From Tulips to Bitcoins: A History of Fortunes Made and Lost in Commodity Markets

 

Tulips story is no stranger to all financial guys like me. However, with bitcoins, the story tends to be different...

This book is interesting. It recorded all financial bubbles on commodities from earlier tulips till the latest bitcoins. So, reading this book is like reading a history book (except main focus is on financial cases). Readers tend to learn a lot from the cases presented and the author did so well to present it with clear and precise details. 

However, I found some of the cases presented seems not significant. For trader like me, some cases are just norms of the volatility and does not qualify to be "bubbles". Secondly, it will be good if this book includes all indexes bubbles apart from commodities. After all, commodities, indices, currencies, etc. are correlated in nature. Finally, I expected to see some comments or insight thoughts from the author at the end of every presented cases. However, it is more like a dull history book at the end. Unfortunately, the only wisdom I can found throughout this book is the quote as below:

The discovery of gold triggered a true story global gold rush. However, it was the merchants who generally became rich selling equipment and services.

For a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 6/10. Well, I appreciate the hard-work from author in providing us such a detailed history on the so called "bubbles". However, the whole experience is like a drop in the ocean. I would not said it is a bad book... but simply not enough! As financial bubbles would not stop from now and then, this book will have a revise version sooner or later. Let us hope for a better version in the future... 

塞北三朝：金

 

这是袁老师塞北三朝系列的最后一本。塞北三朝理论上，金应该是最精彩的一本。至少，金人的确在之后成立了影响中华时代的满清帝国。好吧，让我们再次踏上塞北三朝之旅吧。。。

金的历史的确时比西夏和辽有趣多了。至少，金的澎湃英雄史甚至是荒唐事迹也比辽和西夏有过之而无不及。但是，很耐人寻味的是。。。袁老师的这一系列塞北三朝始终不是我喜欢的历史书籍。一直以来，袁老师的书籍我是爱不释手的。还没开始塞北三朝时，我是非常期待的。但是，一连啃掉了三本书籍后，除了书的结尾（袁老师的总结永远不让读者失望），我还真的不是很有印象里头的精彩内容。

或许，塞北三朝的历史真的不是我的那杯茶。中国少数民族肯定有他们的贡献。一般上，历史的价值在于它能让后人反省，让后人通过历史的演变作为未来的借镜。但是金的历史和辽与西夏就是起不到这个作用。金的演变只能说是时势造英雄（造的更多的是枭雄）。一切的起起落落只不过是自然定律。金虽然有后金（满清）的伟大事迹，但是金朝自身只不过是昙花一现罢了。真正有价值的文化历史应该是给后人留下讨论空间的余地。金朝历史在这方面就缺乏了一些激情。一切的一切都是历史演变的理所当然罢了。。。

看完了这一系列的塞北三朝，我开始明白这一段历史当年在百家讲坛爆红的原因。充其量，观众就是爱听故事。当然，袁老师的讲古能力肯定是一绝。但是，民众就是喜欢听故事。再来，这一段历史很少人会接触。因此，故事的可听性质就攀升了。对于我，这一系列书籍增加了我不少知识。但是，基于我对历史的热爱和历史能够带给我省思的那一份执着，这本书我只能打个6分。再次澄清，这本书不是不好。只不过，它不是我喜欢的历史性质罢了。。。

塞北三朝：辽

 

一口气看了易中天四本著作，忽然怀念起袁腾飞这位百家讲坛的红人。而且，上一轮的【铁血蒙元】还记忆犹新，因此始终念念不忘蒙古大军狂扫塞北的情景。好吧，再来一系列塞北历史呗！

辽国的历史基本上我是一窍不通。自小，辽这个称呼从电视剧和书本上都是贬义居多。杨家将事迹就把辽人骂得狗血临头。因此，从来不曾想过要探讨辽得历史价值。如果不是袁腾飞老师，老实说，我还真得懒得阅读这一段历史。

