No comments about Understanding Employee Stock Options, Rule 144 & Concentrated Stock Position Strategies.

5 comments about Trading Systems and Methods (Wiley Trading).

1. This book exposes the reader to many concepts necessary to stay in the trading game. The information is well organized and presented well. It can be "a read" but would be better pursued as a study. That means thinking through the formulas presented, getting a grip on statistics and its interpretations (all in the book).
   This is a book useful for system trading (which I do) and might even have an idea or two for the discretionary trader. To point an accusatory "what stupid book" finger at Kaufman for pointing out not so readily accepted ideas (i.e. moon phase, etc.) is plain silly. There are some obsolete parts, like old computer code, but the remaining 600 pages are great.
   I wish I would have discovered this book years ago (but maybe, I would have "not gotten it" then). It is definitely one of my must have (and often consulted) books in my trading library.



2. Going more for breadth than depth, "Trading Systems and Methods" hits an enormous number of approaches for building a mechanical trading system. Many (some would say all) of these technical analysis approaches are obviously utter rubbish (anyone who has seen "Pi" can chuckle along with me at the section about Fibonacci Ratios), but the shear volume of techniques outlined make this a particularly good title for people new to trading systems development. The included computer code isn't particularly useful because of both its simplicity and its reliance on TradeStation features.
   
   If you're looking for a survey of mechanical, technical trading techniques with enough detail for a jumping off point to inspire further research, this provides that on a large scale and with commendably wide coverage. I found it most helpful to identify which wheels I was busy reinventing when doing my own system development, outside of that context it doesn't have quite as much utility.



3. This is a bizzar of prorietary code (TradeStation Language), and 20 yrs old fortran code at the Appendix. I am wondering who will be using this code? Lot of spaghetti Mathematics which is neither simple focussing on concepts , nor deep enough to understant the mathematical details that's very poorly presented. In chapter 8 about uncovering cycles, after all the poorly written mathematical stuff, there is no mention on how to use the uncovered cycles in trading which is much more important than running after sines and cosines ...although I am a Computer Engineer with mathematical background , I got lost...
   
   I am forced to read this book as a reading material for CMT2 certificate , however I consider it a very badly written book with no real focus neither elegant mathematical details nor usable code nor Trading concepts



4. There was plenty to learn in this book and overall it offers much reasonable advice. However, it also packs a large portion of bizarre and obviously silly content, such as the phase-of-the-moon and the "Jupiter-Saturn cycle" trading systems mentioned in other reviews. Still, I find even this bit useful as a reminder of the danger of being lured in by a trading system based on numerology instead of relevant data. It's nice to remember that the reason analysts compute the 14-day and 28-day moving averages are because these are half and a full moon's cycle, respectively. Of course, these became popular even though they refer to trading days instead of Earth days (what? doesn't the moon phase stop progressing over the weekend too??)

   My other complaint is the use of proprietary "Easy Language" code samples; this would be fine if it included an appendix on Easy Language syntax, but this is conspicuously missing... and would have been more useful than the secion of the book titled "Financial Astrology" or the appendix on constructing a pentagon with straightedge and compass (I'm not kidding).

   Suprisingly, I did find the discussion of solar eclipses informative from an astronomy viewpoint.

   Overall, even with the negatives, I enjoyed the other reference material.... just figure out which chapters to tear out of the book before reading.




5. If you can only buy one book on trading systems OR want to free up space on your bookshelf... buy this book, it's really the only reference you need.

5 comments about 101 Option Trading Secrets.

1. Having read many options books, this book stands out from the crowd in a way that it takes you straight to the point on trading options. If you are a beginner or have a little bit of experience this is the book to get. If you are an expert or have been trading options for a while there is nothing new to learn apart from a few secrets here and there. I would recommend this book to anyone who is tired of reading books on options that tell you nothing important including a lot of emphasis on what options are and has no real secrets on how to hit home runs in options. Again I have been paper trading options for a while and this is the best book so far out of about 50 that I have had. If you are brand new to options just get the basics elsewhere and get this book once you are ready to trade. You will not be disappointed.



