点是，作者还加入了许多自身的观点。看完了整本书，对于从事金融业的哥儿们，这本书肯定有共鸣。赞！

Alias Chin Peng - My Side of History

I bought this book long time ago. In fact, this book was published long time ago too. Imagine, the version I bought is the fifth reprint version. Hence, this book was actually on my shelf collecting dust for so long. LOL.

The reason that it took so long for me to open this book was due to the fact that this is a real thick book. To be honest, it needs courage to go through a book with more than 500 pages. Furthermore, this is a story that we as Malaysian had more or less heard about it. The worst part is... we had been forced to memorize it for our examinations in secondary school, LOL. So, I choose to open it now as I think I am in the best condition and best stamina to finish this "marathon read". Please do not get me wrong. I love history. All history books are like real gems to me. However, I am reluctant to read something that I think I am quite familiar with...

Ended up... this book surprised me a lot. I assumed I know a lot of CPM histories. Yet, this book opened up and widened my knowledge on local histories. I was grateful that I took the courage to start it in the first place. Overall, this is a highly readable book. The best part is... the late Chin Peng tells the whole story from his side's perspective. As such, we have a much needed balance analyse compare to our standard history text book.

This book is full of deception, betrayal, terror and intrigue facts. The betrayal part by Lai Te, who was a "triple agent" was an amazing stories to follow though. Then, we have important insights on all guerrilla war in general and the struggle for national liberation in the colonial world. Of course, there are a lot of controversial parts. Chin Peng actually awarded the OBE by the same enemy that eventually haunted him for the most part of his life. Then, the Baling talk... it was supposed to ended in a peaceful way. But, the first Chief Minister of Singapore seems to be the major stumbling block behind the scene. Lastly, we had "Emergency" facts, which was rather different from our standard history books. Again, I want to emphasize that readers need some balance facts especially from the other side. This book obviously achieved that!

After spending whole month reading this book, I have no hesitation to rate this book at 9/10. The one point deducted was due to the error by publisher. The book was wrongly printed at the last chapter. In fact, it was not only wrongly printed in sequence. Few pages were missing for no reason. This is the fifth reprint version. By right, it should not have this sort of mistake!

As a conclusion, I rated this book highly and I am glad that I spent the whole month reading this book. This book not only opens up my mind. In fact, I found a lot of lessons especially on the correct means of struggle against the capitalism in my beloved country. At the end, I salute the late Chin Peng. Despite his bitter pill of ultimate defeat, this is a strong man that heroically fought against British and keeps his faith with perseverance. Rest in peace to the late Chin Peng... 

Leading

I hate Manchester United... but, I admire Sir Alex from the bottom of my heart. As an Arsenal fan, I have to admit that Sir Alex's record was so incredible that football fans around the world will find this book a real gem.

Compares to "Alex Ferguson - My Autobiography" and the earlier "Football- Bloody Hell", this book is seen as something completely different. In this book, Sir Alex talked about his role, importance and essence of leadership that brought a curtain down to his amazing career. The previous biography focuses on football and produced while he was still actively involved with the Red Devils. This book gave insight on how he managed to succeed in life. The added point appeared when the book itself featured a lot of football related content. So, as a maniac football fan, this book certainly brings a lot of pleasure in reading it.

Although it was intended to present in more "management" style, this book clearly revealing some of the interesting point about the great man. Readers will read about Sir Alex's crazy obsession with football. We are presented with a man who is willing to sacrifices family and personal life for the sake of glory in football. Furthermore, the man himself revealed a lot of his human being's general weaknesses and errors. The two significant one was his churning feeling in his stomach before the game and how he makes decisions with imperfect information. After all, he is the human being like me and you. However, he just has the determination and hard work to solve the puzzle.

The only flaw in this biography perhaps lies with the facts that it was mean to combine football with the management skill in general and leadership in particular. At times, I finding it hard to concentrate as my mind was mingled between football stuff versus management skill. Well, the creativity in combining management skill into the great man's mind was the selling point of this book. Yet, the confusion arose due to the same attractive point too. Fair enough? Ha...

