大城心事

峰哥出书，其它书当然得让路啦，呵呵。。。

好期待的一本书。整个感觉就好像在重温【乐在1102】和【大城心事】。书虽然简短；但胜在够精致。。。应该有的都有，不应该有的好像也有，哈。文词虽然不优美；但胜在够坦白，够本土化，而且非常生活化。书虽然好像很厚，但文字真的不多。别误会，我不是说它骗钱。只是外观厚度真的骗倒我。原本以为需要一个礼拜慢慢嚼着，结果两个小时就解决了。别误会，我不是说这本书不好。相反；书里文字虽然不多，但内容绝对有深度。。。好书一本！

这本书真的让我想起黄百鸣的【生存。奋斗】。“小”书一本，但，内容超“大”。总结来说，个人评分不会太低。10分满分都值个8分。扣除的两分是因为我觉得峰哥漏掉了好多其它更精彩的案例。经典语录方面，峰哥句句都是真言。如果真想探个究竟，去大众书局买本【大城心事】吧。。。

High Probability Trading

I am going to do a short review on this book. Reason is... this is a very basic book for non-beginners. However... please do not get me wrong. I do not mean to say this book is not a good book. In fact, it is an excellent write up for newbies who keen to explore further into trading stuff...

As mentioned, it is an excellent write up. The author covered almost every aspect for a trader to move along the cruel world of trading. As such, it is an excellent book for newbies. As for others (me included), this is more like a refreshment book and it serves as a good reminder on how they (we) started those days.

To sum it up, I am rating it at 5/10 since I do not consider myself a newbie. However, I highly recommend this book for those who are new to trading. Thumbs up for the author for providing such a detail write up. Well done!

Broken Markets

High frequency trading (HFT) seems to be mushrooming everywhere these days. As such, I am in the opinion that all traders need to know the head and tails about it. In fact, anything about HFT, I am keen to explore further. So, this book fits well into my requirement…

HFT managed to catch my attention simply because it sounds so scary to me. Please do not get me wrong. I am not those old-timers who have resistant in new IT stuff. In fact, I am very much updated, LOL. The whole thing sounds scary to me as I can feel the cons and pros since they started (in local market too?) Well, forget about how I exposed to it. In fact, it is something P&C and I am not going to discuss further here. After all, this is a blog about books; not my cpotrader.blogspot.com, LOL.

Ok, so… how scary it could be? Read this from Sal Arnuk & Joseph C.Saluzzi:

By the time Reg NMS was implemented, the stock exchanges changed from member owned, nonprofit corporations, to for-profit exchanges, and many of them became publicly traded companies.

There are reasons why brokerage firms offer $8 trades to retail investors, when so often that fee doesn’t cover cost. Money that used to be made mostly through commissions is now made through trading around that order flows.

Tradebot, an HFT firm based in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2008 said it had not had a losing day in four years.

Not scary enough? Read this:

In one of our earlier white papers, we made the following analogy: Imagine you are at the grocery store. You take your cart to one of the five apparently empty checkout lines. Suddenly, nine carts instantaneously appear ahead of you. You scratch your head and move to lane two. The same thing happens. You soon find that whenever you move into the new lane, a multiple of carts appear ahead of you in line. Why? Because the supermarket has sold the right for those carts to do so.

You may frequently hear that designated market makers provide liquidity by always trading. In reality, they provide liquidity only when they want and turn it off when it gets too risky. When they do turn it off, market becomes anything but “fair and orderly.” And when do they turn it off? When the market get stressed. When that happens, they are delays and inconsistencies between the data feed connecting the plethora of exchanges and trading venues. 

We frequently hear that the reason HFT firms enter and cancel 95% of their orders without a trade is because HFTs are just “managing risk” in their market making activities. In reality, HFT firms are trying to create momentum. They are trying to mislead institutional algorithmic orders into following along these price changes, which are created with the intention to manipulate a stock higher after the HFT firm has already bought it at a cheaper rate.