2. OK first of all I have 100's of books, and there are a lot of them I don't like. Only this one made me mad enough to get out of bed and write a review. I probably bought it over a year ago, so I just decided to check it out tonight and I could not believe what I was reading.
   
   The ENTIRE book is like a breif description of a strategy and THATS IT!!!
   Every chapter is 1 to 2 pages!
   
   This book has to be the biggest con I've ever seen.
   
   Ever chapter title leads you to believe that you're in for such a treat, and you are so let down when you find it's 1 to 2 pages long MAX!!!!
   
   DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!!!
   
   All I can say is "Ken what were you thinking??"
   
   Could you not at least try and impress us??
   
   Rather than tell us about 101 strategies why don't you go into detail on 3 that would be much more effective, and people wouldn't be so pissed off.



3. This is a worthless marketing material, you can learn more about options in 1 week reading free stuff online. Dan



4. This book was a major disappointment and the author has given nothing new or important to the arena of Options Trading. Given that his highest recommendation is to buy out of money options in hope of a "long shot" as he puts it, I think I will look elsewhere to find better risk / reward set up's and a more strategic plan.
   
   His "secrets" are 1 page of non-sense followed by his unwarranted bragging about how he profited from a trade similar to the strategy he explained.
   
   All in All, this book is a joke and waste of time to anyone serious about trading options.



5. After reading a lot of technical options strategy books, what I like about this book is that it is to the point, does not repeat itself much, and offers good ideas and tips. This book is good for someone that already knows the basics of options. It describes a lot of options strategies and list which ones the author thinks is most powerful. The author lists the advantages and disadvantages of the different strategies. It is up to you to decide which strategy is best suited for your risk-to-reward zone and then do some more research. This book is like a list of 101 tips. If you do not like to read books with chapters that can be summarized into a few paragraphs then this book is for you.

1 comments about Options Made Easy: How to Make Profits Trading in Puts and Calls.

1. I bought this book "Options Made Easy," in haste as a father's day gift. My retired dad's new hobby is investing. This book Options Made Easy is a VERY dated! Its author was born 50 years before my dad, (W.D. Gann's was born in 1878, died 1955.) The author may be an icon in investing history but this book is poorly written and so dated that it is a JOKE! I presumed that W.D. Gann's theories were updated to the modern era of real-time Web trading and low cost transactions. Why did I assume that the book was updated? Because it says copyright 2007. The material is comically out of date. There is nothing in its description to clarify that it is dated and I conclude written in the early 1930s. Examples of Dated Content,
   There is no mention of the Internet or the Web; the book says "if you live outside of NYC you can give an order to your local broker and he will buy puts and calls for your account...when you want to sell, the broker will take care of the transaction for you." WOW! The section titled Put and Call Brokers on page 24 is laughable. Then page 25 states that you can send your check or money order to your Put and Call Broker and he will buy puts and calls for your account.
   Someone at the Richest Man in Babylon organization, slapped this old material together with a 2007 copyright date. They could have hired an editor to update the content to current options market reality or at least make clear that is was written in the 30s. Page 25 notes that you can get quicker service using Postal Telegraph or Western Union! The book talks about buying Chrysler, GM and U.S. Steel at $100. Pages 34 and thereafter mentions Chrysler on February 3 1936 to June 5 1936. Page 69 Douglas Aircraft...there is a piece of history...ancient history. Save your money! Do NOT buy Options Made Easy...unless you are buying it for a bit of history and some laughs. The concepts have not changed but the systems certainly have changed and have empowered the individual investor.
   
   Fortunately, I also bought my dad Understanding Options by Mike Sincere...so this Father's Day I can contribute to my dad's continuing financial education.

5 comments about Options: Perception and Deception : Position Dissection, Risk Analysis, and Defensive Trading Strategies.

