A Man for All Markets: Beating the Odds, from Las Vegas to Wall Street Edward O Thorp Google ספרים

However, there isn’t much to takeaway from this book. It would have been much better if written by a ghostwriter. If you haven’t heard of the so-called “secretary/marriage problem” in math turn to page 224.

Will ship within 10 business days of receiving cleared payment. The seller has specified an extended handling time for this item. Thorp grew up poor during the Great Depression and taught himself how to count cards and invest in the market. He said “education made all the difference” in his life and to never be afraid of a question you can’t answer. Ed Thorp beat the casino in blackjack, invented the world’s first wearable computer, and generated one of the best track records in the investment industry. You can opt-out of the sale or sharing of personal information anytime.

When you buy books using these links the Internet Archive may earn a small commission. Don’t get derailed when bad things happen – focus on what you can control and move forward. He didn’t let normal volatility shake him out of his strategy – something helpful for investors to remember during https://forexarena.net/ the next downturn. ENotes.com will help you with any book or any question. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. I did and then recited, “Alfred the Great, began 871, ended 901, Edward the Elder, began 901, ended 925,” and so on.

About the Book

However, Thorp also does not shy away from recounting some of the more challenging moments in his career in finance, most notably the government investigation that ultimately led to the dissolution of PNP in the late 1980s. The investigation, which concerned stock manipulation and fraud allegedly taking place in the firm’s Princeton office, was tied to a larger investigation focused on financier Michael Milken, who was later found guilty of several securities violations. Thorp, who worked in PNP’s Newport Beach office, was not implicated in the suspected criminal activity but does not avoid discussing the investigation, his opinions on its true motivations, and his decision to close the firm. The final chapters of A Man for All Markets expand upon the lessons Thorp learned during his decades as an investor. The author provides advice and informative overviews related to financial topics such as hedging, compound interest, index funds, and the causes and characteristics of financial crises.

In the book’s final chapter, “Thoughts,” Thorp particularly emphasizes the importance of education, which he notes “made all the difference” for him. He particularly advocates for increased study of probability, statistics, and finance in schools, arguing that knowledge of such subjects is essential to making informed choices later in life. After teaching me counting, my father’s next project for me was reading.

This skill, especially to make rapid approximate calculations, remains valuable, particularly for assessing the quantitative statements that one continually encounters. The probability of the reported move of “at least” nine points, or less than a seventh of this, was about 90 percent, so the market action was, contrary to the report, very quiet and hardly indicative of any fearful response to the news. Simple math allowed me to separate hype from reality. My father taught me to compute the square root of a number. I learned to do it with pencil and paper as well as to work out the answer in my head. My unusual retention of information was pronounced until I was about nine or ten, when it faded into a memory that is very good for what I’m interested in and, with exceptions, not especially remarkable for much else.

Book Summary Of ‘A Man For All Markets’

It’s the kind of thing any would-be investor, to say nothing of casino cowboy, ought to read. Thorp’s in-the-trenches account of gaming the system is a pleasure—and instructive, too. I read Thorp’s book about playing blackjack, Beat the Dealer, in the early sixties, and tried card counting in Las Vegas. It was fun even though I didn’t make much money at it.

Additionally, his curiosity and love of challenges took him places others couldn’t go. Finally, there was the loving support of his very talented wife, Vivian. If I were giving out advice on how to be successful in this world I would say first pick your spouse wisely. And then he wrote a bestselling book, “Beat the Dealer” showing others how it could be done.

I haven’t finished the book yet but Thorp seems to take great pleasure in describing what a special snowflake he is. His self-aggrandizing way of reflecting the past makes him come across as a braggart, which makes for a rather painful read. One of those unique minds who combined amazing innate math abilities with a flair for practical implications, Thorpe would enjoy decades of results that even earned the respect of Warren Buffet.

More Books by Edward O. Thorp

Thorp describes his research and discoveries about roulette, blackjack, option trading, and more, in easy-to-understand language, for a general audience. You need no prior experience dealing with probability or securities or anything else. (He even explains at one point that a molecule is a collection of atoms bound by electrical forces.) He also tells stories about the wealthy and famous people he encountered because of his books about beating the dealer and the market. Before the advent of writing and books, human knowledge was memorized and transmitted down the generations by storytellers; but when this skill wasn’t necessary it declined. Similarly, in our time with the ubiquity of computers and hand calculators, the ability to carry out mental calculations has largely disappeared.