结果，出乎我意料之外，这本书还是挺行的。第一，作者的神笔肯定是功不可没。第二，这本书再次纠正我阅读时常犯的错误。很多时候，野史和正史一而再的误导我。比方说，杨家将的事迹原来更多的是野史！（我的妈呀，我崇拜了好多年的穆桂英原来都是虚假的！）俗语说得好：少壮不努力，老大徒伤悲。这回，还真的再辽史上摆了个大乌龙。第三，这本书也开拓了我许多关于塞北的历史。一直以来，我都比较倾向于中华史。基于辽族本来就不在中华五十六个民族内，因此一直觉得辽族好像是外来者。这本书算是打开了我的视野。第四，这本书也让我看到历史演变的真正价值。文化融合和书写上的每一个字如果没有好好记载，后人往往无法体会它的文化价值。袁老师这回算是帮辽族扳回一城，也还了辽族一个公道。下一轮有机会到云南一游，我还真的想探听一下辽族的后裔。

一般上，我很少不在一本书里找到一些经典语录。这回，我还真的读到废寝忘食了。袁腾飞的讲古能力真的不是盖的。阅读袁老师的书籍，很容易让读者进入一个忘神的状态。因此，这一轮，我还真的忘记记录任何的经典语录。10分满分，我给于这本书8分。扣除的两份其实是个人问题。辽史怎么说始终没有其它历史来的生动。这本书让我对于中华少数民族改观了许多。但是，如果不是袁老师的神笔，我相信辽史其实也算沉闷的。基于这个原因，我还是决定私下扣除两份。别误会，袁老师始终是我最爱的作者之一。但是，辽史肯定不是我的最爱，😄！

易中天中华史：风流南宋

 

北宋结束，终于来到这一系列的第三本:南宋。。。

风流南宋这个主题取得太好了。南宋基于动乱，逃亡与灭亡之际，再加上宋朝大量提升印刷技术，诗词本来就是宋朝一大批文人产量的高峰点。单凭苏东波一人就足以让诗词爱好者陶醉一番。我对诗词本来就兴味索然。但是，“念奴娇”却是一首让我回味无穷的经典佳作。

这本书我时一气呵成读完的。但是，一气呵成的成分不在于这本书多精彩，而是里头的诗词对我产生不大的共鸣。前半部关于流放政府以及海上贸易我倒是挺有兴趣的。后半部诗词的精华。。。抱歉，本人修养有限，实在找不到任何可以激发我的诗人气质（本来就没有，😄）。10分满分，这本书在我心目中只能打个6分。这本书可能时这一系列我评价最低的一本。和上一本【王安石变法】一样，这本【风流南宋】的主题的确不太吸引我。“风流南宋”这个名称的确堪称一绝。只可惜，落到粗人如我的手中，还真的让我这位莽夫给糟蹋了。

和往常一样，这本书少不了多少经典语录。但是，所有被挑选的语录都是前半部的南宋。书里后半部的“风流”就不予置评了：

辽的中京是金的北京，辽的南京是金的中都，金的南京是宋的东京。

南宋错误的误解了远交近攻。他们忘记了，这可是强者才能使用的策略。当年的秦王国就是这样兼并天下的。联蒙灭金的宋则把自己变成了只能挨打的齐。

日本和中国很早就有了来往。这个民族学习能力之强，堪称举世无双。他们的学习是选择性和创造性。而且一旦学会，就能把别人的变成自己的。比方说，吴服。日本许多和服店门口都挂着“吴服屋”的招牌。和服其实是三国东吴服装的改良升级版，却成了日本人的民族象征。

刺身在中国也叫脍，烧烤则叫炙，因此有脍炙人口的成语。可见被日本人叫做刺身的鱼脍，其实原本是中华美食。变成日本料理的关键在于芥末和酱油。酱油也是中国人的发明，时间应该不晚于宋。

明清两代选择闭关锁国，最后变成死水一潭。因此，当我们向那些死难的烈士致敬之时，难道不该再多一点反思吗？

更恶劣的是，程颐还信口雌黄，说什么贫苦无依和饥饿不过是寡妇门希望再嫁的借口。且不说这种毫无证据和言论涉嫌诬陷，就算他们为了性爱又如何？朱熹不是声称“做出这事，便是这里有那理”吗？那么请问，男女之间那点事，怎么就没那理？如果没有，老天爷为什么要让人们有性快感？难道男人可以有，女人不能？女人丧夫不能再嫁，男人丧妻却可再娶？

很显然，正是这种冷漠造就了生祭文天祥这样的道德怪胎，贞节牌坊那样的道德祭坛。这当然并不完全由程朱理学来负责。但，如果一个民族的伦理道德必须靠这样惨无人道的东西才能得以维持，可就真是生病了。

