5 comments about Jesse Livermore Speculator King.

1. I read the original 1967 edition. I learned a few things that other authors seem to have forgotten about J.L.. It is a fast, and interesting read.
   Not only did Sarnoff met J.L. 3 times, but he himself started his career on Wall-Street as J.L. was exiting. It is also based on interviews with people who sorounded J.L.. Conclusion: there is too much hype around J.L..
   The plebeians want heroes, and get disappointed when they realize that their heroes are mere mortals.



2. I have several books on Livermore and until I found this one (in a second hand book shop - it is an original edition) I had taken it for granted that Livermore was some kind of superman. So how come he went bust three times and ended up committing suicide? What Sarnoff says is that Livermore was in fact a hype merchant who planted stories of his brilliance in the press and craved adulation. That many of his brilliant coups were less than brilliant (eg when he was the great bear he was also the great bull on the quiet - his positions were hedged) Sadly it all has the ring of truth about it - another hero with feet of clay?
   It may be badly written and maybe Sarnoff did not like Livermore but it is one side of the coin. On the other side of the coin we have the version from JL himself and he definitely liked Livermore. So, buy the book and make up your own mind.



3. As others have noted, I wonder what private feud lies behind Sarnoff's book. Among many strange things why wait 27 years after the subject of your bile has died before publishing this vitriolic attack? Maybe there were legal problems or he couldn't find a publisher, who knows?
   
   With regard to the point about Livermore going bust 3 times it depends on how much you think the stock market works like gambling, but a lot of the worlds greatest poker players have gone broke, often more than once. It doesn't mean that they were charlatans or hype merchants though.
   
   If Livermore really did leave a suicide note claiming that his life had been a total failure then what are we supposed to read into that? Would he liked to have been a better person? Did he think he should have used his money for some higher purpose than simply to make even more money? it's not the same thing as claiming that the man's life had been a total sham.
   
   I gave the book 2 stars only because of the personal information that had never appeared anywhere else, but really this is a strangely shoddy and utterly biased account of Livermore.



4. Read this book if you want an author who gives you the negative perspective of Jesse Livermore's life. The author believe Mr. Livermore was a complete failure who could not hold on to his money, leveraraged far to much debt, was an ego maniac, and womanizer. He also believes that the Livermore Key that was introduced in Livermore's own book was a complete fraud, designed to confuse the masses and bring them to turn their money over for directed investment by Livermore or others. Livermore is a personal hero of mind not for his looses but his ability to make millions from scratch several times, his resiliency until late in life, and his ability to keep a calm head and enjoy life. While the author reduces him to nothing but a two bit market manipulator running cash pools to change prices. While most of the facts the author is correct about, I still hold Livermore in high esteem for his ability to go long or short for gains and for his being a lifelong student of the market. Read Richard Smitten's book Jesse Livermore: World's greatest stock trader for a more reverent look at his life, or Livermore's own book How to trade in stocks for what the man himself wrote about his system.



5. This is the worst book I've ever read. There's lots of misleading information in it. The copy I bought is 1985 hard cover. I will throw it into recycle bin. I want to make sure that nobody will waste his/her time on this copy any more.The Livermore Market Key is not based on Dow Theory as the book described. In my humble opinion, Mr. Jesse Livermore's trading system is still the best in the world.

5 comments about Art Czar: The Rise and Fall of Clement Greenberg.

1. This book may be enjoyed by those deeply interested in modern art as practiced in New York in the 1940s through 60s. However, if you have only time to read one recent book on this era, buy Jed Perl's New Art City.
   
   Art Czar is about Clement Greenberg's life. Which in sum was a pathetic mess from childhood to death. He is not a noble person to read about and the fact he was a noted art critic fifty years ago does not vault him into the status of being interesting. At least not for me, and I would wager most people.
   
   The writing style of the author is basic. It certainly does not save the book from its subject.



