In and around Orange County, California and the World
Posted in Books, Investments on May 27th, 2008
This book, by New Yorker writer James Surowiecki counters popular notions of “the madness of crowds” with convincing arguments for why groups often come with more accurate predictions than experts. The basic theory is that the biases of individuals, if they act independently, cancel themselves out. When individuals in a group don’t act [...]
Posted in Books, Investments on Apr 24th, 2008
Is is always interesting to read investment books published years ago and figure out how someone would have done following the strategies post publication. History acquits Jim Rogers well; in the book he is bullish on oil in the mid $40s per barrel; it is trading over $100 now.Rogers is an astute student of [...]
Posted in Books, Investments on Apr 17th, 2008
The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management
An excellent history of the use of derivatives on Wall Street through the spectactular rise and fall of LTCM in four short years - from March 1994 through October 1998. The first modern swap took place in 1981 when David Swensen of Salomon, now managing Yale’s endowment [...]