易中天中华史：王安石变法

 

上一回读了【大宋革新】后，易中天书籍又让我对这一系列中华史从新踏上阅读的轨道上了。。。

王安石变法是北宋挺重要的一环。但，坦白说，这一段历史我兴趣不大。理由是，王安石变法牵涉了太多人物。其中，复杂性的宋朝官僚机制已经够烦了，人物之众多更是历史最乏味的一环。重点是，王安石得罪了太多人。因此，犯众的情形下，读者难免会读的很吃力。幸好，我们有易老师。在他的神笔之下，这一段乏味的情节至少生动了不少。很佩服！

世界上，革新还是维护原有状态永远都有解不开的迷。一失足成千古恨往往是历史的写照。王安石事迹当然也不例外。但是，易老师在这本原本我不是很有兴趣的宋朝史却揭破了一个谜底。改革的本质是好的。但是，为何改革，为谁改革，怎样改革，如果不谨慎考量，只能算是盲动。易老师在这本书的结尾堪称一绝：有理想的人无疑值得尊敬，尤其是同时还有道德。但，如果他掌握了公权力，还要用这种公权力来实现理想，就有可能变得恐怖和必须警惕。要知道，道德是用来警惕的，道德高尚不等于认识科学决策正确。社会理想的实现更是只能靠全民的共识和践行。一旦公权力强制推出，就一定是悲剧。

满分10分，基于本人并不是很热衷于这一段失败的历史变法，因此只能给予7分。这本书作者一贯的发挥了他的神笔。可惜，宋朝变法真的不是我那杯茶。商鞅变法至少惊天动地（在那个年代），王安石变法读了二十年，始终没办法体会和欣赏它的逻辑性。诚如易老师所言，王安石变法顶多也只是公权力眼下的一个借口。今时今日，各界政治人物不也是套着同一条套路生存吗？历史有趣的地方便是这样。。。

最后，附上本书的一些经典语录：

这就是熙宁变法时的北宋政局：一位奋发有为的新君，一个锐意改革的大臣，一套看起来不错的新法，一群德高望重的反对派。这些因素搅在一起，想不发生悲剧都不可能。

司马光和王安石称得上一枚硬币的正反两面。尽管他们的政治主张截然相反，但要论固执和刚愎自用，却不相上下，如出一辙。

宋神宗和王安石都主张变法，也主张集权。但，王安石是为了变法而集权，宋神宗却是为了集权而变法。因此，当他实现了集权之后，就不能容忍有人分权。王安石也必须走人。

改革有稳健和鲁莽，聪明和失策。因此，有成功和失败，却没有道德不道德。为改革措施贴上道德标签，只会断了听取意见进行调整的后路。

人是要有敬畏之心的，掌握了公权力的就更是如此。你可以不信上帝，也可以不信天命，但总得有所敬畏有所不为。什么都不怕，那才可怕。

Unknown Market Wizards: The best traders you've never heard of

 

There is no way for any traders to miss out on Jack D. Schwager's book. This latest edition from my favorite author attracted me a lot since it is about "unknown" market wizards like me, LOL... so, the topic itself sounds really appealing to me!

As usual, Jack D. Schwager never disappointed us. This book is full of insights and numerous live trading experiences from the so called "unknown". As expected, the author with his usual excellent interviewing style did his best to dig out informative side from traders. We as readers and traders surely benefited by reading this book.

There are few that featured in this book really caught my attention. First, Jason Shapiro. I love his contrarian way... a way that I had been practicing for so long without realized that it is a contradict way of life! His contrarian ways are best explained in the book on the topic of bubble. When everyone is talking about a bubble and nobody actually owes it, the bubble is there to stay. When somehow everybody started to owe the bubble, the bubble will burst without a hint. (Splendid idea on contrarian!) So, it is not the price that makes the market bottom on bearish or vice versa. It is all about participation. Make sense!!!

