Best new trading book I've read this year...

richtrader · May 19, 2003

I just got back from a weeklong vacation, during which time I read "A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market", by John Allen Paulos, cover to cover. It is brand new.

It doesn't give specific techniques for trading, but definitely gives a lot of different things to think about. I enjoyed it more than Fooled by Randomness. Make sure to read the whole thing because there are some interesting conclusions near the end.

Has anyone else read this book yet?

nitro · May 19, 2003

Quote from richtrader:

I just got back from a weeklong vacation, during which time I read "A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market", by John Allen Paulos, cover to cover. It is brand new.

It doesn't give specific techniques for trading, but definitely gives a lot of different things to think about. I enjoyed it more than Fooled by Randomness. Make sure to read the whole thing because there are some interesting conclusions near the end.

Has anyone else read this book yet?

Yes, I did. But I read it mostly for entertainment value.

nitro

alfonso · May 21, 2003

Quote from richtrader:

I just got back from a weeklong vacation, during which time I read "A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market", by John Allen Paulos, cover to cover. It is brand new.

It doesn't give specific techniques for trading, but definitely gives a lot of different things to think about. I enjoyed it more than Fooled by Randomness. Make sure to read the whole thing because there are some interesting conclusions near the end.

Would you care to share what some of those conclusions are?

I just checked it out on Amazon, and I read this in one of the editorial reveiws:
"..never able to resist a joke, he tells one about how many efficient market theorists it takes to change a light bulb. "Answer: None. If the light bulb needed changing the market would have already done it.".

LOL.

richtrader · May 21, 2003

Quote from alfonso:

Would you care to share what some of those conclusions are?

I just checked it out on Amazon, and I read this in one of the editorial reveiws:
"..never able to resist a joke, he tells one about how many efficient market theorists it takes to change a light bulb. "Answer: None. If the light bulb needed changing the market would have already done it.".

LOL.

He talks about Mandelbrot and fractals, Barbasi and power laws, and a discussion about how if the market is really random, we may never be able to prove it.

Like I said, it doesn't give trading recipes or suggestions, but many topics for further thinking.

Another efficient market joke from the book: two efficient market theorists are walking down the street. They spot a hundred dollar bill on the sidewalk and pass it by, reasoning that if it were real, it would've been picked up already.

The book is entertaining, but is serious underneath.