1. I wanted to comment on my experience with the book and some of the other customer reviews.
   
   You do not need to be a market maker or veteran options trader to read and get value from this book. I am a retail options trader, with a very serious full time job, and have virtually no mathematical aptitude, and I have already started benefiting greatly from the book.
   
   In my opinion you should make sure you have basic familiarity with how options work, and some of the basic outright positions and spread techniques and what market view they support, and you will be ready to start learning what options are really about from there. You cannot go wrong by using this book and Mr. Cottle's other materials as the very next step.
   
   Be under no delusion---after the basics---options can get very complicated very quickly--if you let them. I have discovered, contrary to my initial impression, that Mr. Cottle in fact through the use of detail is really attempting to simplify option strategy decisions and trading itself. Through the use of what seems to be complicated examples---CC cuts through the fog and gets to the meat of options strategies and how and why one might choose one over the other--and invariably the best choice is something straightforward.
   
   Based on what I know about him and my experience with his materials, he is committed to teaching. If you expect to read this book without pen and paper in hand, with little or no effort on your part, and have him simply say "do x and you will get rich" this book and his approach is definitely not for you. He is like any good teacher. He will make you work for the answer, but not leave you hanging when you struggle. In working for the answer---and having his approach, experience and techniques available--you will most assuredly gain a grasp of options and how to make money trading them that you never had before.
   
   Don't be intimidated when you first view the book. The presentation looks strange, the tools he uses will be different from those you have seen or used before, and the terminology will be strange to some. There is a reason he takes the approach he does and it will, with a modicum of effort, become clearer every time you are exposed to it and use it.
   
   Here is what it has done for me.
   
   It has forced me to actually think about what may be happening underneath the option quote and the day to day change in a position.
   
   It has convinced me that trading outright positions whether short naked or long does not necessarily produce the best results. Yes longs are problematic due to all the standard theta reasons, and yes naked shorts are risky---we all know that---the trick is to figure out how to take the inherent advantages of either of these approaches, and make them work for your view of the market without getting killed in the process.
   
   What he has made me a believer in is that risk can be reasonably controlled, while still making very attractive rates of return, and if you are looking for a method to make reasonable returns in the market, the raw tools are there for the taking.
   
   He has convinced me that uncomplicated but well constructed spreads, for debit or credit, can actually allow me to participate in the market with a reasonable expectation of success, and allow me to sleep at night in the process without position adjusting every 10 minutes. He has also made me a true believer that options, by their very nature, provide huge flexibilities that outright underlying positions cannot, and allow much wider margins for error if I prove to be wrong in my view in any given position if they are structured correctly in the first place.
   
   You do not have to be a rocket scientist to make money in options. In fact if you arbitrarily go out and sell an option this afternoon at random, odds are it will expire worthless and you will make money. The problem lies in the odds piece that is not in your favor. You also do not have to be a rocket scientist to get killed by these odds. Although small in most cases, when it goes against you---you will be dead unless you are very savvy and well prepared to deal with such an eventuality. This is the piece that CC is so good at getting at--managing the underlying risks in any given option situation, structuring the position correctly and buying or selling it right to hold as much risk as possible in check--while still giving you the opportunity to make some money.
   
   The thing that finally made me a believer was the time he took to talk to me. He is not a prima donna. When I had concerns about spending even one more nickel on books, learning materials, educational seminars, etc. because so much of what I spent has been a waste of money and merely kept the educator in new Mercedes for so long---CC came through with flying colors. He took almost a half hour and spoke with me on the phone, and since then has never failed to answer a polite note or inquiry in his forum on his website Riskdoctor.com. He certainly is not getting rich from my buying the book or a seminar tape as his prices are very fair and honest. All these factors have convinced me that he must have the true teaching bug and his desire is to teach and help me improve.
   
   He is not an easy taskmaster--and he is not going to tell you what to trade. He is a good teacher and like any good teacher he always tries to stay out in front of you a bit with his teaching and materials. This is a good thing for those willing to stretch just a little because the nuances start to emerge very quickly. The best part is he is there to get you untangled when you do get stuck in the weeds.
   