Reading Jack D. Schwager's books is always a nice thing to do. However, we as traders tend to have problem reading it. The main thing is we are sort of bias in our own way. Everything that moves along with our existing strategy tends to stay favor while we reading this book. In opposite, we will find hard to those ideas that never sounds appealing since day one. As such, a reader for Market Wizard series must stay focus and read this book with neutral state of mind. Having said that, the author as usual did well in his interviews. At times, the question asked can be some good point to be taken by readers. A good example is this: I actually find trendline breakout to be one of the most unreliable signals. But that perception is a consequence of knowing where to draw the trendline with the benefit of hindsight. Another good point from this book (which the previous series of market wizards also pointed out same perspective) is there are some opposite techniques being used by two different traders. Yet, it proved to work since the trades presented in this book are all successful traders. A good example is the contradict approach on  trendline by Peter Brandt (use only horizontal breakout and never use trendline breakout) versus Jeffery Neumann (use only trendline breakout). End of the day, both methods work. That is the best part of trading. There is simply no single correct trading method!

Having read all market wizards by this author, I actually prefer all previous version compared to this. As usual, I will list out some good points below which are extracted from the book. However, this time around, I omitted few traders for the first time. This never happened when I read other market wizards. Well, there are two reasons. First, I simply do not agree with some of the idea presented. Secondly, I am in my 18 years into trading. So, perhaps I evolved along the way (I hope I am, haha) and there is nothing new under the sun. In view of that, I am going to rate this book at 6/10. Well, this book still served as one of the book that traders must read. However, one round of reading is adequate and there are not much surprises. Last but not least, listed below are some nice quotes from the book: 

Peter Brandt:

He took much smaller positions than he could. If your could protect your capital, you would always have another shot.

A popcorn trade is what I call a trade that you have profit on and then ride it all the way back down to where you got in. I try to avoid popcorn trades now. 

I used to trade patterns like symmetrical triangles and trendlines, which I no longer do. I only trade patterns where the breakout is through a horizontal boundary.

I don't want to know my open trade equity. So, I graph my equity based on closed trades only.

Optimizing your trading approach for the last series of trades is not a solution. I try to keep trading the same way. That's the only way I'll come out of a drawdown and get back on track. 

Strong opinions, weakly hold. Have a strong reason for taking a trade, but once you are in a trade, be quick to cut if it doesn't behave as expected.

Jason Shapiro:

To make a contrarian trading approach work, a method for timing entry into the markets:

1. Taking positions counter to the extremes of speculator market positioning.

2. Timing the entry into such positions based on market action.

Watching financial TV programs can be useful in your trading - as a contrarian indicator!

Have stop loss on every positions.

Managing increased risk of higher correlation markets by reducing overall positions size and by seeking inversely correlated trades to add to the portfolio.

You know you can identify traders or commentators who are reliably wrong - a task far easier than finding those who are reliably right - then their opinions could well be useful in a contrarian sense. 

Richard Bargh:

I used to have a habit that whenever I lost money in the market, I would spend less money. That type of attitude only causes your mindset and body to get tight, which stop you from trading well because you don't want to take any risk. A counterintuitive concept is to spend more when losing.

You don't have to exit a profitable trade all at once. Even if a trade reaches your target, it may make sense to keep a small portion of the positions, so you get some additional profit if the market keeps moving in the direction of original trade. 

Missed trades can be more painful and more expensive than trading losses.

The damage from a bad trade often extends well beyond the loss on the trade itself. By shaking up a trader's confidence, such trades can lead to missing winning trades the trader would otherwise taken. The resulting missed profits can often exceeded the loss on the original trade.

Amrit Sall:

I now know that 90% of the time, the market is not going to provide any opportunities, and 10% of the time, I will make 90% of my profits.

In the past, I have tended to implement trading ideas in a single market. I now try to execute trade ideas in multiple correlated markets.

Traders have to ask themselves whether they can handle being right only 30% of the time, or do they feel they have to be right day after day? 

Daljit Dhaliwal:

The reward/ risk ratio of a trade is dynamic and can change dramatically as the trade is held. Consider that you implement a trade, looking for a 300 point gain and risking in 100 point loss. If the market then moves 200 points in favor of the trade, the reward/ risk is now drastically different than when the positions was implemented. Dhaliwal manages the dynamic nature by taking partial profits. He argues that holding the entire position until it is exited is an attempt to be 100% right, at the risk of being 100% wrong. Taking partial profits as a trade moves in your favor not only responds to the fact that the reward/ risk of the trade is changing, but it is also another risk management tool. Another way of adjusting to the changing reward/ risk of a trade is to tighten the protective stop.