2. This is another biography letting us know what a thoroughly bad person Clement Greenberg was with little evaluation of what the man accomplished, how he accomplished it or why he is acknowledged as perhaps the greatest art critic who ever lived. Where Rubenfeld went after him with hammer and tongs, Marquis does it with innuendo, spin and an incessant stream of disparaging adjectival phrases. Every paragraph, every account, every anecdote is worked over to make him look cruel, thoughtless, short-sighted, careless, nasty, pathetic, dogmatic, passive, neurotic and on and on. She gets facts wrong, talks constantly about his "theories" (he was not a theorist), leaps into supposition and speculation at every opportunity, lards the text with quotes from bitter associates, and demonstrates in several places that she does not understand anything about art or the simple esthetic approach he used unwaveringly during his whole career.
   
   How and why Clement Greenberg continuously draws this kind of pathologically virulent hostility is something for a social psychologist to figure out. He himself said "I have an argument with my reputation". I knew the man for 35 years, saw him often, ate with him, drank with him, argued with him, looked at at art with him - the man in this book and the man in the Rubenfeld book is not the man I knew. We need a book that sets the record straight. But then I guess the question would be, who would read it?
   
   If one could rinse out all the arbitrary negativity in this book there would be a residue of simple biographical history. There is certainly some value in that.



3. Award-winning journalist and historian Alice Marquis presents Art Czar: The Rise and Fall of Clement Greenberg, a balanced biography of the man who was arguably the most influential American art critic of the twentieth century. Drawing from unpublished and previously unavailable documents, interviews, and archives, Art Czar portrays the tangled elements of Greenberg's life, including his relationship with family, friends, lovers, and rivals. Art Czar also reveals how Greenberg's tastes and gift for rhetoric spoke to the American art scene from 1940 to the 1980s. A painstakingly accurate evaluation of the nuances of Greenberg's lasting influence as surely as it is a chronicle of the events of his life.



4. While Marquis seems to cover all the surface facts, she fails to give us a look into the theories that made Greenberg so important. And her concern with Greenberg's reputation appears slanted; for example, the controversy surrounding Greenberg's stripping the paint off the late David Smith's sculpture is defended and his detractors are summarily dismissed. It made me curious to read Rubenfeld's biography, though better yet would be to get Greenberg's Art and Culture and read what the man himself had to say.



5. A amateurish and useless read. Reads like a undergraduate paper and has the tone of a rank outsider peering into the grown up intellectual world. Pass on it.

2 comments about Staking Her Claim: Life Of Belinda Mulrooney.

1. This is a most amazing book about a most amazing woman. Mayer and DeArmond have been reasearching for more than 20 years, and many of us have been patiently awaiting the finished product. It was definitely worth the wait. They have patiently worked all the research, all the, newspaper articles, mentions in other books, census data, etc. into a well written and coherant narrative. The sum of Ms. Mulrooneys life adds up to so much more than the individual incidents. And the analysis by Mayer adds even more to our understanding of her as a person.



2. Excellent! The writers thorough research and love of Belinda's character brought the Gold Rush to life in in glorious detail. Thank you!!

2 comments about Adventures of an Economist.

1. For anyone who'd like to know what the professional life of an acclaimed economist is like, this is a great book. But two things will surprise you. First, Modigliani had an extremely poor grasp of the importance of free markets. Much of his railings against Italy's over-regulated economy were, you quickly gleam from the book, based on his opinion that it wasn't being over-regulated properly. (!!!) Secondly, he apparently never bothered to have someone edit the book. Typos, grammer mistakes and missing graphs abound, to the point where you wonder how in the world the book got published.

   I wouldn't recommend the book unless you are specifically looking for works on Modigliani's economics, or are generally curious about the career of a Nobel economist.




2. Franco Modigliani is definitely among the handful of top economists of the 20th century. This book is his autobiography in which he not only describes the events that shaped his very interesting life, but also describes in the detail the fundametals of the theories that eventually led him to receive the Nobel prize.
   
