I have both the Sands $200 course and the turtletrader $1000 course. (Yes, I, like most traders have spent my time looking for the Holy Grail)
Here is my short review of each book:
Sands Book:
This book is very Poorly written. It is full of photocopied pages from his advisory service that are meant to give you a background into his thinking over the years. Yes, you do learn about how he trades the system, but it sure was a lot of work to pull out his rules.
There are a few chapters before all the photocopied advisory service pages that go into some depth on the turtle trading system itself. Again, you really have to work to figure out what he is talking about. There is a page with some easylanguage code, but if I recall correctly it really only supports single contract trading, which cancels out a big portion of the strength of the turtle system.
Turtle Trader Course:
I purchased this book several years ago. This book was one of my my first exposures to the concept of position sizing techniques as part of your money management strategy. The material was also poorly written, but not as bad as the Sands course. There is a lot of "fillerâ material in the book too. Also, I didn't like the fact that all the rules are not summarized in any one spot. You still are forced to piece together the entire system yourself as you read through the book.
Overall, my recommendation would be to avoid purchasing either of these books. If you are interested in learning about long term trend trading systems that emphasize money management (position sizing) over entries and exits then I would recommend that you read Van Tharp's book, "Trade you way to Financial Freedom" It covers all the same material and spends a lot more time doing it. Plus it's a lot more understandable than either of the above two books.
my .02