John Netto:

I want to be focus and still feel some anxiety when adding positions. In contrast, if I exhale in relief after a positions has gone my way and feel too relaxed, that is a warning sign of a possible impending market reversal. 

When you lose money in the market, let it go. Be on guard against the urge to make money back by taking previously unplanned trades. 

Jeffrey Neumann

Neumann enters his trade at the very point of breakouts from long downtrend lines - the earliest possible technical signal of a trend transition. Of course, this type of entry point often results in buying multiple false breakouts before a valid breakout occurs. But, Neumann gets out immediately if the breakout doesn't follow through.

Super Trader: Make Consistent Profits in Good and Bad Markets

This is my 4th visit on this book. Amazing, till today, I still have the urge to reread this book. My last read was in year 2017. Three years back, I rated this book at 10/10. Let us see whether this book still attracts me after three long years... 

This time around, I felt quite bored especially the front part of this book. I may had improved over the years. I may had stop learning over the years. Basically, there are a lot of possibilities behind that. However, when I flip into Part 3 on developing the system, my mood immediately swung back. Yes, I got the answer. The part 1 and part 2 did not sounds appealing to me anymore as I had been doing the same routine task for almost 17 years!!! Unfortunately, Part 3 still sounds good to me as it seems I am still learning on the trading path. One of the main reason was on the changes of trend over the years. As we all know, trend following no more serves as a holy grain to traders for some time. The advance technology not only made the world faster. In fact, it was on rapid speed every year in the world of trading. As such, the theory in this book especially on playing around with R stuff (the initial risk) becomes more and more important these days. 

Overall... after finished this book, the fourth visit still seems to be a worth visit. This is a book that needs to revise and refresh every now and then. End of the day, the pace on the market obviously changed. However, the price is still the price. We traders are evolving each year as according to the market's evolvement. In view of that, for a full rating of 10; I am going to rate this book at 7/10. I hope that I have the chance to rate this book at 1/10 in the future. If I keep on coming back and rerated this book at high, it means I actually stop learning. Finger cross that the day of 1/10 will come soon... 

你的煩惱，哲學家早有答案

哲学。。。这个领域曾经是我的最爱！可能以前看了太多这类书籍，因此这几年不太热衷于这个曾经的最爱，哈哈。这回，基于工作需要，因此需要恶补这一块。

结果是。。。这本书还真的挺有趣的。。。第一，里头列出的烦恼的确是一般凡人所面对的烦恼。当然，如果你不是凡人，这本书你可以抛到云霄之外。作者很巧妙的把古人（顶级聪明的古人）一些理论套用在凡人的问题上。这方面，作者做的非常到位。第二，作者的文笔（虽然是翻译的）也是堪称一绝。哲学理论基本上挺闷的。但是，这本书读起来轻松而且很有趣。第三，虽是翻译书，但是，如果没察觉，还真的感觉不到翻译的效果。

赞赏的方面是有。但，批判也是需要的。作者虽然巧妙的把古人的智慧套用在凡人的问题上；但是往往也造成对号入座的问题。有些哲学理论显然一开始应该不是这样运用的。但，作者为了满足读者的需求，却硬生生的把这些伟大理论套用在凡人的身上。创意是有，但造作肯定也不少。再来，哲学的伟大在于思想精髓。既然是思想精髓，那么把伟大的哲学套用在凡人的琐碎问题上，岂不是大材小用吗？

再来，这本书如果纯粹的把它当作是哲学书籍来阅读，可能效果会更好。很多时候，这本书让我陷入哲学的思考中。整个过程彷佛回到哲学领域多过凡人的问题上。第一，书里凡人的问题，我不完全有。第二，因为作者尝试把哲学的理念解说的太清楚，往往我都忘了我在看着凡人的问题。整本书的概念是对的。借由凡人的问题把哲学领域推上另一个高峰的确是作者创意的一面。但是，阅读本该是学习+愉快！这方面，混乱的搭配有时反而引起反效果。

满分十分，个人给予六分。这本书整体上挺有趣，读一读无妨。但是，如果要深入了解哲学这本书顶多只能是一本初级版的哲学书。评分不高（也不低吧），还是有些语录值得深思的。以下语录与天下烦恼的凡人共勉之：