   One more thing, after you read through the book once---go on his website and spend a little money and get one of his taped training sessions that he has actually done with live students [I started with Straddles and Strangles]. It will DEFINITELY help you clear some of the confusion that the book will inevitably create.
   
   If you want to know more about options than any of these get rich books can ever tell you--buy the book---it will pay for itself many times over in your first couple trades, and the bonus is you will understand why it paid for itself, rather than your just having made a lucky guess or two.
   
   DDK



2. I wanted to comment on my experience with the book and some of the other customer reviews.
   
   You do not need to be a market maker or veteran options trader to read and get value from this book. I am a retail options trader, with a very serious full time job, and have virtually no mathematical aptitude, and I have already started benefiting greatly from the book.
   
   In my opinion you should make sure you have basic familiarity with how options work, and some of the basic outright positions and spread techniques and what market view they support, and you will be ready to start learning what options are really about from there. You cannot go wrong by using this book and Mr. Cottle's other materials as the very next step.
   
   Be under no delusion---after the basics---options can get very complicated very quickly--if you let them. I have discovered, contrary to my initial impression, that Mr. Cottle in fact through the use of detail is really attempting to simplify option strategy decisions and trading itself. Through the use of what seems to be complicated examples---CC cuts through the fog and gets to the meat of options strategies and how and why one might choose one over the other--and invariably the best choice is something straightforward.
   
   Based on what I know about him and my experience with his materials, he is committed to teaching. If you expect to read this book without pen and paper in hand, with little or no effort on your part, and have him simply say "do x and you will get rich" this book and his approach is definitely not for you. He is like any good teacher. He will make you work for the answer, but not leave you hanging when you struggle. In working for the answer---and having his approach, experience and techniques available--you will most assuredly gain a grasp of options and how to make money trading them that you never had before.
   
   Don't be intimidated when you first view the book. The presentation looks strange, the tools he uses will be different from those you have seen or used before, and the terminology will be strange to some. There is a reason he takes the approach he does and it will, with a modicum of effort, become clearer every time you are exposed to it and use it.
   
   Here is what it has done for me.
   
   It has forced me to actually think about what may be happening underneath the option quote and the day to day change in a position.
   
   It has convinced me that trading outright positions whether short naked or long does not necessarily produce the best results. Yes longs are problematic due to all the standard theta reasons, and yes naked shorts are risky---we all know that---the trick is to figure out how to take the inherent advantages of either of these approaches, and make them work for your view of the market without getting killed in the process.
   
   What he has made me a believer in is that risk can be reasonably controlled, while still making very attractive rates of return, and if you are looking for a method to make reasonable returns in the market, the raw tools are there for the taking.
   
   He has convinced me that uncomplicated but well constructed spreads, for debit or credit, can actually allow me to participate in the market with a reasonable expectation of success, and allow me to sleep at night in the process without position adjusting every 10 minutes. He has also made me a true believer that options, by their very nature, provide huge flexibilities that outright underlying positions cannot, and allow much wider margins for error if I prove to be wrong in my view in any given position if they are structured correctly in the first place.
   
   You do not have to be a rocket scientist to make money in options. In fact if you arbitrarily go out and sell an option this afternoon at random, odds are it will expire worthless and you will make money. The problem lies in the odds piece that is not in your favor. You also do not have to be a rocket scientist to get killed by these odds. Although small in most cases, when it goes against you---you will be dead unless you are very savvy and well prepared to deal with such an eventuality. This is the piece that CC is so good at getting at--managing the underlying risks in any given option situation, structuring the position correctly and buying or selling it right to hold as much risk as possible in check--while still giving you the opportunity to make some money.
   
   The thing that finally made me a believer was the time he took to talk to me. He is not a prima donna. When I had concerns about spending even one more nickel on books, learning materials, educational seminars, etc. because so much of what I spent has been a waste of money and merely kept the educator in new Mercedes for so long---CC came through with flying colors. He took almost a half hour and spoke with me on the phone, and since then has never failed to answer a polite note or inquiry in his forum on his website Riskdoctor.com. He certainly is not getting rich from my buying the book or a seminar tape as his prices are very fair and honest. All these factors have convinced me that he must have the true teaching bug and his desire is to teach and help me improve.
   