Amazing, isn’t it? The computer did the whole stuff and we are exposed to it without really realizing. Wow!!!

Honestly, this book could end up creating a lot of discussions (arguments?). The points written were part and partial of the stories that evolve in the real market. However, the author sounds contradict at times. For example, the author criticized algos that react to news. In my humble opinion, anything that reacts to news could end up either in winning or losing way. There is nothing as definite as mentioned by the author. Furthermore, the author comments about brokerage firms that do not underwrite IPO. To me those are very harsh words and criticizing them in such a sarcastic way may not be fair at all.

Secondly, although this is a book about HFT… however, there is no precise definition on HFT in the first place. According to the author, those who are involved (accused?) in HFT are market makers, systematic traders and exchange traded products. Although I am not the right person to verify it, I thought the author failed to convince me… Obviously, the facts presented just not enough to support his point of view. 

To sum it up, this is a nice book to start with for those who are keen on HFT. However, there are some conflicts as mentioned above. To make things worse, the author did put in some chapters written by other authors. Ok, it sounds to be related at first glance. But, after reading through, I think it created more confusion, LOL. Lastly, this book was actually read during my personal holiday. As such, the speed tends to be slower… and my holiday was disturbed by the scary and confusion (thanks to some conflict points) part of HFT. Overall, I am rating this book at 5/10. I thought the initial idea is good. However, the author failed to impress me as evidences are not adequate throughout the book. I am looking forward to explore further on HFT stuff since Bursa itself is moving towards an algo stuff (CQG?) sooner or later…HFT being a devil or an angel? Food for thought today… 

柔韧有“俞”-你所不知道的俞敏洪

老实说，我很少会欣赏教育界的精英。理由是，本人是本地大学所催化出来的本土固打制大专生。因此，个人的教育水平虽不低，但整个教育制度是在没有（或者是可有可无）老师的情况下完成。因此，我特不懂老师对于学生的帮助。

那俞敏洪老师吸引我的地方在哪里呢？这应该归功于当年的【赢在中国】节目。马云，史玉柱和俞敏洪等都是那节目的领航者。马总，史总的书籍看得太多了。就是没真正接触过关于俞总的书籍。所以，恰好在缺少自传书籍的情况下，就买了几本俞敏洪老师的自传。。。

这本自传整体上不会太精彩。或许，俞敏洪的创业人生就是那么的脚踏实地。一切的一切放佛就是一步一脚印。没有火花，冲突不大，起落也恰好。但是，它也实实在在反映出万丈高楼从地起的一个简单过程。这么说吧：这是一本关于一个平凡人把每件小事都做到十全十美的成功故事。这么一连串的小事就形成了一个简单的事迹。一个简单的事迹，再加上一个毅力十足的企业家。。。就是那么简单！

说俞敏洪简单，还真的不是盖的。。。从俞老师肯在自传里透露当年造假和盗版事件的来龙去脉就足于显示俞老师的诚恳。试问有那个企业家能够那么赤裸裸的面对自己的过去？这个过去还是俞总所公认的一大错误呢！

余总读三国，我也爱读三国。余总特喜爱曹操，我也是首选曹操。俞敏洪认为自己特像刘备（但，心目中渴望成为曹操），我也做过不少次逃兵。因此，三国在我俩的国度里几乎是一样的。唯一的不同是，我虽像刘备般软弱，但也绝不会有俞总清理“家族制”的问题。还有一点更不像的是。。。俞总太成功了。而我，就是还在海上漂浮的小巨人（体型上的巨人！）。。。

最后，好感慨俞总上市之后的种种遭遇。。。“资本的爱与哀愁”这题目作者是选对了。和好多企业家一样。。。小的时候就想做大。大了之后，特别怀念小的精髓。俞总在书里一再的承认很后悔走上这一条路。“我还能左右我的生命，左右新东方的理想吗？”这句话看似无奈。但，确实是企业家时时刻刻的写照。。。