亨利 柏格森：
我们企图利用看得到的空间，类比，管理时间这种看不见的东西，借此有效的不浪费地使用时间。原本应该让自己的时间活得丰富精彩，获得自由的我们，因为受到对他人的承诺与社会规范的约束，误以为使劲的把时间填满，就是过的充实。我们对此毫无反省。

马克斯 韦伯：
舍弃对财富的执念，勤奋工作的人，最后才会成为有钱人。
尚若世上有推动我们人类的动力，绝不会是金钱本身。

亚里士多德：
暂时忘掉未来的目的和计划，让自己一头栽进当下想做的事情，应该要做的事。
不管结果如何，享受过程的一切。唯有不随便，尽全力享受过程的人，才能在关键时候做出最好的表现。

德勒兹：
即便是封闭，让人窒息的职场环境，仔细观察，其实充满了各种可以逃离的缝隙，有着许多机会的希望场所。

释迦摩尼：
放下过去的记忆，或是对未来的不安，恐惧的执着，集中精神于当下。
禅让我们从烦恼的人，变成观察烦恼的人。

尚保罗 沙特：
即便一开始和帅哥美女距离遥远，人只要凭着正确的意志和努力，往反方向奋力一跳也有机会终成眷属。

弗德里希 尼采：
生命这个东西不断的兜圈子。无论是幸福愉快的经验还是不想回忆的失败经验，最终都会因缘而结合在一起。
我们要去爱，享受那大起大落的人生。

米哈里 契克森米哈伊：
拿自己的身份状态跟别人比较，以证明自己优于他人；或是相反，觉得自己不优秀，落后别人，而感到低劣他人一等；无论那一种都是自卑情结，没有差别。

汤馬士 霍布斯：
随时提高警惕，唯有紧张兮兮到病态的程度才能存活。
多疑是存活的必备条件。
我毕生的热情，都投注在恐惧上。

阿尔弗雷德 阿德勒:
被看不起本身并不是问题。以为被看不起而感到在意，误以为别人的课题是自己的课题才是问题。
人只要在觉得自己有价值时，才有勇气进入人际关系。在外面的世界，即便被看不起也能不动声色，尽可能的充实自己的内在。这样做，就能做到课题分离了。

汉娜 尔兰：
若未能从过去的行为解放，我们的行动能力就会一直受到过去某个失败所束缚，而无法修复人与人之间的关系。
与报复相反的原谅，可以让对方和自己，从最初犯下的错误，以及报复可能引发的连锁当中获得自由，进而与断绝关系的人和解。

格欧尔格 W 黑格尔：
敌对的你和我，因为互相理解变成我们。一起往上提升才是最重要的。

丹尼尔 康纳曼：
人无法做出理性的判断。统计学的期望值例子。选择麻痹（选择越多，人反而无法选择或是直接放弃选择）
人具有这样的倾向：一旦做了决定，这个决定就会一直跟着自己，影响之后的人生。

叔本华：
让自己沉溺在兴趣之中，享受孤独，研究自己喜欢的东西，专注在独自一人能做的工作，才能度过有意义的孤独时光。孤独并不可怕。
喜爱孤独的人，犹如手中握有金矿。

Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World

The man who fooled Wall Street, Hollywood? I would say he's the man who fooled the whole universe too, LOL.

This is a book that every Malaysian are so familiar with.... after all, we had been exposed to the details of 1MDB scandal since many years ago.  Being a Malaysian, I thought I know enough on the whole scandal. However, this book opened my eyes to more details that I wish to know. Credit must be given to the authors. You guys have put on hard work in collecting all the information. Well done!

I spend almost a month to finish this book. The story is so fascinating that I just cannot put it down. Perhaps this is due to the facts that the said scandal happened in Malaysia. If it happened elsewhere, I may not be so keen to explore further. The story begins in Penang and crosses the globe through Abu Dhabi, New York, Vegas towards Bangkok and China, where the mighty Low could be hiding right now. I am so amazed by the details analysis by WSJ reporters. Imagine, the brand of champagne was mentioned even though I do not give a damn on what they drank, haha! Further to this, tons of interview with dozens of peoples involved are presented in this book. So, it strengthen the facts that this scandal really happened such a way even though many will find it hard to believe. So, to sum it up, the authors did their part and it is a great effort in producing this book.