   He is not an easy taskmaster--and he is not going to tell you what to trade. He is a good teacher and like any good teacher he always tries to stay out in front of you a bit with his teaching and materials. This is a good thing for those willing to stretch just a little because the nuances start to emerge very quickly. The best part is he is there to get you untangled when you do get stuck in the weeds.
   
   One more thing, after you read through the book once---go on his website and spend a little money and get one of his taped training sessions that he has actually done with live students [I started with Straddles and Strangles]. It will DEFINITELY help you clear some of the confusion that the book will inevitably create.
   
   If you want to know more about options than any of these get rich books can ever tell you--buy the book---it will pay for itself many times over in your first couple trades, and the bonus is you will understand why it paid for itself, rather than your just having made a lucky guess or two.
   
   DDK



3. Reviewer: The author, Charles M. Cottle *** charles@RiskDoctor.com
   Although this original text was written for professional market makers, it proved to be a valuable resource for sophisticated retail investors and hedgers. I therefore created a new book, "Coulda Woulda Shoulda" (available for free download at www.riskdoctor.com) which borrowed about 80% of the original text and added more tools for non-professionals including an email dialogue with a relative novice, spanning 2 months. Most of the strict market making tools have been removed but will be resurrected in book 3; "Taming Your Portfolio" due out later this year.



4. There are basically two types of options books: mathematical
   books on valuation that tend to be filled with solutions
   for ever more exotic contracts, and books for traders that
   go over the practical workings of positions in various
   concrete scenarios. Cottle is definitely of the second type.
   There's not really much math in it, unless you're intimidated
   by three-dimensional graphs. What it does have is an incredible
   wealth of insight, from experience, into the tricks and the

   exceptions--the rent-a-call, the dividend plays, contract
   risk and post-expo deltas, complicated synthetics, the
   interrelations between greeks.

   That said, what moved me to write a review was to take
   exception with a previous reviewer's comment: "No lazy
   editing or prose here". The prose is okay, but the editing
   is worse than lazy--it's horrendous. Flipping my copy open
   at random I come to p.151-152 on Break-Even analysis. Try
   finding column 7 in exhibit 4-23, or the supposed arrow in
   column 4. It's all a mess. That's an extreme case, but
   throughout the text, it's hard enough trying to pick up
   the bond options lingo (futures in 32nds but futures-options
   in 64ths--all "ticks"; and the different multipliers for
   indexes and futures), without having to deal with missing
   words, inaccurate references, etc, etc. But ultimately, working
   to figure it all out gets you to understand it all the better.

   With five years of floor trading as an equity options market
   maker, and having read and reread and rereread... Natenberg,
   Baird, Hull, Connolly, Cox Ross Rubinstein, Chriss, Taleb--and
   others--I'd say Cottle is clearly the best book. That said,
   however, I don't know how much use a non-professional--someone
   who doesn't manage a large, actively traded book of options--
   will get out of it. It should be intellectually rewarding if you
   can figure it out. Maybe inspire you to go look for a minimum
   wage clerking job in Chicago, NY, Philly, or SF to get abused
   for a year or so and then maybe get a badge.




5. I read Options: Perception and Deception at least 3-4 times before many of the advanced concepts began to sink in. This is not a book for an options novice; in fact, I would suggest that most people read Natenberg's book on options prior to engaging in this incredible text. While many of the advanced 3-D graphs were beyond my grasp, I particularly liked Cottle's description of "real world" options positions, how he executed them and how he managed them throughout their duration. Of particular interest to many readers should be the concept of "gamma scalping", and the section on wingspreads and adjusting positions. This text is so far beyond "mainstream" options books, that words do not describe how important this book will become.

No comments about Selling Short: Risks, Rewards, and Strategies for Short Selling Stocks, Options, and Futures (Wiley Finance).

