* Shipping estimates are based on Ground shipment within the contiguous U.S. If you notice a problem, you can report a pricing error or problem.
Overview of current deals for the The Alchemy of Finance (Wiley Investment Classics):
6 merchants offer International Shipping or Worldwide shipping.
1 merchant has Express Shipping options.
The Alchemy of Finance (Wiley Investment Classics) Specs:
Product Name
The Alchemy of Finance (Wiley Investment Classics)
Manufacturer
John Wiley & Sons
Product Number MPN
0471445495
Retail Price
$19.95
EAN-14
09780471445494
UPC
978047144549
Specifications
Title
The Alchemy of Finance, The Alchemy of Finance (Wiley Investment Classics)
ISBN
0471445495
Author(s)
George Soros, Paul A. Volcker, George Soros, Paul A. Volcker
Release Date
25 July, 2003, 2003-07-25
Format
Paperback
Num of Pages
416
Num. of Items
1
Weight
1 lbs.
Deal first added on:
20-January-2004
Tags
Find other products that have similar tags to the The Alchemy of Finance (Wiley Investment Classics)
Business / Economics / Finance Business & Economics Business/Economics finance Investments & Securities - General Accounting - General financial markets
Although the book is a bit lengthy, Soros concept of reflexivity in financial markets is a highly relevant one.
"Good discussion on feed back loops but fails to deliver solid advice."
2008-08-18
- Reviewed By User: A1EA62CSC5JHMX
How to become a billionaire? don't look here. In the end Soros provides no cookbook ways to become a billionaire. He is very intuitive and that ultimately determines his success. In the book, Soros documents his investment experience as if each is a scientific experiment. The price movement ultimately determines if his theory is correct. If he is wrong he dumps his investment. Extreme discipline. Most of us claim the market (or Mr. Market as Buffet says) is wrong and over time we will be right. Soros claims that price makes its own realities. The way he uses leverage is also a mystery at times he appears to be completely un-leveraged - rare in the hedge fund world.
The only gold in the book is his discussion of feed back loops. This I feel is so relevant to today's financial and real estate crisis. In a rising housing environment Loan to Value ratios go down, this creates success for the lender. The desire to loan is high and the supply of available money drives up prices further feeding this loop. In a declining real estate model the loan to value ratio increases exposing the lenders risk making it undesirable to lend no matter what the interest environment. The lender is stuck he can hope that his loan portfolio will be paid down or he can sell them for a loss in the open market. With loans hard to find and lenders wanting more money and higher qualifications from borrowers this assures there will be fewer buyers (buyers market). This feeds the downward loop with loan to value ratios rising even more as prices fall.
Honestly this book was hard to follow and I'm still not sure how Soros does it. He is an excellent thinker but I think this book was over the top for me.
"Soros's uncertainty principle is a vague form of Keynesian Uncertainty,not Heisenberg uncertainty"
Soros has written a thoughtful and interesting book.However,there is nothing that is new theoretically.It was all said in a much more detailed and specific form in Keynes's A Treatise on Probability(TP;1921),where uncertainty(Soros's uncertainty principle-see pp.6-10,40) was analyzed mathematically using the variable called the weight of the evidence,w, in chapter 26( the weight of the argument in chapter 6 provided the logical analysis).Keynes used the term uncertainty in the GT to denote the same basic phenomenon applied to decision making involving a significant lack of knowledge and information on (a) investment in long lived durable capital goods subject to technological innovation over time(Daniel Ellsberg's nearly identical concept of ambiguity improves on Keynes's completely original formulation),(b)financial markets, and (c)liquidity preference decisions concerning the amount of liquid assets to hold for speculative purposes.Keynesian expectations are liable to sudden changes because they are not representable by the normal distributions's standard deviation(Risk),which is the basic foundation of E Fama's Efficient Market Hypothesis,Milton Friedman's Monetarism,Robert Lucas's rational expectations,and Prescott and Kydland's real business cycle theory,etc.Keynes's analysis appears in chapter 12,pp.239-241 of chapter 17, and in pp.314-320 of the General Theory(1936;GT).It is interesting to note that Soros's own method of dealing with uncertainty,by using one's instinct and intuition ,is identical to the manner in which it was handled by Keynes.
Practically all of the examples from the financial markets used by Soros to show how his uncertainty principle(the reference to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle is defective since the probability distributions are known.What Heisenberg meant by uncertainty was risk.Only one of the two hypothesized probability distributions in Heisenberg's example can exist at any one moment of time) is operationalized could just as easily have been mistaken for Keynes's chapter 12 analysis in the GT.The value in Soros's book is that it provides a more modern set of examples that updates Keynes's chapter 12 analysis of how uncertainty impacts decision making.Risk is a very special case that occurs when there is no uncertainty about the future.Uncertainty automatically makes probability estimates indeterminate.They become intervals. Soros will have to be much more specific in the future about his uncertainty principle(reflexivity) so that a reader will be able to differentiate what Soros has done from what Keynes did(one must also mention Frank Knight's and Joseph Schumpeter's contributions in this area,although they are not nearly as specific and technical as the contributions of Keynes and Ellsberg).
Soros needs to be devote much more time to reading and digesting Keynes's works.The few one liners that refer to Keynes in this book illustrate that Soros has not done all of his homework yet.A clear cut comparison -contrast between Keynes and Soros would allow a reader to decide what is original in Soros's approach and what is merely a variation on Keynes's theme of uncertainty impacting many of the most important financial and investment decisions that will determine the future.
"Unreal!!"
2008-04-24
- Reviewed By User: AMN4MBZ5O9BN2
I ordered the wrong product and I requested that the order be cancelled. I submitted my request on a Friday. I did not get a response until Monday afternoon. My request was made before the ship date but seller would not cancel. Now I have to go through the trouble of returning it.
I found this book to be quite disappointing. Soros talks about his financial investments with extremely dense prose, using some words I think are made up, and thoroughly unenlightening. He relates his "experiments", but they are not real ones in the sense of controlled scientific experiments. graphics annotations are unhelpful, tables of trades unenlightening.
As successful as he was/is, I was excited to get this book, but cannot recommend it at all.
Last updated: Nov 23, 2009 at 03:27 EST. Pricing information is provided by the listed merchants. GoSale.com is not responsible for the accuracy of pricing information, product information or the images provided. Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on amazon.com or other merchants at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product. As always, be sure to visit the merchant's site to review and verify product information, price, and shipping costs. GoSale.com is not responsible for the content and opinions contained in customer submitted reviews.
International Available
"Lengthy but worthwhile"
"Good discussion on feed back loops but fails to deliver solid advice."
"hard to follow"
"Unreal!!"
"obfuscation at its finest"