Reading Copy Book Blog

If you have a million dollars then you are simply middle class in America according to a new book. Discuss. The mere fact that this book even got published says a lot about America.

Forbes.com has the best books on investing. I won’t be reading these books - what’s the point? I can’t make an investment with my life savings of an old button and a packet of M&Ms, although this one sounds OK…..

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, by Edwin Lefèvre

For pure entertainment, this book is hard to beat. It was first published in 1923 as a novel. Lefèvre follows the life and times of Larry Livingston, a fictitious name for Jesse Livermore, one of Wall Street’s shrewdest traders.

Hugely entertaining, this is an insider’s view of the stock market in the wild, unregulated days of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Livermore was a speculator who made and lost several fortunes. He never considered himself an investor and didn’t mind being long or short, so long as he was right. Correctly assessing that he would never catch the top or bottom, he would wait for a trend to develop and then jump in. In today’s market he’d be called a momentum investor.

What keeps this book so popular after 84 years? Livermore’s advice on exploiting fear, greed and the herd mentality are just as relevant today as they were then

I love stories about exceptionally expensive objects whether they are pizzas, cars or, in this case, a diamond-encrusted book that’s worth £3 million, according to the BBC. Made-to-order copies, complete with 600 sparklers built into the cover, of Dancing With The Bear are apparently ideal for Russian billionaires. The book is an account of how the author, Roger Shashoua, made a fortune in post-Soviet Russia. If you are not a Russian billionaire and perhaps just a rank-and-file American millionaire, then you can pick up an ordinary copy from AbeBooks for about $25 plus shipping

The Blue Book of the Hamptons is an insight into the rich and famous from one of America’s most sought-after enclaves.

Hardbound, shrink-wrapped and priced at a whopping $70, The Blue Book of the Hamptons 2007 is indeed a kind of illicit read. In essence, it is a local directory for the area’s wealthy, socially connected residents, many of whom belong to nearby country clubs. But it is also a pared-down version of the Social Register, one that takes entry only by application and plays into the vanity of both new and longtime Hamptons residents.

It’s time to find those unpublished manuscripts. There’s money on the table.