整体来说，这是本不错的自传。作者的手笔堪称一流。。。也的确是一流！故事的连贯性做得非常好。但，问题就是不够精彩。可能是我个人对于教育界也不是太热诚。（粗人终究是粗人）因此，我很难体会办教育的心得。所以，10分满分，我个人只给6分。这本书不会太感动我。但，肯定不是作者或故事主人翁的问题。。。

最好，还是摘下了几段值得深思的经典语录：

在俞敏洪看来，“随”不是“跟随”的“随”。而是不抱怨，不过度，不强求。“随”也不是“随便”的“随”。而是把握机缘，不悲观，不刻板，不慌张，不忘形。“五随”概括起来就是要珍惜一切，轻松随性的过自己的生活。

做事情，总是要在风格，文化上认同。要不然就是“道不同，不相与谋”。我在新东方的感觉就是：“用对一个人，撐起一片天；用错一个人，毁掉一片地”。

当你发现可以承受失败的后果，你就要去冒险，就要大胆地尝试。否则，你的生命将因为你的谨慎和小心而失去色彩。

关键岗位用人一定得用土生土长从“地底”下长出来的。一定慎用或者不用从天上掉下来的。

任何一家企业要想成功，都必须随时对充满不确定性的周围作出快速有效的反应。“身处何地”远不如“去往何方”那么重要和紧迫。

我们曾经被人看轻过。但这个世界本身就是个势利场。我们只有两条路可走。一条是不顾别人的眼光，我活着我自在，这是超人。另一条是通过自己的努力获得不被看轻的地位，就像『海阔天空』的歌词：“冷漠的人，谢谢你们曾经看轻我，让我不低头更精彩地活”。我们是常人，就让我们不低头吧。

当我开始用迷信和数字来对自己的生命作出安排与设计的时候，实际上你已经被眼前的困难吓破了胆。你已经对自己失去了信心。所以，我们不要对自己的未来做任何所谓的猜测，也不要让其他任何人来臆断我们的未来，不要让现时的艰难打断我们的希望。未来就在我们的手中。

受人尊敬的企业应该是“三好”企业：好高骛远（超前的战略设计），好说大话（勇敢梦想），好人好事（做人做事，社会责任）

生命就是不断攀高，不断超越的过程。当你挺立在大山之巅，眺望着下一坐山峰，憧憬着要去征服它时，你有没有想过，要想去征服新的山峰，必须先下到谷底，然后再打点行李，真顿精神，向着下一座山峰发起冲锋。人生就是这样，跌岩起伏，复杂多变。当你身处谷底，别忘记自我激励- 现在的失意，为的是以一种更昂扬的斗志去征服新的高度。当你身在高处，也请别忘记自我警醒- 现在的得意，终究只是暂时，因为只有继续攀登新的高峰，你才能看得更远，才能看到和创造更加精彩的未来。

很多人希望自己成功，想选择一条别人没走过的路。其实只要是路，就已经被人走过了。我们要做的，是应该在别人走过的路上，比别人走得更久，比别人走得更远。走得更久就能够走出别人没有走出的距离，走得更远就能够看到别人所没看到的风景。

一个人成功，需要三种商数起作用～智商，情商和逆商。智商是对于知识的学习和领悟。情商是混于人群并赢得别人喜欢的能力。逆商是面对失败挫折的乐观心态。有逆商的人爬起来的速度比摔倒的速度还要快。智商高情商低的人适合做独立创造之事。情商和逆商高于智商的人更适合做在社会上摸爬滚打的事。

如果有些时间是用来浪费的，那一定有另外一些时间是绝对不能浪费的。一个人需要不断抛弃。我们需要抛弃过去的失败，也需要抛弃过去的成功。抛弃过去的失败是因为失败就像黎明前的黑暗，不抛弃就看不到阳光的灿烂。抛弃过去的成功，是因为成功就像登上一座山，如果你迷恋此山风光，就没法攀登下一座更高的山峰。

我们都曾经有过这样的经历。与心仪之人聊天漫谈，一聊好几个小时都不觉得疲倦。聊到最后才发现聊天的内容其实极其无聊，但就是感到快乐无比。做任何事情，如果快乐本身就是目的，也值得做。如果能把为了目标的奋斗和做事情的快乐结合起来，那就再好也不过了。