4 comments about An Introduction to Options Trading (Securities Institute).

1. This book is a truly excellent options introduction. I have used it as a complement to both Hull's text and Wilmott's text, and it has really solidified my understanding. de Weert ties together and writes in a more easily digestible form the take home points from the other more technical books. I highly, highly recommend this book.



2. As a professional equity options trader I recommend this book to all those wanting to make a start in the world of options trading but realise the importance of a good theoretical grounding before risking their hard earned money. I recommend this book to all the junior traders I have trained and worked with.
   
   Mr. deWeert has lead the field with this book, cutting though the mathematical jargon and explaining simply the concepts which are so often over complicated. Bravo Mr. de Weert!



3. This book is the most powerful book on options as it makes the dynamics of options intuitive by focussing on its economics while at the same time providing the mathematics behind it. All this is achieved by using real life investment strategies as examples. The culmination of this book is that it shows the relation between all the Greeks and the profit of a delta hedged option. The book can easily be used as a manual for traders as it gives guidelines as to when to early exercise options and the correlation exposure of composite or quanto option to name just two examples. Any trader or sales man in investment banking should use this as a manual.



4. To me, the title of the book is misleading. Book should be titled something like, "An Introduction to the Theoretical/Mathematical Concepts Behind Options." If you're looking for trading strategies, this book does not offer anything that the intro page of an options website does. Save yourself some money, unless you're a math geek (not that there's anything wrong with that!)

4 comments about Option Strategies: Profit-Making Techniques for Stock, Stock Index, and Commodity Options (Wiley Trading).

1. As a person who has always found option strategies to be quite confusing, this book is a god-send! Mr. Smith's book is the only options strategy book that I've ever read that gives a concise and clear decision tree on what strategy to use in what market conditions. Anyone who is a serious options trader and wants to be profitable needs this book in their library!



2. This book contains absolutely no information on how to judge whether a particular option is over- or under-priced, or how to arrive at either a bullish or bearish outlook. The idea is that you have already come to some conclusion and then you consult the book to determine how you should play the option. That would be fine if the book did not contain numerous errors, all due to the fact that this book apparently was not proof-read. For example, if your outlook is bullish, you find the strategy for putting on a call spread, and select the type of spread you want to do. The author then copied the same instructions into the section on bear spreads, and then tried to change all the "calls" to "puts" or the "buys" to "sells." Of course, he missed many such changes, and there are multiple instances where the word "call" appears where it should read "put," and where "buy" appears when it should be "sell." If you buy this book, you will have to make your own corrections in it, or you may follow the instructions right into the poorhouse. I consider the money I spent on this book to be wasted.



3. The bad news: This is a classic textbook that requires all your attention and more. Even an experienced option trader can get lost easily. The good news: It is a comprehensive guide and reference book which I use once a week to help me choose the right move.



4. Option Strategies is an excellent intermediate treatise on option trading. While it doesn't go deeply into option pricing and implied volatility, its focus on strategy and decision structure serves the reader well. Almost every major position type, from the basic buys and writes to the more complex, such as ratio spreads and butterflies are covered. Each position is dissected in detail, with emphasis on how to deal with adverse and positive price impacts.

   In the pantheon of trading tomes, Courtney Smith's work should appeal to those looking for a sound foundation in option strategy. It is one place where a trader can look at any idea and figure out which type of play offers the best risk/reward alternatives. A solid non-technical book.

5 comments about Options:Essential Concepts, 3rd Edition.

1. This is a good introductory book on options.
   Pros: comprehensive coverage of a subject,fairly easy to read and understand for a beginner in options.
   Cons: the same concepts explained multiple times in different parts of the book. That's probably because chapters are written by different people. For example, look at put-call parity or covered call in the index. It's not a reference book. A short chapter summarizing option trading strategies in one place is clearly missing.



