13 book reviewed


[Review by Robert Jones 9-03]

AGAINST THE GODS (THE REMARKABLE STORY OF RISK BY PETER L. BERNSTEIN, 1996)
A difficult read that took me almost 200 pages to get to the interesting stuff. However, once I got there, I found a rich supply of jewels! Bernstein's discussions about mean reversion, risk aversion, behavioral finance, contrarian investing, corporate dividend policy, portfolio insurance, and predicting the future based on the past are all very entertaining. Some of the related passages provide practical tips when managing investments and others cause the reader to contemplate whether his or her investment approach makes sense in light of historical research and human psychology. If you don't have much time, rather than skip the entire book, try reading from Chapter 10 onwards and you won't be disappointed!

[Review by Robert Jones 12-12]

THE HEDGE FUND MIRAGE BY SIMON LACK, 2012:
A highly readable (i.e., simple) and controversial book that should be required reading for any hedge fund investor. You may not agree with some of his major conclusions but it will cause you to stop and think about hedge fund investments; furthermore, Mr. Lack provides a number of interesting stories that might lead you to strengthen due diligence inquiry before investing and during on-going monitoring.

[Review by Robert Jones 1-03]

THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR BY BENJAMIN GRAHAM, FOURTH EDITION, 1973:
After you read this book I wonder if you will have the same thought as me: Unfortunately, I was not as lucky as Warren Buffett in that I did not discover this book when I was nineteen years old! Instead I just finished the book and wished that I had read it when I was much younger. Nonetheless, this book goes a long way towards keeping one's investment ""feet"" firmly planted on the ground. Sage advice is given throughout the book and the best part is that as Mr. Graham warns investors not to go down various perilous investment ""roads"", I kept saying to myself ""yeah I did that, and yeah I messed up completely by following that road"". Whether one went down the internet trail or the Hong Kong real estate road, one can empathize with much of the advice and anecdotes that Mr. Graham provides. I urge everyone to give this book to someone young in their family to make them aware of many of the common investment pitfalls. Even though Mr. Graham wrote the first edition over fifty years ago, most if not all of the advice still applies today. Another important theme throughout the book is that of ""value investing"" and Mr. Graham's teachings in this area are carefully followed by many fund managers who focus on the value investing space. Pages 54~55 and 277 of the book succinctly summarize the foundation of the value proposition.

[Review by Robert Jones 7-14]

INVESTMENT BANKING BY JOSHUA ROSENBAUM AND JOSHUA PEARL, 2013: 
Nice easy to understan textbook explaining investment banking analysis of acquirers and targets, including analysis of discounted cash flows, leveraged buy-outs, comparable companies, and precedent transactions, from the perspective of strategic buyers and financial sponsors. A great resource for anyone involves in deals.

[Review by Robert Jones 2-20]

LEADERS WANTED: MAKING STARTUP DEALS HAPPEN BY HAMBLETON LORD & CHRISTOPHER MIRABILE, 2016:
Similar to the VC Deal Terms book briefly described below, this is another nice deal reference to have at your fingertips, especially when assessing deals in collaboration with your team or fellow co-investors.  The authers have a huge depth of deal experience and provide loads of practical, common sense considerations across a range of issues - no ivory tower academic stuff here.  It's all good, providing immediate wisdom and tips on how to handle these myriad issues.  The academic legal side has its place, but this is a book that should be held alongside books explaining legal terms and protections because more often than not a successful deal comes down to practical considerations, not how well crafted a legal document is. 

[Review by Robert Jones 9-06]

MANAGING HEDGE FUND RISK EDITED BY VIRGINIA PARKER, 2005:
An outstanding collection of risk management essays covering risks within and across hedge fund strategies. Chapter 16 by Mr. Robert Jaeger should be on every investor's desk: written in plain simple English, it offers invaluable tips for those who believe that risk is best managed relying on experience and judgment rather than black-box formulae.

[Review by Robert Jones 10-05]

MR. CHINA BY TIM CLISSOLD, 2004:
Experiences of a small group of foreign investors in China in the early to late 90's. This book will either have you laughing or crying, depending upon whether you also experienced painful losses and an emotional roller coaster ride while investing in China. As for me, I laughed uncontrollably until my wife had to leave the room on several occasions. Rather than give more of the plot away, just note that this is a must read for anyone considering investing in China.

