Stillness and Speed: My Story

What an amazing story by the dutch master, non flying Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp!  Frankly, I enjoyed every single story and every single word by the current Ajax Assistant Manager. Surprisingly, I thought I will enjoy most on Bergy's journey in North London. Yet, it is the earlier journey in Ajax and San Siro that really caught my attention. Perhaps I am too familiar with my beloved club, Arsenal FC. Hence, Johan Cruyff's special leadership in contrast with Louis Van Gaal's productive (yet tension relationship with Bergy) sounds more appealing to me.

On his journey in North London, the author did so well to dig into Bergy's world by getting a lot of interviews from those who are related. In fact, it is so much of details that even the wonder goal against Magpies was reviewed intensively. Overall, the author did so well in this book. Contents are well organized and the author put a lot of efforts in getting different view in each particular issues.

The only flaw perhaps lies with the facts that my idols, Arsene Wenger and Marc Overmars are not involved much in this autobiography. I always thought Wenger made Bergkamp a better and class player. But, whenever the author discussed goals and tactical stuff, Wenger's view was not taken. Marc Overmars... another great flying Dutchman. I am very much looking forward to read his views on Bergkamp. Unfortunately, Marc Overmars was not featured at all in this book. By right, with his current positions at Ajax, Overmars should appear at least in the last chapter of "The Future of The Future". After all, the two Dutchman are building the futures there...

I think this is the right time for Bergy to release his biography. In fact, I do not understand why footballers choose to release their biography much earlier (during their playing period???). Robert Pires's biography is a good example. If he chooses to write now, I guess that biography would be more appealing to readers. Overall, I enjoy this book very much. For a full rating of 10, I am rating it at 9/10. For those gooners like me, this is a must read. Thumbs up to the author! 

Trading Day by Day: Winning the Zero Sum Game of Futures Trading

This is a book that emphasize simple KISS (keep it simple, stupid) system. Although it does not suit my character, but I acknowledge that the author does presents one of the fine method which is workable in long run. Apart from the facts that it does not suit my character, the contents with tons of predictive stuff also shy me away. To be frank, since I am more on the reactive side, some stuff being discussed in the book does not appealing to me at all.

In fact, I reject completely on the author's idea to take profit every now and then. The author obviously emphasize on the law of continuation (trends tend to continue rather than change). However, he suggests certain exit criteria, which for me is totally opposite and sort of counter attacking the law of continuation. My main confuse is... if the law of continuation is so strong, what is the point of taking profit for the sake of taking profit to go against such a strong and firm belief? Furthermore, the author although suggests profit taking, he does not provide immediate solution in case the origin trends returns and the exited positions was exited without reentering back. The said issue may get worse when the sizing of positions getting bigger. By exiting now and then, slippage and commission will become a concern in terms of costing in long run.

Now, on the pro side... The chapter on "Options" and "My Story (plus how Hillary Clinton "really" turned $1,000 into $100,000 in nine months)" is really fantastic. Opposite to the above flaws, I am 100% with the author on the said two chapters. I may be bias (since I am sharing same thoughts with the author). But, fact is fact. Options are never my option in trading world. In fact, the opportunity cost is so high that I think there are plenty of better choices around.

Finally, we got this very amazing record by the author on "trading day by day" stuff. It may sounds boring for others. But, I enjoyed reading it. Although I might not agree with the author's overall method, but I truly believe this is one of the very reliable method  (at least it would not easily fall into the trap of over fitting). Thumbs up to the author on revealing and sharing this....

This is a book that I love it in this second, but might hate it in the next second... As mentioned above, I found the pros and cons are almost equal. However, I must admit that I enjoy this book. In facts, the cons side is sort of bias that contradict with my own method. As such, out of 10, I am rating it at 7. Even with some of the flaws (at least from my personal view) as mentioned above, I can still find some nice quotes along the way. Hence, it is overall a good book to explore further. Here we are with some quotes that I found useful. Enjoy it...

As an individual, you simply cannot compete in the futures trading game on the basis of natural talent or information and knowledge of the asset being traded. Nor can you compete in computing power and technical expertise... Since we cannot climb up to the competition's level, we need to bring the competition down to ours. The way to do this is to break the trading down to its simplest, most fundamental level ~ a simple up or down numbers game. Approaching trading as a basic up / down numbers game instantly changes the game's emphasis from one of knowing information, knowledge and technology to one of observing price movement, and then acting on those observations. 

"Why" is concerned with knowledge; "what" is concerned with observation. You and I can never compete in knowing, but we can compete in observing. Therefore, the correct approach is to trade based on what you "see", not on what you "think".

The correct way to trade the futures is to waste no time and energy trying to see into the future. We should focus on the past and present!

Merely getting direction and timing right is difficult enough in trading. When you add in the need for a decent sized move (in order to cover the cost of the option), the probabilities of success shrink significantly. 

In every commodity market there are powerful producers and suppliers of that commodity desiring high prices as well as powerful consumers or users of that commodities seeking lower prices. However, in the stock market all the powerful forces are on the side  seeking for higher prices. 

The better I became at sales and the more expertly I could spout "inside" information, the worse my trading results became. I soon knew virtually everything there was to know about hogs, cattle, and bellies, except the part about where their prices were most likely going. 

Investor's Passport to Hedge Fund Profits: Unique Investment Strategies for Today's Global Capital Markets

The end of the year is approaching. Usually, I would not touch investment books during this period. However, I just passed my personal milestone (which I "benchmark-ed" personally, LOL). As such, I think time is right to do some reviewing and be ready for another 10 or 20 more years or even longer. Coincidentally, I have a lot of resources recently. Hence, other source of books need to to step aside at the moment, LOL...

Ok... enough of craps. Let's be serious. After two excellent read, I thought the trend will continues... At the end, the trend is no more my friend as it finally bends.... This is a lousy book to me. In the first place, the title itself is very misleading. At least, it is not typical hedge fund stuff as what I expected. To be honest, if I read through some of the contents before I bought this, I would not be reviewing this book at the moment. In short, this book is totally "off target" to me.

To be frank, info provided in the book is nothing new under the sun. In fact, certain parts are rather shallow that we can easily google on it. In another words, it is nothing specific to follow the big brothers investing worldwide. The whole thing getting worse when certain info provided are not accurate. Take the Hangseng Index as a good example. A "shallow" investor like me also realized that HangSeng Index does not represent China as their main index. So, when certain facts are being twisted (or not being studied precisely) with no solid reason, I know I am reading a wrong book.

Finally... I am not those who go against global investing. In fact, it was exactly my belief during my earlier stage of investment career. However; these days I appreciate more resting time in view that age is really catching up. As such, this book perhaps does not arrive on my shelf at the right time. In my humble opinion, unless you are so ignorant of what the world outside of US, this book should not be your choice even to kill off your boring time. Having said that... I am rating this book at 0/10. What a disappointment!