In my last review on "Sir Alex- My Autobiography", I mentioned that the said book could be a complete journey reviewing for the great man. Out of surprise, this book provides more insightful information on how his great experiences can transform into any part of our life. Hence, despite a small flaw as mentioned above, I have no hesitation to rate this book at 10/10. With such a great book, I have to spend more time to list out some great quotes from the great man as below. These quotes will certainly help me and you towards a better future.

We're all accidental victims of our parents' DNA; we are shaped by the luck of the draw, the circumstances in which we grew up and the education we received. But we all have two sets of very powerful tools that we completely control; our eyes and our ears. Watching others, listening to their advice and reading about people are three of the best things I ever did.

Very often our victories were squeaked out in the last few minutes, after we had drained the life from our opponents. Games like life - are all about waiting for the chances and then pouncing on them.

It would not surprise me if some observers feel that much of United's success was due to our willingness to take unnecessary chances. I never thought like this because part of a leader's job is to eliminate as many risks as possible. Some might think that my fondness for horses or cards means that I am a gambler at heart, but that isn't really true. In my private life, I have always been very careful about the amount of money I am prepared to spend on a horse or bet at race-track, and the same caution applied at old trafford. We tried to leave nothing to chance. I cannot tell you how many half-time talks centered on the need to be patient and wait for the right opportunity to occur, rather than be dare devils. 

Our critics would say this was lucky, or down to the pressure to extend the game into "Fergie Time", but in truth it came down to careful preparation and having a deliberate and thoughtful approach to risk.

It makes it far tougher to sell the dream of the future if you cannot point to the staff and facilities that will make it come true.

You don't have to love your players or your management team, but you do need to respect their abilities.

Some managers try to be popular with the players and become one of the boys. It never work. As a leader, you don't need to be loved, though it is useful, on occasion, to be feared. But, most of all, you need to be respected. 

Jock was right that you cannot get too attached to people who work for you. The only time you must have that attachment is when they are in trouble- when they need your advice.

Complacency can often start seeping into an organisation that has had a string of triumphs. 

The questions going through the back of my mind during any celebration were, "How do we top this? How do we get another triumph?" I never wanted us to be torpedoed by complacency.

I gradually learned that there was no point beating about the bush by taking somebody out for dinner or sending his wife a box of chocolates or flowers to try and soften the news. The gimmicks don't change the message. If you have decided you are going to get rid of someone, nothing beats honesty.

I found that helpful ideas would sometimes pop into my mind from out of nowhere while I was playing cards or reading a book or going through a wine catalog. I am sure the same sensation occurs to other leaders when they are riding their bikes, pruning their roses or climbing a mountain.

If we had 3pm kick off, I would give team talk between 1:15pm and 1:45pm. Once I had delivered my piece I would leave the players alone. We had prepared as best we could and last minute instructions always leave players wondering whether they command the manager's confidence.

Maybe some people, before a big performance or important encounter, try to calm their nerves with breathing exercises or a draw of whisky, but I never did so. I just accepted that nagging anxiety as part of my job. It accompanied me through life and it would have been a big warning sign that I was no longer up for the task that had anxiety - which really was a sign of how badly I wanted to win-ever disappeared. 

If you have command and control of your subject, you don't need notes. No player is going to believe that someone is in control of his materials, or is an authority on a subject, if he has to keep resorting to notes. I relied on my memory and my own assessment and, that way, when I was talking to the players, I was able to maintain eye contact. 

As much as it's essential to maintain eye contact when talking to a small group of people, I always found it disconcerting to catch someone's eye when speaking in front of a big room. I tended to look towards the audience because I knew that staring at notes on a lectern is one sure way to lose a crowd's attention. However, I never looked at any particular individual. Instead I's pick a spot at the back of the room slightly above the heads of the audience. 

Everyone is disposable. Someone once said, 'Graveyards are full of indispensable men,' and it's a phrase worth dwelling on. 

When you are in the football world, and I suspect in almost every other setting, you have to make decisions with the information at your disposal, rather that what you wish you might have. I never had a problem reaching a decision based on imperfect information. That's just the way the world works.

There are probably only two times to do so - too early or too late. If I was going to err on making one of those mistakes, I far preferred to make the decision earlier rather later.

Any leader is a salesman- and he has to sell to the inside of his organisation and to the outside. Anyone who aspires to be a great leader needs to excel at selling his ideas and aspirations to others.