This image from the depths of the Great Depression has stayed with me always. Estimated delivery dates – opens in a new window or tab include seller’s handling time, origin ZIP Code, destination ZIP Code and time of acceptance and will depend on shipping service selected and receipt of cleared payment. Delivery times may vary, especially during peak periods. Cleared payment cleared payment – opens in a new window or tab.

This book is recommended by Charlie Munger in the Daily Journal AGM in Feb 2017. Jack Sschwager also said the most impressive of all the people he met/featured for his Market Wizards series was Ed Thorp. The lengthy descriptions on his own mathematical skills reveal an author who is completely unaware that as good as his analytical abilities are, they are not one in a billion or possibly even one in a million varieties. This trait of glorifying the marginally superior traits/events/investments/ideas hurts the book throughout. This also creates the impression of a person ignorant of his basic flaws and incapable of providing a balanced view of the failures. To a degree, the author’s habit to share credit with only the known greats like Shannon or Buffet creates the image of a person that might have failed to mention numerous others who might have had a bigger influence in his achievements.

• From the beginning, I loved learning through experimentation and exploration how my world worked.
• I had always figured that Thorp continued in the gambling world like math experts David Sklansky and Chris Ferguson.
• Gulliver’s; Travels was a special favorite, with its tiny Lilliputians, giant Brobdingnagians, talking horses, and finally the mysterious Laputa, a flying island in the sky supported by magnetic forces.
• It’s fascinating to see how he develops theories and then translates them into a way to make money in fast-moving markets.

The smoking gun is in the acknowledgements section, Thorp thanks a magazine editor for past opportunities to write, and saying “some chapters draw upon articles…” Yes, these out-of-place chapters are quite easy to recognize. It made me sit back and wonder, how can he imply that HFT is not really adding anything to society, then talk about making tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in other types of trading ? Thorp can see how different regulation could have prevented the housing bubble and bust in 2008, but he doesn’t consider why making it easier to become a homeowner was good politics for both parties albeit for different reasons.

Edward O. Thorp Man for All Markets (Paperback) (UK IMPORT)

When I was three, my mother told me not to touch the hot stove because it would burn me. I brought my finger close enough to feel the warmth, then pressed the stove with my hand. Sensing this and hoping it would bring us closer, I welcomed his efforts to teach me. My first memory is of standing with my parents on an outdoor landing at the top of some worn and dirty wooden steps. The book would be more aptly titled “Ed Thorp’s reminiscences”. Ed certainly had a very admirable career and seems like a nice, fair and straightforward guy.

From the beginning, I loved learning through experimentation and exploration how my world worked. From then on I spoke largely in complete sentences, delighting my parents and their friends, who now plied me with questions and often received surprising a man for all markets answers. I next recall being taken at age two and a half to our beloved family physician, Dr. Dailey. My alarmed parents explained that I had yet to speak a single word. The doctor smiled and asked me to point to the ball on his desk.

How to Beat Wall Street: Everything You Need to Make Money in the Markets Plus!

While somewhat interesting, none of this material is original and can be discovered in greater detail in any number of finance/business books. The 3-star rating is the end result of a 5-star start that sputtered to the finish. You can’t time the market, and you can’t beat the house. In his case, there’s also a contrarian streak at play; told, like all of us, that the winning odds are always with the casino and that there’s no way to reliably play against the house, he took the scientific approach and tested the assertion. “I formed the habit of taking the result of pure thought—such as a formula for valuing warrants—and using it profitably,” he writes.

The incredible true story of the card-counting mathematics professor who taught the world how to beat the dealer and, as the first of the great quantitative investors, ushered in a revolution on Wall Street. Figure out how to win at blackjack using card counting? Find the formula for valuing financial options but use it to make money rather than win a Nobel Prize?

His measured and direct voice gives one a much better feel for the precise words and the gentle soul behind them. Even though he must have been nearly 90 when he recorded it, his voice is strong and it’s an endorsement to the physical activity that Thorp says has been good for his body and mind. It is a good book, however, most people will not do what this guy did. Will usually ship within 1 business day of receiving cleared payment. A book that does not look new and has been read but is in excellent condition.

Even wearing my only set of winter pants and a jacket with a hood, it was cold. Black and leafless, the trees stood out above the snow-covered ground. From inside the house a woman was telling my parents, “No, we don’t rent to people with children.” Their faces fell and they turned away.

Edward O. Thorp is the author of the bestseller Beat the Dealer, which transformed the game of blackjack. His subsequent book, Beat the Market, co-authored with Sheen T. Kassouf, influenced securities markets around the globe. Thorp is one of the world’s best blackjack players and investors, and his hedge funds were profitable every year for twenty-nine years.