This book opened a new door to me. I remember to grow ever more enthusiastic as I read through its pages for it showed me a whole new world. A gust of fresh air made me realize the overwhealming advantages of partly owning a great company in the stock market at a reasonable price as a small investor. I quit looking at the stock market as a simple casino and turned serious attention to it for long term investment. Not only did I find the studying of different companies by fundamentals and the process of investing very fun, but also financially very rewarding.

Today I want to thank from these pages Warren Buffett and Robert Hagstrom for contributing to the spread of financial common sense in a world where the lack of it is stunning. And above all, for the privilege to read this masterpiece on investing and get an insight of Warren Buffett investment style.

This book is strongly undervalued and should be bought by everyone that cares about his financial future. Strong buy recommendation. Full of wisdom and fun to read. And I owe to it my personal financial success, averaging 40% yield per year, just applying the investment principles taught here.

Superb.

This latest updated 623-page paperback (the index alone is 33 pages) version updated by Jason Zweig is a welcome addition to this classic. The original chapters are intact, but with footnoted comments by Zweig. Moreover, he provides his own commentary on each chapter contents in a separate chapter following each original chapter. He provides extensive research, charts, tables and commentary that updates the book to the present years. He is not afraid to take on the big guns of Wall Street and show how wrong they were in some of their extremely bullish predictions during January-March 2000, when the market was at its peak.

The first nine chapters cover investing basics that all investors could benefit from. There are many truisms spouted on Wall Street that are not really true. These chapters provide the investor with a realistic picture of how Wall Street works and what investors need to do to come out ahead.

Chapters 10-20 focus strictly on fundamental analysis, stock selection, convertible issues and warrants, and other subjects. Investors who plan to invest directly in stocks should make sure to read these chapters. However, for readers more interested in investing in mutual funds, and in particular index funds, they need not concern themselves with all the detail in these chapters unless they have the time or interest in the subject matter presented.

In conclusion, the combination of pioneer Ben Graham's original work coupled with Zweig's meticulous and enjoyable update, make this a remarkable book about investments and investor behavior that every new and experienced investor should read. Of the 500 investing books that I've read, this one certainly is one of the greats of all time.

Ike Iossif

President, Chief Investment Officer.

Aegean Capital Group, Inc

The book does cover a lot of ground in not very much space, and the pace of the argument is at times too fast. But the throughline of the argument is almost always clear, and the stories Surowiecki tells are often memorable. The chapter on NASA's mismanagement of the Columbia mission and the tale of how a man named John Craven relied on collective wisdom to find a lost submarine are especially striking.

This is one of those books that I expect people will still be talking about and referring to years or even decades from now. It's also a book that I hope will have a concrete impact on the way that people make decisions, since the implications of Surowiecki's argument are radical in the best way.

He also makes the point that the S&P 500 is made up of the 'leaders' of the market, and so it is the best investment. (better than, say, a total market fund such as Wilshire 5000).

My only complaint is that he doesn't clearly explain what he means at the beginning of the book when he says things like "Imagine if all the cars you ever owned (or will own), plus your house, plus other major expenses were all in your PEA (personal endowment account) compounding for life?" What he is trying to say (and eventually does) is that if you have any free cash, it should be invested in the market. You shouldn't pay cash for your house, cars, or anything you can buy on credit at a reasonable interest rate. (less than the expected rate of return in the market) This is an important concept, and the most original one in the book. He should emphasize it clearly earlier in the book.

The only other complaint I have is that he barely touches on IRA's and 401K's. He assumes that your long term investment is made either in addition to, or instead of within a retirement fund. He DOES say you should obtain all possible matching funds from your employer as part of a 401K. But, besides that, he doesn't get into many of the advantages or disadvantages of using retirement accounts as part of an overall wealth building plan.

Besides that, this was a great common-sense level book with simple math in the examples, and no confusing technical jargon.
The plan does assume you will be working for most of your life, and that you don't intend to use the profits of your investments as near term income. Obviously, you have to be able to make payments on any loans or mortgages until they are repaid. Ideally, you also have more money to continue contributing into the fund, as well. I think this book is especially useful for young people who have lots of time, and few financial commitments. The crux of this book is especially if you have lots of time, put anything you can into the market as soon as possible.

The book traces the beginnings of probability theory and its evolution into insurance companies and ultimately to its contribution to the use of derivatives as a means of reducing uncertainty in the outcomes of "futures" transactions.

The book could have dealt more with behavioral economics, but when it does engage it delivers a message that is beneficial. All students, high school thru college, should be taught about risk measurement.

Man's capacity for self deception is what generates irrational decision making. The book covers this subject in ways that will not fail to impress the rader. Far better it would be if we could learn to be less emotionally involved with our investments and more by the numbers. Professional fund manager Robert Olstein's Financial Alert Fund examplifys a by the numbers value approach along with intense scrutiny as to how companies keep their books. He buys companies with excess cash flow for half of what he thinks they're worth and sells them when they go up 30%. He follows the prescription outlined in this book and beats the S&P index yearly. His is a real life example of the value of buying and selling with no emotional attachment to the investment. This book will help you understand why this approach works.

Given the collapse of the CPA-Consulting firm of Arthur Anderson and the unveiling of current corporate accounting abuses would suggest that we all could benefit from a rise in the level of our financial sophistication. This book is a good first step.