There's never been as much money in Scottish football as in English; early on in my career I got used to making the most from a little. I happen to think that's a useful discipline for any business or organisation, because it's so easy to waste money.

The inequity seems even more pronounced when you consider that, compared to other people, a footballer's peak earning years are very abbreviated - usually about six years and almost always fewer than ten. Don't tell me that some 28 year old who can manipulate a spreadsheet (of which there are hundreds of thousands, maybe millions) deserves to be paid more than a midfielder playing for Swansea City or Southampton.

I suspect most football managers get paid less- sometimes far less- than their start players. What message does it send to a team, if most of them are being paid more than their boss?

It wasn't the end of the world if we failed in a particular negotiation and that our success was not going to hinge on the arrival of one player. If you need one person to change your destiny, then you have not built a very solid organisation. 

I'm sometimes amazed by how people get fixated on information. It's like standing in a hospital room staring at the numbers on the bedside monitors while the patient chokes to death on a chicken sandwich. You have to consider the human element of life and the way that circumstances and chance can upset everything - even the most accurate and clearly reported data. Knowing the heart rate of a player and doing all the video analysis in the world of his opposite number isn't going to help you if he loses control and gets sent off in the first minute. 

Stealth and secrecy are two valuable weapons for any organisation. 

You never stop building - if you do, you stagnate. I always used to say, "The bus is moving; make sure you are on it, don't be left behind."

There is no point suddenly changing routines that players are comfortable with. It is counterproductive, saps morale, and immediately provokes players to question the new man's motive... My message about alcohol would have been more effective if I had just quietly gone about getting rid of one of the players who had the wrong priorities. In the end, it took a long time to eradicate the drinking habit. But, after I sold some of the main culprits, people could see I was not just full of hot air and things slowly started to improve. 

独自徘徊在天堂与地狱之间

忘了当初怎么会购买这本书（买了好久了）。。。但是，感觉上这本书应该很不错。至少，书名很贴切。操盘手基本上就是活在天堂与地狱之间。

结果。。。期望越高，失望还真的免不了。尽管作者拥有若干年的经验，但是书里头却没什么新意。从一开始作者把W.江恩和索罗斯，杰西里费默一并排列赞扬时，我就觉得不对。试问对于W.江恩有些许了解的读者们都知道W.江恩根本称不上什么大师级。而且，把索罗斯和杰西里费默一起排列，简直就是牛头不对马嘴！

最后，作者的两招短线秘笈还真的让我对此书彻底绝望了。第一招，作者觉得突如其来的趋势大扭转是很好的逆势操作机会。当然，我不完全否定它的可能性。毕竟，这一类的操作我也做过。但是，如果把它堪称绝招，我就不敢恭维。预测始终是预测。如果硬要把它说成绝招，恐怕又得徘徊在天堂与地狱之间了。第二招，作者把连续开低走高（开高走低）堪称是另一绝招。还是那一句，预测始终是预测。怎么把预测看成招术了呢？

这本书的本意应该是不错的。但是，个人觉得这本书太肤浅了。作者有意无意的把杰西里费默当成是这本书的精髓。如果是这样，我宁愿从读杰西里费默的【股票作手回忆录】。至少，杰西里费默每一章都呈现出交易的真正“绝招”（而不是如作者般，把肤浅当盖世武功秘笈）。10分满分，基于书的本意和书名还挺到位，个人给予2分。很遗憾，中国操盘手还是没法写出类似【股票作手回忆录】的这类经典书籍。

李健熙与三星帝国

三年前读过【三星内幕】后，一直很想寻找一本更像样的三星自传。【三星内幕】故事事迹很丰富，但是编排堪称一塌糊涂。希望这一本能颠覆【三星内幕】的凌乱。。。

整体上，这一本比【三星内幕】好多了。第一，排序非常好，井井有条，一点都不凌乱。第二，故事本身就精彩。在作者的神笔之下，读者很容易投入故事情节里。第三，作者不只细说故事，而且很适当的收集了很多资料来支持每一个事迹。第四，作者很客观的在适当的时候给予自己的意见。这一点在家族争产和继承人的问题上，作者给出了很多客观的见解。对于熟悉三星帝国的读者来说，客观的意见更能让读者读得丝丝入扣。