这个历史挺靠谱（下）：袁腾飞讲中国史

看了上集，对于下集除了期待还是期待。。。结果嘞？还好！虽然很多时候，下集始终没上集来的好。往往，就是因为上集太好；对于下集，读者的期许和要求会相对性的提高。。。不过，整体来说，真的还好！作者还是那么的会写。历史在他笔下就是不像历史。下集还是延续了上集的幽默和作者独特的个人见解。

唯一的小缺点。。。本以为上集一气呵成的把封建皇朝交代了清清楚楚。怎知下集还在讲清朝。结果,预期的毛泽东，邓伯伯事迹完全被遗漏了。怎么了？中国历史就结束于1949新中国成立吗？看来，中国近代史始终不是中国作者很愿意触碰的一环。。。

小缺点虽有。。。精彩度也很明显不够上集那么精彩。。。但，对于我来说，这本通史还是值得推荐的。。。因此，如果上集有满分，下集肯定也值个9分。小小的1分就当是小瑕疵（超小的瑕疵）的扣分吧!

这个历史挺靠谱（上）：袁腾飞讲中国史

难怪这本书那么畅销。。。据说，这本是【历史是个什么玩意儿】的升级修订版。【历史是个什么玩意儿】我倒没看过。。。不过，作者一开始就很彻底的交代一切。好彩。。。好彩没买错，呵呵。。。

这是本难于释手的书籍。老实说，中国历史我是看得太多了。所以，基本上，我很少会在触碰中国历史书籍。但，这本书经过恒河网李总的介绍；稍微翻了翻几下，马上就会爱上它。要说袁腾飞像我的偶像易中天老师，他毕竟比易老师更俗一点。（就是喜欢他的俗！）所以，读历史能读的那么俗，不读袁腾飞，还能读谁呀？

这么多年来，我还是一贯的“观其大略”，“一目十行”。。。好读书，就是不求甚解。。。再来，本人对于中国历史的了解度也真的不浅。因此，这类读物恰恰满足了我求知的欲望。毕竟，能在300多页（上集）把中国历史从三皇五帝一口气讲到清朝的试问有几个？袁腾飞，你好牛。。。也还真的牛的有理！

再来，袁腾飞一点也不2。这家伙可不是胡乱拼凑，草草了事的在300多页里把整个封建时代交代了就算的作家。其实，袁腾飞本身的知识非常广。整本书很明显看得出作者很自然的在恰当的时刻引入同时期外地甚至是其它国家相关的发展。（难怪，作者还出了本世界史）所以，如果说这本书，中国是主角，袁腾飞倒也不忘找来了许多绿叶的好角色。赞！

最后，袁腾飞还提供许多他个人的观点。这类观点不常见。（尤其是品论中国历史）但，作者就是有自己的一套个人见解。比方说，有那个历史学家会毫不犹豫的批判明朝是个烂朝呢？试问，又有哪个品论家敢于把元朝当成是外来民族（根本就不是中国的一分子？）来看待呢？袁腾飞在这一方面做得的确到位。身为读者，我还是第一次领略到中国历史的另一面。。。简单来说，因为作者的引导，我开始试着用不同的角度去探讨。结果，个人的视野也开拓了不少。。。

唯一的小缺点，（可能也是个优点）就是袁腾飞用了好多中国地方语言。老实说，有些地方语言还真的花了我不少时间去研究。优点是，我又在我的语言领域增添了新的色彩。下回，见到内地那些“不2”的家伙，还真的可以派上用场，呵呵。。。

好话说尽了。。。而，经典语录多到我都不知如何在这里呈现出来。。。因此，评分方面肯定不低。。。10分满分，个人是给足10分。一本历史书籍能读者那么的爱不释手，肯定有它吸引人的地方。好吧，别让他停。。。【这个历史挺靠谱】下集，我来了。。。