Product Description
The True Life Story and Time-Tested Strategies of the World’s Greatest Trader
“Excellent read! Captures the spirit and times of Jesse Livermore, legendary trader. The book tracks two major market crashes, love affairs, the shooting of Jesse Jr. by his mother, and two family suicides. . . . Never a dull moment.” –Ace Greenberg, Chairman, Bear Stearns
“Terrific. I started reading it when we took off from Seoul’s Kimbo Airport on my way to Germany. By the time we reached Novosibirsk, Russia . . . I had finished it. I just couldn’t put it down! Not only is it a great lesson in investing and trading, it’s a fascinating psychological study of what makes a great speculator tick. The rise and fall of a great speculator as well as the rise and fall of his family is great reading. The fact that it is based on interviews with Livermore’s survivors and witnesses to the events makes it even more interesting. Great writing.”–Mark Mobius, Managing Director, Templeton Asset Management
“As one of the most shrewd traders of all time, Jesse Livermore demonstrated how important discipline is when trading the market. Smitten . . . covers how Livermore created his rules . . . also reviews the lessons Livermore learned along the way to develop his strategies.”–William J. O’Neil, Publisher, Investor’s Business Daily
“A stock market classic! Most entertaining and informative book on the market that I have had the privilege to read in the last twenty years. A must-read for students of the stock market–great even for those who have no knowledge of the market. Grabs you from the start and holds you enthralled from cover to cover. Great book!”–Dan Sullivan, Publisher, The Chartist, Fund Manager, and Investment Advisor
“After reading Smitten’s magnificent biography, two Japanese proverbs came to mind: ‘Fortune favors the bold’ and ‘Darkness lies one inch ahead.’ Smitten shows how fortune and darkness were integral parts of Livermore’s life . . . has the intrigue of a mystery novel and the lessons of a trading master. What more can one ask for? I eagerly recommend this book to anyone interested in history, the markets, and trading psychology.”–Steve Nison, author of Japanese Candlestick Charting
20 Mar
11:06 pm on March 20th, 2010
I think this is a very good book and I cannot understand the negative reviews that have been posted here.
I also have “Reminiscences of a Stock Operator” which I read first, and I don’t find repetition here. Although I found Remin. to be a good book as well, I think I prefer this one – being closer to the truth, and full of investment advice worth its weight in gold, where Remin. tended to hide the advice amongst the fictionalised story.
I did not find it poorly written. I found it very entertaining, interesting and educational.
I won’t go on and on about the good things in this book – if you are involved in the markets and can’t afford to take a gamble at buying it and taking a look, and throwing it in the bin if you decide for youself it is no good – if you are struggling to justify the $$$ to be able to do that, then just give up now.
I just wanted to post this review to counter the few negative reviews here, so that the few who might be turned away by them instead might reconsider. It is good, it has valuable info. in it, and it is entertaining and educational. Give it a go.
Rating: 5 / 5
12:45 am on March 21st, 2010
I have read “Reminiscences of a Stock Operator” three times now. The more I read it, the more I get out of it.
My main problem with this book is that 3/4 of the content regurgitates the events of “Reminiscences” almost verbatim. The writers approach however is to retell this story through reconstructing dialogue between Jessie (the protagonist) and all the various characters met in Reminiscences. I found this approach extremely irritating – especially since I was familiar enough with the original Reminiscences text to detect where the author had “made up” segments of the conversation using “artistic license to capture the flavor of the original conversations” (authors own admission).
The other 1/4 deals with Jessies private life, which although I found interesting, was plagued by the same “conversation reconstruction” style.
If you have already read reminiscences, and are truly hungry to learn more about Jessies private life and selected exploits after 1923 – then buy this book. If you have not read reminiscences, read it instead – you will learn far more out of the original source.
Rating: 3 / 5
1:34 am on March 21st, 2010
If you are a fan of Jesse Livermore and could only read one book on his trading and life, this would be the book to read. Many people tout “Reminiscences of a Stock Operator”, but that book actually never details Livermore’s trading system. Also, many individuals erroneously claim that “Reminiscences” detailed how J.P. Morgan personally asked Livermore to stop shorting the market during the 1929 crash, when he allegedly walked away with 100 million dollars. Since “Reminiscences” was published in 1923, this would be a neat trick. Actually, Morgan asked Livermore to stop shorting the 1907 crash, to avoid a banking crisis.
Smitten has had a lifelong interest in Livermore, and personally interviewed family members, including son Paul and late son Jesse Jr.’s wife, and has studied all of the available articles and literature on Livermore. Consequently, this book contains many details unavailable from any other published work on Livermore, including more details on his trading system and personal life.
This book also dispels the common myth that Livermore committed suicide after going broke for the last time. In actuality, when he died he had an irrevocable trust worth $1 million, and his wife reputedly removed about $3 million in cash and $1 million in jewelry from their apartment hours after he died. Livermore’s trading skills would have always allowed him to trade himself back to significant wealth. It was his lifelong battle with clinical depression that was most likely the reason behind his suicide, not his trading results.
This book’s greatest significance is the detailing of his trading system and rules, which if followed today would be just as successful, indicating that as Livermore stated, nothing really ever changes in the market except the participants. In regard to Livermore’s many busts as a trader, his only significant flaw as a trader was his complete lack of caution when he saw an opportunity, and consequently went “all in”. When he was right, he made millions, and when he was wrong, he lost millions. This tendency was exacerbated by the illiquidity and delayed quotations/information/executions of the day in which he traded.
Rating: 5 / 5
4:33 am on March 21st, 2010
While Livermore started out with nothing and died more or less bankrupt, his career in-between was genuinely meteoric. The man could turn a few thousand into a million within months, then lose it all in a couple of hours. Shows how much you can succeed (and fail) if you really put your mind to it.
This book is a worthy companion to Edwin Lefevre’s barely-fictional biographical novel REMINISCENCES OF A STOCK OPERATOR. The first 180 pages or so of this one closely mirror the story in REMINISCENCES, giving real-life names to people and places, and disgorging more details on Livermore’s non-trading life. It goes on from there to discuss his staggering 100-million dollar win during the Great Crash of 1929 (when so many other investors and traders opted for suicide to curtail their losses) and the steady, tragic disintegration of his family life and trading instincts that followed thereafter.
Smitten has produced an entertaining, briskly-moving account of the great trader’s life that doesn’t require any prior knowledge of the stock market or investing (“speculating” is a better word, as Livermore would put it). Also included are a few chapters on Livermore’s trading theories culled from his 1940 book HOW TO TRADE IN STOCKS.
Rating: 5 / 5
4:41 am on March 21st, 2010
After reading Reminiscences of a Stock Operator I was eager to learn more about Jesse Livermore’s life. This book was a big disappointment. Don’t be fooled by the relatively positive reviews. This book is poorly written. The factual information of Livermore’s life was interesting but you’ll have to wade through a lot to get at it. The recreated conversations and artistic details are particularly annoying.
I highly recommend Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. That one was hard to put down. Skip this book unless you must absolutely must know a few obscure details of Livermore’s life and don’t mind fluffy embellishment.
Rating: 1 / 5