The Investment Revolutionaries

Honestly, I initially found it hard to classify this book. At first glance, this is a similar book with the series of “Market Wizard”. But, once a reader read through few chapters, it is not only some interviews. The whole book covers much more than that. However, thanks to the wide coverage; I actually found myself lost and confuse at the end, LOL…

Ok, I believe I know what is the intention from the author in producing this book. However, he is too greedy by putting in almost everything. At the end, readers are not only confused. They would find it hard to concentrate and absorb the said “revolutionaries” too. In short, it is definitely not a well-organized book.

Furthermore, the so called “revolutionaries” actually do not sound revolution to me at all. I think I am reading some general stuffs and the said general stuffs obviously do not benefited me. To make things worse, the author are picking up (sort of copy and paste) here and there on other peoples’ opinion without expressing his final thoughts. End up, I found myself reading sort of newsletters. As such, the whole reading experiences was so bad…Speechless, LOL.

Ok... Enough is enough. This is just one of those books in the market. The irony part is… I actually could not find big flaws in this book. Overall... in my humble opinion, this is really a dull and boring book. As such, I am rating it at 1/10. This book was shift out immediately after my final read. Allow me to say this: Damn, wasted my time… LOL. 

Inside The Black Box

This is an introduction stuff on how algo trading works. The title itself tells the whole story. Yes… it is a simple truth about quantitative trading. The truth is so simple that every reader will understand the algo stuff completely after reading this. The author did well in giving an excellent overview for readers to understand the quant space. At the end, I think it serves as an excellent book for the world of quantitative trading.

The flaws perhaps lie with the facts that this is not a how-to handbook. Readers are provoked for further thoughts. But, it is definitely not a book with direct strategies ideas. As I mentioned above, this is an introduction book on algo stuff. Hence, it is perhaps more for wannabe quants and newbies who are keen to explore into algo trading. However, for those with intermediate skill and above; this book may not serve its purpose. It is a book that helps to refresh certain concepts. Readers need to brain-storming for further details while reading this.

Rating wise; since I do not consider myself as newbie, this book does not rate high. Out of 10, I am rating it at 6. Like I mentioned above, this is a well written book. However, it just does not serve its purpose as I think I need more advance stuff… 

Crapshoot Investing

“Crapshoot Investing” is a book about the possibility of flash crash on 6^th May 2010 thanks to the evolution of tech-savvy traders and clueless regulators… This is the first ever book (on my shelf) that goes deep into high frequency traders. In this book, the author tried to explore the possibilities of market havoc since the introduction of direct market access and the omission of middle men like brokers and market markers. It is always interesting to study high frequency trading. In fact, it is more interesting to see whether high frequency traders are evils or geniuses… LOL

The whole story is scary enough. The discoveries by Sal Arnuk and Joseph Saluzzi really scared off retail and institution traders. Those days, retail players may have problems. These days, with the high frequency traders, institution players found themselves in big trouble too. At the end, nothing is perfect. At the back of each benefit, there are always some flaws and the possibilities of unexpected black swan. Well, that is life after all…But, the more a reader goes deep into this book, the more he find himself expose to unnecessary risk. Read this quote as a good example: “High frequency traders often found other investors by issuing and the cancelling orders almost simultaneously. Loopholes in market rules give high speed investors an early glance at how others are trading. And their computers can essentially bully slower investors into giving up profits – and then disappear before anyone knows they were there.” Hmm…

The author did enough checkup on the whole issue with detail analysis taken from everywhere in US along with views from relevant parties. At the end, the facts that high frequency trading still remains until today shows that there are certain benefit (perhaps to certain parties ONLY) from it. My view is quite simple. This whole issue affected perhaps institution and big sizing retailers. The irony part is… high frequency trading supposed to enhance and creates bigger volume. Yet, as size gets bigger, they become victims of the said revolution. Again, it drives back to the same conclusion: Nothing is perfect! The more we want sophisticated stuff, the more we need to defend. Sounds weird, but true…

Rating wise, this is an important read for traders around the world. Honestly, I have certain skepticism. But, it should not be a hindrance to open up my mind on any possibility.  As such, I am rating it at 9/10. A well-written book… thumbs up!

你所不知道的华人首富家族：500年财富王朝的秘密

这本书的书名是够震撼的。。。震撼的把我给耍的团团转。。。徐副总裁还真的很有创意。但，除此以外，我还真的看不出他的这本大作有什么惊人之处。。。

所谓的秘密（还500年的秘密嘞！！！），来来去去都是一些你我都懂的理财哲学。据说，故事的主人翁“金手指”在他去世前选择性的把这些秘密传授给作者。而，作者又偏偏那么好心的把这些秘密在传授给你我。诚如我时常挂在嘴边的一句话：“那么好的东西，怎可能到处宣扬呢？”。。。或许是我以小人之心度君子之腹。但，里头的秘密实实在在的告诉我作者的动机肯定不是那么简单。

老实说，这本书令我想起黄百鸣，黄大导演的那一本【生存·奋斗】。同样的简短，同样的易读。。。老实说，两本书都只花了我那么一丁点的时间。。。但，这本书简直是在浪费我的时间。所以，10分满分，我就是没办法给任何分数。有时候，读了一本烂书比被别人痛打一顿还疼。。。哎呀，疼死我了！！！

独闯华尔街

这本自传很另类。。。里头的故事不会千遍一律的在探索华尔街（否则，闷死了，呵呵！）。。。更多的是作者如何从留学生到投行副总裁的点点滴滴。作者在里头揭露了好多华尔街的小秘密。此外，作者也不吝啬的与大家分享中国人在国外的种种挑战。最后，作者甚至讨论了中国人与印度人在美国这片自由土地上的分别和成就。最后的最后，作者更分析了世界趋势和对于祖国未来的期许。。。整体上，我个人非常享受于这本自传。感觉上，好像看了一场电影多过于读了一本自传。。。

跟上一本自传,【荣辱二十年：我的股市人生】比一比，还真的有的比。上一本的沉闷恰恰不在这本自传里。这一本的生动文笔（真的和一般枯燥的金融读物不太一样），恰恰也不再上一本自传中出现。可能，自传背景的确起到了作用。两个金融自传；一个在体制不完善的情况下发生，而另一个却在体制非常完善但也非常严格的大环境里产生。因此，两本自传很自然的体现出两种不同的面貌。如果说【荣辱二十年：我的股市人生】衬托出好多的委屈和无奈，【独闯华尔街】恰恰把人生的酸甜苦辣和起伏，很好的做了个总结。。。结果是，我开始不那么讨厌上一本书的沉闷。感觉上，两本书一起读的感觉还真不错。中西文化的交叉始终是最好的结果。哈，真的是无心插柳柳成荫。。。

好话都说尽了，评分方面肯定不低。老实说，真的找不到任何缺点。唯一要在鸡蛋里挑骨头的地方就是这本书的纸张质量还真的不太行。当初在恒河书架上翻查时，差点就因为这个小缺点而错过了一本好书。出版社真的要检讨一下。。。好吧，基于这个小瑕疵，10分满分就给9分吧。。。最后总结：这是一本值得探讨和深思的书籍，推荐再推荐!