Hi everyone, I would like to buy a couple of books and would like to hear some reviews from the experienced guys.

I want to buy a few books one on Technical Analysis and one on Elliott Wave theory.

Any recommendations?

I've never read any - all the info you need is available free on the net.

FA - read brokers notes, tips, analysis, etc.

TA - Loads of websites. I don't have any bookmarked though.

Only one I can think of off top of head is http://www.chartpatterns.com

I recommend you read any and all the books published on George Soros.

"Woman in Black" by Susan Hill.

OH, Nowt to do with shares but a belting good read (well the second half anyway!!)

The Elliott Wave theory isnt as simple as people make out, its not a case of having read the theory that you will be easyily able to apply it. It is very complicated method and open to interpretation, each person will see a graph in a different phase of this theory, so it will never be accurate because you can not tell which stage you are at, but nevertheless its an interesting if confusing read.

I think shares magazine had a little article on it recently and said practically the same. i.e. youll never be able to apply it correctly!

That's the impression I got Big, when I read the reviews for a book on Amazon; nearly ordered but shrank back for now. I'll probably order oder later, after reading something else first.

Google always brings up this site whenever I search for technical mumbo jumbo:

Investopedia

Nosedive
Take a look/read/study this link on Elliott Wave (easy to understand)

http://www.elliottwave.com/education/welcome/5.htm

if you need further info then you can buy the book… IMO

good luck

you enjoy yourself and I.... work for you
(that was yesterday, but I didn't had time to post it....) :*)

Benjamin Graham- The Intelligent Investor
just started reading it- well worth its classic status on what I've read so far

Hey thanks all for some good suggestions. Investopedia I have read the whole site and it comes up automatically when I connect to the web. I have MYIE2 with a shares group that brings all the links up for me in the morning.

I have searched for the Elliot wave theory and read something of it but not that link so I am off to read that now.

My books:

I already have these two books:

"Investing in Stocks & Shares" by Dr John White
"Online Share Investing" by Alistair Fitt

Just ordered these:

1 "The New Fibonacci Trader Workbook: Step-by-step Exercises to Help You Master the New Fibonacci Trader (Wiley Trading Advantage S.)"
Robert Fischer; Paperback; £19.95

1 "Candlesticks, Fibonacci and Chart Pattern Trading Tools: A Synergistic Strategy to Enhance Profits and Reduce Risk"
Robert Fischer; Hardcover; £43.64

1 "Beyond the Zulu Principle: Extraordinary Profits from Growth Shares"
Jim Toilet Cleaner; Paperback; £14.99

1 "The Zulu Principle: Making Extraordinary Profits from Ordinary Shares"
Jim Toilet Cleaner; Paperback; £14.99

I know I know that the profanity checker will have exchanged s-l-a-t-e-r for toilet cleaner LOL

Nosedive

ND
I found this books for info....
(I can't post the link)



Elliott Wave Simplified
by Clif Droke
Our price: £18.02 + postage (Convert currency)
Normal price:£21.20, you save: £3.18
In stock, immediate dispatch!

Ready to order?
Or phone us on +44 (0)1730 233 870
Our reference code: 12526
ISBN: 1883272483
144 pages, Paperback
Published by Marketplace Books (Wiley), 1st edition, 2000

Description of Elliott Wave Simplified
Eliott Wave Theory provides immense profit potential - but sounds a bit intimidating. Now a noted market technician takes the mystery out of this effective technique without deluging readers with details. Find the basics of technical analysis and R.N. Elliott's simple proven theory.

Contents of Elliott Wave Simplified
1. The Basics of Elliot Wave Theory
2. What is Elliott Wave Theory?
3. Corrections
4. Pitfalls of the Elliott Wave Theory
5. Elliott Wave and Technical Analysis
6. The Fan Principle
7. Elliott Wave and Channel Analysis
8. The Rule of Alternation
9. Elliott Wave and Volume Analysis
10. Elliott Wave and Contrary Opinion
11. Filtered Waves
12. Conclusion

DYOR I haven't read this one...

see if this work

http://books.global-investor.com/books/12526.htm?