   He is well known for two ideas, the lifetime cycle of savings and the Modigliani-Miller finance theorem. Both are described in depth in the book in a simple enough way that someone with only a basic knowledge of economics will be able to understand. He also makes good arguments for the Keynesian economics camp, versus the classical economics of the Chicago school.
   
   His is a inspiring tale of an escapee from fascist Italy who accomplishes much in his new land, the US. Modigliani is torn between his homeland, Italy, and his adopted land, the US. He has maintained close ties with Italy, devoting much of the book to describe his involvement in Italian economics and a bit of politics. He also focuses on his love for America and the lasting impressions of his welcome in the country had in his life, research, and philosophy.
   
   To any economist, Modigliani should be a well known household name; his autobiography is a precious document that ought to remind economists what economics is all about, namely making the world a better place.

2 comments about Newhouse: All the Glitter, Power, & Glory of America's Richest Media Empire & the Secretive Man Behind It.

1. The book shows how American media are controlled by a single family company. It owns many of the famous and influential publishing companies, magazines, and newspapers. It is a very dangerous situation that American media are under control by the handful people. As a matter of fact, the author mentioned in the paperback edition that the Newhouse company banned any mention of this book in their publications. The book, which won the 1995 "best media book" prize, seems to be neglected, but this is a very important book that more people should read. A sole purpose of media isn't a simple means of entertainment for people, and isn't mere profit organizations for the owner either. Media have the responsibility to execute the social role, and its fair execution is questionable under such a monopoly situation. The author proposes not-for-profit newspapers, and I believe it is time to consider to go back to such a fundamental point. Through various incidents the Newhouse company have initiated, the book leads us to consider what media mean to us. It is a very good book to think what true journalism means to us.



2. This is a biography as much of a media empire as it is of a man. While Maier spends as much time as he can on the private side of S.I. Newhouse Jr., he in the end focus on what is most seen of this most private of media moguls-- his media properties.
   
   Maier uses the device of choosing figures and brands important to Newhouse history (Roy Cohn, Random House, Tina Brown, the New Yorker) and spending a chapter on each one, tracing their history in relation to both Newhouse and Advance Publications. While a good device for giving a thorough overview, be warned that it does make for a slightly disconnected read. I found that I had to flip back through the chapters to remember how events relating to particular chapters related to each other in time.
   
   Nonetheless, one of the more complete media biographies you are likely to encounter and a must read if interested in magazine history.

No comments about Legacy in Wood: The Wahl Family Boat Builders.

1 comments about Jean Monnet: The First Statesman of Interdependence.

