Quote from Kovacs:
Could you recommend an intro book for the layman?
If you want a VERY rudimentary broad and comprehensive coverage of all these types of analysis , try:
Trading Systems and Methods, Kaufman
He makes a great effort to provide a detailed encyclopedia of methods that have been attempted towards markets
(DSP, markov chains, kalman, etc..),
even dedicating a chapter to the more esoteric psuedo-astrology type stuff.
Keep in mind it is very a rudimentary survey, and most ideas are not explored much further. But if you are looking for ideas to explore (even some laymen accessible concepts on time-series, ARMA, etc..), there are plenty covered here.
http://www.amazon.com/Trading-Syste...=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235550133&sr=8-6
You'll come across so many ideas it will make your head spin.
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There are of course, plenty of more rigorous texts that require a higher level of math, if that's your thing.