Rating: 
Summary: Contains the value of any dozen ?business books?
Review: The business section of any bookstore has shelves stretching to the horizon with business books, or more specifically books about Wall Street, and how to get rich in various absurdly short periods of time. My personal favorite is "The 20 Stocks To Own Right Now", how is now defined? When the book was written, or the day the book is purchased. The title by definition makes the volume worthless. The latest section to expand exponentially is the area of "Day Trading" which is for a select few with some key talents and a massive tolerance for risk. The odds are better you will make money writing about day trading than playing the 300-500 trade a day frenzy. These are the types of books that have their moment of fame when movies like "Wall Street" and "Boiler Room" are in theaters, when those who have a career that spans the length of the current unprecedented growth populate Wall Street. The worst of these are the badly written kiss and tell books written by 20 something's who detail the evils of Wall Street that they made money from, and then they write a book when their brief fling with the street is over.Then there are the legends, the players who measure their careers not in 15 minutes, but in blocks of 15 years. They built "The Street", they have seen the hotshots come and go, at times to a minimum-security prison. They may have not bought Cisco the day it was offered to the public, but over time their success is the envy of the investing world. In this case the man is Mr. Harry Kaufman, a man who has had the ear of Presidents, and Federal Reserve Chairmen, and countless CEOS', one of who wrote the introduction to this book, Paul A. Volcker. Mr. Kaufman, Mr. Buffet, Mr. Benjamin Graham, and an additional select few, have or can lay claim to truly having the knowledge, the depth and breadth of understanding finance both domestically, and as discussed in this book, internationally as well. They burst the bubble not of the Internet, but the abandon with which an enormous percentage of today's households invest in the markets without the most basic understanding of what they are investing in. Some of the book does delve into Derivatives, Interest Rate Swaps, and some of the enormous losses incurred recently that took down the bank where the Queen Of England kept her spare change. A youngster toppled that bank if you recall. If this level of detail puts you off, the book is still an important book to own. Mr. Kaufman tells much of his story as it coincided with the rise of Solomon Brothers from its infancy to the colossus it has become, and the memory it almost became. He also explains why he left that institution with exceptional candor. He is literally one of the originators of research as it has developed to this day. Some gave him the sobriquet of "Dr. Doom" not because he was wrong, rather because he dispassionately studied markets and then explained reality, not what people wanted to hear. He invented many of the methods that are used today and are taken for granted. When "analysts" today make proclamations they stand on several sets of shoulders, and invariably included are those of Mr. Kaufman. He shares his life from a young boy who watched Hitler pass 6 feet in front of him. He explains the feeling of waiting for the splintering of the front door, as former neighbors became persecutors. And then the trip to America, and his education to the level of Doctorate prior to starting on Wall Street. He had some other odd jobs as well, like working at the Federal Reserve at a very young age. Throughout the book he constantly refers to his very young life experiences and how they influence him to this day. And the depression stories, and the immigrant stories are so numerous they at times sound like the norm not the exception. The great danger now is that these stories are becoming history as these people age and are replaced by those who have not been tested by severe life experience, but rather have grown up with little discomfort at all. When the market cycles straight down like it has before and will again, be sure to check the bookstores. There still will be nonsensical books about making millions in a Bear market, but most books will be out of print and will have resurfaced again in a recycled newspaper, that tells the story of all the college educated that cannot find jobs in the then miserable economy. This book will become a standard, for common sense is never a fad, and when men like Henry Kaufman exercise their common sense, it is something we call genius. And that genius produces a life experience this book presents, as this man never once thought in 15 minutes of fame, wrote an insipid tabloid storybook, or thought about getting rich in 5 years much less 5 weeks or days. Mr. Kaufman will not be on the cover of a magazine standing on a new $100 million toy that impresses Gorden Gecko. He will continue to expand his knowledge and continue to influence those who should be listening, for the truth often does hurt, but it is survivable, doom however is final. A brilliant work, to be included in any library, financial or otherwise.
| 