2. This is definitely not an easy reading book. It's essentially a dry college textbook, drier then most Physics textbooks. I am not too sure why people like this book. It's rated fairly high, which was why I initially bought it, but now I regret it. The book is written by multiple authors, therefore some chapters are better then others. But overall it's difficult to read because in some areas, the descriptions are too terse, in others too detailed to the point of confusing. I've owned this book for almost three years and I've never been able to consistently read through it. I will drop it because it's too frustrating. Then I try again a couple of months later and I drop it again. I essentially gave up and decided to go ahead and read Lawrence McMillan's Option book. His book has a better flow because it's the same author throughout, and he does a pretty good job of explaining the subject. This book is only good for probably a reference book, but not for advancing your techniques of Options trading. I am going to try and sell this book instead of using it as a reference.



3. This book is somewhat like 'A Random Walk Down Wallstreet" only applies to option trading, not just Wall Street and goes beyond.To the nit wit that blasted this book, I seriously doubt if he took the time to read it.I also recommend Safety First Investing and Wall Street Money Machine for more option techniques.Good books.



4. Wow, amazing, excellent, insufficient superlatives to describe my feelings - this one and Sheldon Nattenberg's Option Volatility and Pricing and you know more than most of the wall street professionals in my opinion. I found it practical and insightful, particularly with respect to the institutional trading strategies and how the trading floors operate.



5. This book presents a highly readable overview of the subject of options and I would recommend it to anyone. I have not been able to find one book on options which is as wide ranging in its scope (i.e., history, pricing, strategy, individual and institutional investors' approaches, how the trading floor operates, how market makers trade, etc.). The authors have struck a good balance between depth of the subject matter and readability. There are more detailed texts available in the area of strategy (McMillan's _Options as a Strategic Investment_) or pricing (Natenberg's _Option Volatility and Pricing_), but I would especially recommend this book to individual investors interested in options. After reading this book they will have a much stronger footing from which to approach the forementioned other books (which are also excellent, by the way).

   The previous reviewer's comments should be disregarded as I cannot conceive of anyone writing about this subject matter any more clearly (yes, I have read both of Fontanills' books) -- the authors appear to have put much effort into this book judging by its clarity, and one nitwit's daffy comments should not dissuade you!

5 comments about Global Convertible Investing: The Gabelli Way.

1. I am unsure what book the rest of the reviewers are reading; but it was not this one. The book is not only ambiguous, but poorly crafted with topical transitions sloppy. I can comfortably say that there is not a single section of the book that adequately unveils the dynamics of various convertible instruments or their pricing. Indeed, the book reads more like a glossary than an explanatory text and for persons new to converts, the spate of regurgitated pricing theories will likely do more harm then good. Perhaps the one strength of the text is that it serves as a broad reference for readers truly interested in converts to seek out more educative pieces. For more informed readers, modest incremental knowledge seems to be the only gain.



2. Quite a few books have been written about the specialized subject of convertible securities, but Hart Woodson has distinguished himself by writing a comprehensive book that includes all of the latest types of convertible securities as well as the latest strategies--in plain language that a beginner could comprehend, and with sophisticated equations included for the sophisticated quant. Better still, the book is not simply an ad for convertibles nor for his employer, Gabelli Asset Management. The pitfalls as well as the potentials are described. Hart can write. Hart has broad experience. He puts it all together in this practical book.



3. A must read for anyone interested in a clear and consise review of all the relevant information regarding this timely topic. Mr. Woodson demonstrates his precise and broad understanding of all the issues surrounding convertible investing, and presents such knowledge in a profounding easy to read fashion. This one shouldn't be missed. Clearly one of the authoritative sources out there!!



4. This book is a fantastic resource for investors who are new to convertibles, convertible experts and everyone in between. It provides a great breadth of topics as well as a perfect amount of depth. It covers the full range of convertible products, the theory behind them and convertible investing strategies. I'll be keeping this book handy.



5. Hart Woodson has put together an easy to understand guide to convertibles. The book covers all aspects for hedge funds to outright purchasers of the product on a global basis. In depth enough for the seasoned professional and yet basic enough for those trying to understand convertibles for the first time.