1. 
   The book consists of two parts, part one describes how the European Union developed with a supranational dimension and the role of Monnet in its establishment. It becomes very clear that without the supranational dimension the Union would never have been established and World War III would already have taken place. This first part reads like a novel. In the second part, "The Legacy" the ideas and methods are described that Jean Monnet used to achieve a successful European Union. This review concentrates on the second part.
   It is only possible to present to few of the ideas and methods. The title of the book is interesting, " The First Statesman of Interdependence". Interdependence refers to the fact that significant change in the actions of government can only be achieved by understanding the interdependency between, the prime minister, the other ministers, the bureaucracies of the ministers, the political parties, businessmen, the financial and business community and sometimes trade unions, not of one country but of several countries. Developing a solution requires the participation of these organisations. Monnet describes many different organisation structures for this purpose. All projects had a direct line to the president or prime minister. Monnet always saw to it that a single ministry never took over responsibility as rhat was the "kiss of death" for his type of project. Yet, he recognised that unless you brought the ministries and their bureaucracies along you would fail too.
   Another key factor was the choice of the core team working directly with him. He spent a lot of his time finding the right members of the core team and did not hesitate to reject recommendations of the prime minister and of other ministers.
   One of the methods Monnet used repeatedly was the "balance sheet". The balance sheet was a summary of all the resources material and immaterial necessary to solve a problem. These balance sheets were prepared involving all the persons with power and influence on implementing a solution. The "balance sheet" has the advantage that all organisations involved have to share information. The cabinet can only make an informed decision about priorities and an action plan based on a complete and holistic picture.
   Another important concept was the need of having a powerful central "actionable" idea that appeared self-evident and obvious when presented to persons in power. Monnet spent weeks in talk-shops with a group of extremely bright and argumentative people saying nothing and only listening in the first phase, inserting a few words in the second phase, and directing the discussion in the third and final phase. The formulation of an idea could easily require 30 drafts before presentation. Monnet went never to a meeting without having a draft of what he was proposing in front of him.
   One of the ideas he pursued was that war in Europe could only be avoided by creating a European organisation to which nations operationally delegated a part of their authority. This European organisation has as a consequence a supranational dimension. This led to the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1952 with Jean Monnet at its head. That organisation was the pioneering organisation that led to the European Economic Community or EEC (called Common Market in the UK) in 1956, leading to the European Union (EU) in 1993. I interviewed Jean Monnet in 1954 as a student, very inspiring!
   Monnet believed that the cause of war is that governments pursue policies that they believe are in the national interest without considering the interests of other governments. He considered that people are born with strong egocentric tendencies that lead to nationalistic behaviour of governments. This problem can therefore only be solved by creating an institution that can reconcile conflicts between nations, with sufficient power delegated to it for making decisions that the "sovereign" nations involved accept. Emmanuel Kant was the first one to forcefully formulate this truth in his essay "Perpetual Peace" (1891). This book presents a clear picture how incredibly difficult it is to get nations to delegate some of their authority to an independent supranational organisation.
   The view in Buddhism of human nature is less pessimistic. Buddhists believe that people are born with egocentric and altruistic tendencies and that the ego-centred tendencies can be mastered by training the mind. As a matter of interest, interdependence is also a central concept in Buddhism.
   This book is of great interest to people working in politics, government and for interested NGOs and management consultants. It is also of interest to businessmen that want to understand how a government functions and/or that are looking for ideas for making radical changes in the character of their companies.

No comments about The Flight of the P Thoughts on Work and Life.

2 comments about Jack Corbett: Mariner.

1. Although it may read like fiction, Jack Corbett, Mariner is pure memoir. In November 1849, a 20-year-old Vermonter ventured down to New York City's bustling commercial waterfront and got his first, faint whiffs of sea air. He was on a mission. His physician father had dispatched young Alfrederick Hatch to crew aboard a sailing ship in hopes of ridding his son of various youthful infirmities, including asthma. According to family lore, Dr. Horace Hatch proclaimed, it would "either cure him or kill him."

   Very luckily, young Fred quickly found the ideal mentor and protector in Jack Corbett -- "a rollicking, reckless, horny-handed, hairy-chested product of wind and storm and sea and the rough and tumble of a sailor's life." The two signed on aboard a three-masted, 1,400-ton sailing ship bound for Liverpool and back. The crossing was about 3,300 miles, made all the more challenging by the late-fall, early-winter season. Hatch, under Corbett's dogged tutelage, thrived in his role as apprentice sailor, standing up to all that the sea threw at him.

   Hatch and Corbett developed a solid relationship on the crossings, but on return to New York, Corbett mysteriously disappeared, only to reappear 30 years later, knock on the office door of his former charge and now very successful financier, and become an intimate part of Fred's household as guardian for his 11 children.

   Jack Corbett, Mariner is Hatch's tribute to Corbett, penned when Hatch was in his 60s, after Corbett's death. The manuscript has remained unpublished until now.

   What could have been a workmanlike document of family history turns out to be a solid piece of literature and a page-turner to boot. Hatch's and Corbett's lives intersected with true mutual benefit, but the saga could have gone horribly wrong at many points. Hatch's father had vested a lot of faith in his asthmatic son when posting him to New York to go to sea. This gem of a book reveals just how fully that faith was justified and how a crusty sailor played a key and loving role.
   