ND take a look .....

Done it at last...

good reading....

for what it is worth don't do too much at once... IMO

Ciao thankyou so much for your help I will have a look at these tonight as I am at work right now.

I really like the TA but it has to be underpinned by fundamentals and either good news or no news depending on the RSI. SO I ma not going completely daft. I am not taking on too much as I am simply working on learning the market and buying shares.

Going long short CFDs spreadbets can all come later when I have more experience IMHO

thanks again Ciao very good

I read the Intelligent Investor, and to be honest found it pretty tough going. Then again, it was the first investing book I ever read, so you could say that it was jumping in at the deep end.

Two books that I throughly recommend are:

Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits - Phil Fisher
One Up on Wall St - Peter Lynch

Currently reading: "Value Investing" - Greenwald & co. Not a bad read at all, and makes much sense, building on the foundations set by Graham/Dodd, but without the 40% redundancy of the II and all the less useful chapters re Bonds, Warrants etc.

I've just started reading 'TECHNICAL ANALYSIS - Plain & Simple' by Micheal N. Khan. Very interesting so far, it covers a whole range of things. I will give you a further update once I have read more.


1ce

1ce_man, Happy birthday I was just looking for a birthday thread when you posted that. I hope you are having a good one! Happy reading.

Well I read Jim Slater's Zulu priciple and though it was superb. It has definately showed me some of the monumental errors I am making and given me an insight into the professionals methods. I have not started his second book yet as I am now studying "the new fibonacci trader workbook" by Fischer and the "Candlesticks, Fibonacci, and Chart Pattern Trading Tools" by Robert Fischer & Jens Fischer.

I have to say that the charting is very flexible and candlesticks or any other method alone is dodgy! However in this book Fischer advocates using three charting methods combined to produce a very powerful tool

Excellent reads all of them
Nosedive

Thanks Crazy Woman.

On the subject of books I found this interesting:


http://money.independent.co.uk/personal_fi...sp?story=594210

Bit of advice. I bought these:

1 "The New Fibonacci Trader Workbook: Step-by-step Exercises to Help You Master the New Fibonacci Trader (Wiley Trading Advantage S.)"
Robert Fischer; Paperback; £19.95

2 "Candlesticks, Fibonacci and Chart Pattern Trading Tools: A Synergistic Strategy to Enhance Profits and Reduce Risk"
Robert Fischer; Hardcover; £43.64

Well they are by the same Author and very helpfull but the software that comes with number 2 has been supersceded. Go to their website at www.fibotrader.com

The old softeware is no longer supported but is useful. In order to perform analysis using PHI-Elipses, Corrections, Extensions and spirals you just need to feed the data into the program via a comma seperated TXT file holding the Time, Open, High, low and close prices which you can extract from Historical data in Yahoo finance and manipulate in a spreadsheet.

My Opinion as a Newbie to other Newbies
I would Honestly go for Fundamental Analysis first. The reason being that the Zulu principle I am following by Jim Slater has shown me how to spot growth shares to invest in, in the first place. It gives you some basic business understanding and some incites into what can affect the SP of any Stock, Indices or futures whatever. I would put this first.

The Technical Analysis in my view comes into play once the FA is balanced and you are happy with it. The TA gives you an indication of the market sentiment about that particular stock.

Is that the end of it? Of course not! go read and learn and join us all in being proved wrong and right every day of the week.

Happy Hunting
Nosedive

Just finished my first TA book ('TECHNICAL ANALYSIS - Plain & Simple' by Micheal N. Khan). A very interesting read indeed.


1ce

Currently reading "Beyond the Zulu principle" by Jim Slater. Excellent book on FA but you so need to read "The Zulu Principle" first


ND

Well, after half a dozen or more FA books, moving on to TA now. Half way through Remiensences, and after that I have Trade Like Jesse Livermore - Richard Smitten lined up, which looks like great fun!