The flaw side... First of all, I thought many details on financial fraud were not explained. The whole "trick" was more like a story telling. Being in the finance industry myself, I found it hard to explain on the due diligence side. Well, some might argue that there are always some loopholes behind the rules and regulation. However, the facts that many mighty banks were involved and the said banks are all being "deceived" easily? Hard to believe... Secondly, this story is actually a super complex story to follow. We in Malaysia are exposed to the details almost daily. So, for us to understand the whole story is not difficult. However, a friend of mine in Australia found it messy. According to him, he lost interest after flipping for few chapters. So, the structure of this book may have some problems for those who are not familiar with the whole scandal.

For a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 8. Well, there are some unanswered doubts especially on the tricky banking side. However, I do get more details as what I wish for. There are rumors there is a movie coming up on this book. Wow... really looking forward to see the movie!

汤镇玮100种风水化煞绝招

虽然对于风水开始有点腻，但是之前买下了这本书；那就啃掉它吧。。。

2018个人的最后一本风水书。。。想不到，还挺不错的！这本书对于拥有风水知识的读者来说，非常适合。理由是，这本书简易的交代了整个风水的禁忌。然后，作者再简易的推介化煞的方法。对于有风水知识的读者，这本书简直就像一本字典！

可惜的是，所谓的化煞绝招其实都是作者苦心经营的产品。因此，除非飞到台湾；不然只能看，但买不到！

10分满分，这本书至少也值个6分吧！除了买不到的化煞绝招以外；整体上，这是一本挺称职的风水书。对于像简易了解风水点点滴滴的读者，这本书还是值得推荐的。

购物居家必懂的阳宅学

还是风水书籍。。。据说，吴老师是国际著名的易学大师。基于本人对于易学一直存有好感，因此这本书一开始就很吸引我。

读完整本书后；果然，我还是比较偏向易学这一块。吴老师这本书除了一贯的阳宅学必备的风水知识，里头也包括各类易学的精华。本书简单易懂。一般对于风水概念不是很深的读者都能轻易领悟吴老师的教导。

可惜的是，后面有一小部分题材，吴老师选择简单带过。比方说，吉凶方位这一块；吴老师运用流年诸星的概念来解剖整个方位。但，书里又不加于解释。因此，读者（包括我）肯定读得一头雾水。或许是作者秉持简易的概念，因此，整本书都以简易为主。

10分满分，基于一些太简易的细节，本人给予6分。这本书其实写的挺好的。但后面的几个题材视乎太马虎了。无论如何，这本书在于风水角度来说，还是值得参考的。整体来说，这是一本简易，容易上手的风水书。至少，读者不用面对一些沉闷和啰里啰唆的风水论。

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.

老谋子司马懿

刚刚看完整套《大军师司马懿》，忽然间又开始怀念这个毕生最敬佩的偶像！上网找了找，没有什么最新关于大军师的书籍。于是，翻一番书架，把这本昔日最爱的一本书重读了一遍。

想不到的是，六年后，这本书还是那么好看。当然，爱屋及乌是一个。但是，秦涛这个作者的确是易中天和袁腾飞以外最值得捧场的历史作者。可惜的是，这位作者的书籍不多（好纳闷）。这么多年了，就是少之又少。。。

老实说，这轮阅读这本书，感觉虽好（作者的文笔还是很吸引我的）；但是，少了当年阅读时的那一份热情。可能，大军师的事迹我逐渐熟悉。其实，不只熟悉，简直是会背书了。因此，这一轮，感觉上《大军师司马懿》的连续剧更吸引我，呵呵。。。

基于熟悉度，本次阅读只能当作娱乐的效果。但是，老谋子司马懿再次提醒了我秉持多年的人生态度：做事高调，做人低调！因此，这本书还是有启发性的。10分满分，基于熟悉度，只能打个7分。有一点很肯定的是。。。这本历史书绝对不闷。历史事迹在作者的文笔下变成了一本可以轻松阅读的小说。当然，作者诙谐幽默的写作方式也让这本书添加了可读性。整体上，对于想了解司马懿事迹的读者，这本书还是值得推荐的。

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) 

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... 