[Review by Robert Jones 7-14]


POOR CHARLIE'S ALMANAC - THE WIT AND WISDOM OF CHARLES T. MUNGER EDITED BY PETER KAUFMAN, 2005:

An amazing compilation of Mr. Munger's wisdom and thoughts accumulated over his lifetime. There are so many quotes, stories, and accounts that it's impossible to succinctly summarize. However, one lesson sticks out more than others: learning and using a multi-disciplinary approach to avoid the 'man with a hammer' tendency of someone that uses the same tool to attack every problem. Mr. Munger also believes, and he easily convinced me to believe, that the study of psychology should be included in any eduction program because psychology pervades business and life.

[Review by Robert Jones 9-02]


REMINISCENCES OF A STOCK OPERATOR BY EDWIN LEFEVRE, 1923:
Anecdotes and experiences supposedly drawn from the life of stock and commodity speculator Jesse Livermore. A great book 80 years on. Fascinating accounts of market psychology, the importance of patience when trading, bull and bear markets, how to handle tips, admitting defeat and quickly moving on, insider trading, etc., mostly from the stand point of a technical trader.

[Review by Robert Jones 1-18]

SECURITY ANALYSIS BY BENJAMIN GRAHAM AND DAVID DODD, SIXTH EDITION, 2009:
An enormous text book, worth the read. Written by Warren Buffett's teachers at Columbia University more than 80 years ago, the book takes a skeptic's eye to the equity and fixed income market and distills wisdom. It's not an easy read, with hundreds of actual examples of what the authors were seeing in the markets and how to make sense of it all. Yet, once you pick it up you can't put it down because you know it's good for you. You know you can't go wrong learning from masters like these, who are short on hype and long on helping investors achieve their goals, which mostly revolves around avoiding mistakes and digging in to understand securities and companies

[Review by Robert Jones 1-03]

TAKE ON THE STREET BY ARTHUR LEVITT (FORMER CHAIRMAN OF THE US SEC), 2002:
Overall, this book is a good reference for individual, non-professional investors as it covers a wide range of topics to help readers understand how fund managers, brokers, and dealers obtain fee income often in subtle ways. For professionals, there are a few chapters that are worth reading such as chapters on ""plumbing"" (securities trading infrastructure) and corporate governance, and especially the Appendix which reproduces a series of letters from the US Congress and others warning the US SEC not to try and regulate certain areas of the accounting profession (prior to the blow-up of Enron - one of the letters is even from Mr. Kenneth Lay, former Enron Chairman). The latter topic will give readers a better idea of how regulation and lobbying in the US works. For readers who trade via on-line brokers, pages 30~31 of the book are a must read, and describe how hidden trading costs from market makers can often dwarf cost savings from commissions.

[Review by Robert Jones 2-2019]

VENTURE CAPITAL DEAL TERMS BY HARM DE VRIES, MENNO VAN LOON AND SJOERD MOL, 2016:
Although not an exciting book by any means, this book is a nice reference to have on one's desk when comparing actual deal terms to different alternatives.  It also provides nice, concise explanations of the meaning of key deal terms to help improve one's understanding of terms typically included in term sheets, along with negotiation tips.   And a freely downloadable term sheet template is provided in the Annex.

[Review by Robert Jones 2010]

WEALTH BY STUART LUCAS, 2008:
A member of a wealthy mid-west family in the US, Mr. Lucas also has deep experience working in the wealth management industry. This helps him articulate the benefits and weaknesses of relying on third parties to manage the wealth of a significant family investment office. I particularly enjoyed Mr. Lucas’s mentioning the word “leakage” throughout his book – this word refers to the reduction in investment returns resulting from commissions, taxes, and other market and government ‘forces’ working against all investors, and investors must constantly battle these forces to achieve satisfactory returns. Furthermore, Mr. Lucas does a great job of explaining the different choices that investment offices face when embarking on an investment program, ranging from insourcing to outsourcing and from low risk to high risk investment strategies. Must reading for family members and management of family investment offices, or those considering setting up such an office.



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