作者在最后还总结了三星未来所面对的挑战和不确定性。很多资料或许在媒体上都能读到。但是，作者很用心的分析了一切的可能性。在这方面，三星第三代接班人所可能面对的窘境都在作者的神笔下一览无余。所谓的，创业难守业更难应该就是这个道理吧。

10分满分，我个人给予满分。这本书终于满足了我对李氏家族和庞大三星帝国的好奇心。赞！

期货大作手风云录

这是一本很特别的书。作者秉着致敬《股票大作手回忆录》而写下的一本书。遗憾的是，作者和利佛莫尔有着同样的结局，最总都是以同样的方式结束生命。因此，这本书很值得探讨。。。

老实说，前半段还是挺不错的。后半段本人就不太敢恭维。总觉得作者很对号入座的去解剖利佛莫尔的一切。感觉上，主观占了上风。基本上，和我理解的利佛莫尔相差挺远的。。。

再来，作者某方面挺自相矛盾的。第一，所谓的短期或中长期交易好像模糊不清。第二，基本分析和技术分析一直重叠着作者的思绪。老实说，个人不太认同这方面的混乱。最糟糕的是，书名本来是往期货这方面进展的。最后，却冒出了股票炒作的故事。好听点的说法是，作者或许是个称职的投机者。因此，拟写书籍本不应该是他的强项。但是，这本书的结尾真的堪称败笔。简单来说，就是牛头不对马嘴。

整体上，这本书还算是本有趣的自传。姑且不去验证故事的真实性，但至少故事的生动性是有的。满分10分，个人给予5分。如果和《股票大作手回忆录》相比，这本书是逊色了很多。但，还是可以看一看的。。。

王健林：万达广场的背后

近年来，越来越不向往阅读中国企业家的事迹。理由是，中国企业家总是给人感觉“上马快，落马更快”的局面。当年的黄光裕和蒙牛就彻底的伤了我的心。所有的轰轰烈烈最后都倒在道德的指标上。但是，王健林的事迹不得忽略。毕竟，敢跟马云豪赌的（一年后又放弃赌约）还真的没几个。而且，王总有一点特吸引我。王总和本人都是超级足球迷！！！

结果是。。。还好。。。但，就不是很有惊喜！这类书籍开始吸引不到我。或许是年龄的增长；很多这类书籍，很难在次激励我。或许我也在江湖熬久了。。。基本上好多苦难也都经历过（还在经历中）。到最后，无论是那个企业家，来来去去都离不开“反思，反省”，再“反思”，再“反省”的轮回。而且，当中的酸甜苦辣已经是一个肯定的过程。所谓，食得咸鱼抵得渴大概也就是这类书籍所要呈现的吧。

再来，王总的行业一直都是我不太向往的。因此，这也加重了我对这本书不那么热忱的缘故。还好，书里有一大堆关于王总的足球历程。因此，读着，读着，还不至于那么沉闷。

满分10分，基于此书并没有太大的惊喜，本人给予4分。近年来，这类书籍的确不太吸引我。购买此书主要还是想补充一下对王总的认识。补充是补充到了。是时候回归一些新知识了。。。

黄金荣-人在租借

上一本【杜月笙-人在租界】我看的实在过瘾。这一本【黄金荣-人在租借】又如何呢？老实说，我读了一半之后就迫不及待的上网查阅，希望找到类似【张啸林-人在租借】的书籍。但是，怎么翻遍整个中国图书网，就是没有【张啸林-人在租界】这本书。作者也太不应该了。要写，也应该把上海三大亨都写完吧。怎么漏了其中之一呢？难道张啸林的卖国真的让作者退避三舍吗？不对呀。历史本不应该刻意的去分辨好坏。历史无论是赞或贬都应该让后人起到反思的作用。作者也太敏感了吧。。。

说回这本【黄金荣-人在租借】，整体上，这本比起【杜月笙-人在租界】还真的有过之而无不及！作者一贯的很专注的把主人翁每个细节交代的井然有序。跟上一本一样，这本书还是很成功的把我带入人在租界的奇景中。每一个细节不偏不倚。一切都是以自传为标准。

如果上一本值10分，这一本肯定也值满分。好期待【张啸林-人在租界】的出现。。。