The Mental Edge in Trading : Adapt Your Personality Traits and Control Your Emotions to Make Smarter Investments

Larry Williams... a well-known name in the world of trading. This book is written by his son, Jason Williams. Even the father, Larry Williams was shocked by the research done on this book. So, how can I miss it?

At the end... what a well-written book. This book focuses on the human personality and the natural born traits that take every trader to another level. The author tried to find out certain trait that helps to make a successful trader. At the same time, there are certain characters which serve as the major obstacles for traders around the world. In this book, we have insights and deep studies into each character that helps us to become a better trader.

In addition, the author included real life examples by providing tons of studies cases via the dialogue with some well-known traders. I love this part a lot. It tells us how each character trait plays its role. I personally benefited a lot from reading this book. At the end, I found where my strengths and weaknesses are and it helps to improve my mentality as a trader.

On the cons... Unfortunately, the author did not provide further info on how to work on with the traits that we already have. According to him, traits cannot be changed. Hence, we have no choice but to live with it. However, I personally saw the changing of my personality throughout my trading years. In the initial state, perhaps it is so hard to change. However, the cruel side of trading will changed our personalities along the way. I wish the author could elaborate more on this book. Unfortunately, what we have is merely a book with details studies on the subject without much solution.

Rating wise, I am going to rate this book at 6/10. As I mentioned above, this book could be better if the author are more proactive in providing solutions. Overall, it is still a good book to read on. At least, we understand ourselves more and we understand how great traders perform with their naturally born characters.

Some nice quotes from the book:

Every move you make while you trade is surely being watched by the harshest and most critical judge of all: yourself. In trading, generally you are the only one who is putting the immense pressure on yourself to succeed. As the saying goes, you turn into your own worst enemy.

The only way to overcome the anxiety associated with performance is to keep performing the act or behaviour over and over until, it is no longer anxiety-provoking.

The psychological term is "habituation." It means that the more you expose yourself to an anxiety (instead of trying to avoid it), the sooner your body will learn to deal with the anxiety, and the sooner the anxiety will dissipate. 

It can be very uncomfortable process to force yourself to remain in an anxiety-provoking situation when your mind is telling you to get out of it. But it is the only way to overcome this problem.

Many traders have difficulty admitting to their spouses or others if they are in bad trade They may either deny it or minimize it. Not just because of the financial setback, but because it may reflect poorly on them as a person.

The best traders have low anxiety levels; this is true. But you need to understand your own strengths and weaknesses and then adapt to them. 

Avoid trading systems that are very active in terms of frequency of trades, because you will need time to reset your emotions, and if your trading style is too active, this will not happen.

You feel you are a loser? Use the four S- Stop sign, Shout it out, Substitute, Sustain.

Amateur traders tend to use trading as a distraction from their day jobs, with the hope of changing their current life condition into something more desirable. 

"I have no expectation about the results of a trade." In fact, this was a consistent theme we heard over and over while interviewing top market traders. They also frequently make reference to "not doing it for money."

Making a living from the markets is the business objective, and ultimately, if I couldn't earn a living from the markets, I will certainly do something else. But the design process is what I am most passionate about in this work.

As long as I keep my trading style as boring as watching a vegetable garden grow, my anxiety and my anger and my impulsivity are kept under wraps. To me it means having my timing and selection work in a very systematic module.

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... 

The Future of Finance: How Private Equity and Venture Capital Will Shape the Global Economy

This book attracted me when I notice the author ran the Asian Venture Capital Journal for fifteen years in Hongkong. With such a background, the author should be able to provide us in-depth coverage with the help from dozens of industry experts.

At the end... yes, the author did it. Since he had access to all of the top players in financial world, we have a lot of case studies and details discussion throughout the whole book. The author is very brave in this case. First of all, he needs to dig deep into the entire information gathered before expose it out to the public. Secondly, the author gathered the said info and provides his own forecast and prediction towards the future. Since this book was written many years ago (the subprime era), certain things may not be applicable to the current environment. However, it is certainly not out-dated. That tells the whole story.

Rating wise, I am going to rate this book at 7/10. This is actually an excellent book to read when it was published. But, since we are half way towards the end of 2017, the forecasting by the author may sounds not so interesting. After all, we more or less found the answer in the real world. Having said that, I have no hesitation to recommend this book. This is a well written book with deep insight on the world of finance. 

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.