Van tell us how you get on with them. I like my TA books but its a bit hit and miss with TA I think. I am using the recommended method of combining Fibonacci tools with candlesticks and 3 chart patterns. It is not as straight forward as FA though

Nosedive

Reminisences of a stock operator
--------------------------------------
Superb autobiographical by Edwin Lefere, written in 1923, after he spent a good deal of time interviewing Jesse Livermore. The best thing about this book is its power to reassure you that, when it comes to stock speculation, nothing really has changed, because fear, greed, hope and ignorance are just as commonplace today as they were 100 years ago.

Learn to think like a trader, think away from the crowd but at the same time follow the line of least resistance in the general direction of the market, resist throwing good money after bad and learn to throw good money after more good money - it's all here.


Trade like Jesse Livermore - R. Smitten
----------------------------------------------
Takes a closer look at Livermore's trading technique, and in particular how livermore used "pivotal points" as the key in identifying if the directional trend was continuing or about to reverse. The book also emphasises that Livermore never traded a single stock in isolation, but would trade tandem stocks - the two leading stocks in any sector, to confirm the overall direction of the market.

Not a bad read, but I would only recommend it as additional reading if you have already read "Reminisences". Perhaps the best part of this book is the charts at the back, which acutally shows us some of Livermore's own records, and how he recorded data for US Steel & Bethlehem Steel over the course of an entire year. Definitely something that Excel whizzes could have a go at recreating!


Next books I have lined up:

Hot Commodities - Jim Rogers (2004)
Trading For a Living - Alexander Elder (1993)

Taken from IC:

Top ten investment books for 2006:

INVESTORS
1. The Intelligent Investor - Benjamin Graham
2. Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits - by Philip Fisher
3. One Up on Wall Street - Peter Lynch


ACTIVE INVESTORS
4. How I Made $2,000,000 in the Stock Market - Nicolas Darvas
5. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - Edwin Lefevre
6. How to Make Money in Stocks - William O'Neil


TRADERS
7. Trading in the Zone - Mark Douglas
8. Technical Analysis of Stock Trends - Robert Edwards and John Magee
9. Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders - Jack Schwager
10. Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom - Van Tharp



Maybe reassuring to see that I have read 1, 2, 3, 5, as well as the sequel to 9 (The New Market Wizards). All of them very good reads. Have not read much lately, but may pick up a couple of books this year. It's easy to try to learn too much too soon and get burnout, which I think is what happened to me a bit last year.

Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets - John J Murphy

The TA bible, about £50 retail, but can probably pick it up for a tenner on ebay.

Just finished reading "The Triumph of Contrarian Investing" - Ned Davis. Makes for a damning case against following the herd. The book illustrates the market's returns at times of extremely bullish or bearish sentiment, and shows that at times of extreme bullishness, returns are low or negative, while returns are much higher than average at times of extreme bearishness - we know this, of course, but it doesn't hurt to see it reaffirmed so strongly.

The actual flesh of the book is only about 60 pages, and there's about 100 pages of charts after that. After all, being contrarian is more about discipline rather than learning lots of rigerous material.

Not a traders' book, but a great one for gauging market sentiment and identifying long term peaks and bottoms using normal everyday tools.

Am reading an O'Neill book at the moment. Forget the title, something like "How to Make Billions, unlike the losers". Despite which, it's actually pretty good. Whenever I've had a look at his IBD newspaper it's also impressed me. I wish we had something like that in the UK.

A couple of books I have been reading as part of getting up to speed on my new dayjob:

"Measuring Investment Performance" by Spaulding. Not really a trader's or investment book, but a book on risk analysis and problems with reporting portfolio reporting and how to adjust for inflows and outflows.

Some important concepts like Sharpe Ratio and Standard Deviations are very useful to know.


Investing With Anthony Bolton - basically a marketing book for the Fidelity SS fund. Not highly recommended other than to reinforce why Bolton is a great stockpicker thanks to his contrarian tendancies. Ironically it highlights that buying funds, as with anything, should be looked at from a contrarian viewpoint after several years of underperformance.

I read this and decided that I don't need to read another book on investing!

Previous recommended reads include "One Up On Wall Street", as mentioned and "Contrarian Investment Strategies" by David Dreman.
I also liked "The Next Big Investment Boom" by Mark Shipman.