   Written in first-person narrative, young Hatch, proves to be a fast learner aboard the 187-foot ship and quickly gains the grudging respect of his fellow crew in often harrowing conditions. His descriptions of those crew members, including the captain, the passengers, fellow crew, and most immediately, Corbett himself, reveal a canny observer of the human condition and sailors in particular:

   "The majority of sailors are naturally religious in sentiment, though they may be far from it in practice. They are firm believers in the supernatural, both divine and diabolical. To them, both God and the devil are personal realities, There are a few, however, who like their skeptical brethren ashore, believe in nothing that cannot be seen or handled or demonstrated to the senses and the reason."

   And consider this passage on sailors' temperament:

   "The sailor is not naturally brutal. For the most part he is kindhearted, submissive to authority, disposed to be peaceable when you will let him, and susceptible to decent treatment. It is only when he is goaded and bullied beyond endurance and exasperated by a sense of injustice, that the brute in him rises up and snaps at the other brute [in authority] that is worrying him ... [but] it is true that there are exceptions."

   Hatch's egalitarianism allows him to see the essential goodness that may lie behind an individual's coarse exterior. That innate attitude informs Hatch's later charity work with sailors and allows the relationship with Corbett to be rekindled after the 30-year separation.

   Hatch the writer develops a colorful voice for Corbett. One example is from a scene where Hatch is recuperating from an illness contracted after going ashore during the ship's normal turnaround and refitting in Liverpool. Corbett is caring for Hatch on the captain's orders and telling some of Hatch's sailor friends not to overstay their welcome at Hatch's sickbed:
   Now look a-here, you youngsters ... this ain't no fo'c's'le for spinnin' yarns in, nor yet no concert hall for c'rousin' an' jollyfyin', an' this `ere boy ain't no haudience fer a v'ri'ty show, not wile Jack Corbett's `esponsible fer `im to the skipper, an' you boys has got ter be qui't wen yer in `ere an' git out w'en I tells ye, or get yer `eads punched.

   A five-page glossary of nautical terms at then end of the book unravels arcane sea language.

   Hatch lays out the illiterate Corbett's weaknesses, particularly for alcohol and cursing, often hilariously, but never with disdain. That equanimity informs the whole text and makes the book a morality tale of sorts. Whether the subject is temperance or tattoos, the humor never lapses into ridicule.

   Hatch brings the same balance of respect and humor to his portrayal of Corbett ashore, after the 30-year separation, the last third of the text. It is a situation rife for comedy: the old salt plunked down in a family of thirteen. Naturally, Corbett remakes his new world in nautical terms. The initial transition is made easier by Corbett's being appointed "captain of the pier and boat landing" at the Hatch waterfront estate. When the family moves inland, his title becomes "quartermaster of the castle." Hatch's daughters try various stratagems to reform Corbett, still given to the occasional cursing rant and alcohol binge, and the humor flows. By this time, Corbett has become a trusted family intimate, and his death is truly mourned.

   Hatch's skills as a mature author leave the reader yearning for more. Pity that Hatch had not also directed his talents to analyzing his formative Vermont childhood or those very successful years as a Wall Street financier. All the more reason not to forgo this very satisfying single sample of his work.




2. Our entire family loved this book (2 adults, chlidren ages 15, 13, 10 and 8) and we were so intrigued by Alfredrick Hatch we did a little further research. Mr. Hatch liquidated much of his amazing fortune after a stock market crash to make sure none of his investment clients lost money. The Rockefellers didn't do this. The Goulds didn't do this. The Kennedys didn't do this. But for Alfredrick Hatch, his word was vastly more important than his money. By the way, you won't find this story in Mr. Hatch's book. This book wasn't written to impress. It was written to entertain and entertain it does!

No comments about Young Henry Ford: A Picture History of the First Forty Years (Great Lakes Books).