Books about Lowenstein from Amazon.com

Stock investing is a relatively recent phenomenon and the inventory of true classics is somewhat slim. When asked, people in the know will always list books by Benjamin Graham, Burton G. Malkiel's A Random Walk Down Wall Street, and Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings by Philip A. Fisher. You'll know you're getting really good advice if they also mention Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre.

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator is the thinly disguised biography of Jesse Livermore, a remarkable character who first started speculating in New England bucket shops at the turn of the century. Livermore, who was banned from these shady operations because of his winning ways, soon moved to Wall Street where he made and lost his fortune several times over. What makes this book so valuable are the observations that Lefèvre records about investing, speculating, and the nature of the market itself. For example:

"It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight! It is no trick at all to be right on the market. You always find lots of early bulls in bull markets and early bears in bear markets. I've known many men who were right at exactly the right time, and began buying or selling stocks when prices were at the very level which should show the greatest profit. And their experience invariably matched mine--that is, they made no real money out of it. Men who can both be right and sit tight are uncommon."

If you've ever spent weekends and nights puzzling over whether to buy, sell, or hold a position in whatever investment--be it stock, bonds, or pork bellies, you'll be glad that you read this book. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator is full of lessons that are as relevant today as they were in 1923 when the book was first published. Highly recommended. --Harry C. Edwards.
Price: $10.47 [Notify me when price goes down.]

On September 23, 1998, the boardroom of the New York Fed was a tense place. Around the table sat the heads of every major Wall Street bank, the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, and representatives from numerous European banks, each of whom had been summoned to discuss a highly unusual prospect: rescuing what had, until then, been the envy of them all, the extraordinarily successful bond-trading firm of Long-Term Capital Management. Roger Lowenstein's When Genius Failed is the gripping story of the Fed's unprecedented move, the incredible heights reached by LTCM, and the firm's eventual dramatic demise.

Lowenstein, a financial journalist and author of Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist, examines the personalities, academic experts, and professional relationships at LTCM and uncovers the layers of numbers behind its roller-coaster ride with the precision of a skilled surgeon. The fund's enigmatic founder, John Meriwether, spent almost 20 years at Salomon Brothers, where he formed its renowned Arbitrage Group by hiring academia's top financial economists. Though Meriwether left Salomon under a cloud of the SEC's wrath, he leapt into his next venture with ease and enticed most of his former Salomon hires--and eventually even David Mullins, the former vice chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve--to join him in starting a hedge fund that would beat all hedge funds.

LTCM began trading in 1994, after completing a road show that, despite the Ph.D.-touting partners' lack of social skills and their disdainful condescension of potential investors who couldn't rise to their intellectual level, netted a whopping $1.25 billion. The fund would seek to earn a tiny spread on thousands of trades, "as if it were vacuuming nickels that others couldn't see," in the words of one of its Nobel laureate partners, Myron Scholes. And nickels it found. In its first two years, LTCM earned $1.6 billion, profits that exceeded 40 percent even after the partners' hefty cuts. By the spring of 1996, it was holding $140 billion in assets. But the end was soon in sight, and Lowenstein's detailed account of each successively worse month of 1998, culminating in a disastrous August and the partners' subsequent panicked moves, is riveting.

The arbitrageur's world is a complicated one, and it might have served Lowenstein well to slow down and explain in greater detail the complex terms of the more exotic species of investment flora that cram the book's pages. However, much of the intrigue of the Long-Term story lies in its dizzying pace (not to mention the dizzying amounts of money won and lost in the fund's short lifespan). Lowenstein's smooth, conversational but equally urgent tone carries it along well. The book is a compelling read for those who've always wondered what lay behind the Fed's controversial involvement with the LTCM hedge-fund debacle. --S. Ketchum.
Price: $8.07 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Starting from scratch, simply by picking stocks and companies for investment, Warren Buffett amassed one of the epochal fortunes of the 20th century -- an astounding net worth of $10 billion and counting. That awesome record has made him a cult figure.

This illuminating biography reveals a man whose conscientiousness, integrity, and good humor exist alongside an odd emotional isolation. Buffett also masterfully traces his life: his enormously successful partnership; his early, inspired investments in American Express and Geico; his companionship and investment with Katharine Graham of the Washington Post; his role in the Capital Cities purchase of ABC; his unique relationship with his wife and mistress; and his rescue of the scandal-ridden Salomon Brothers..
Price: $10.71 [Notify me when price goes down.]

From the bestselling author of Buffett, When Genius Failed, and Origins of the Crash, a wake-up call to the pension and retirement crisis facing America and the road map for a way out

In While America Aged, bestselling author Roger Lowenstein explains how corporations and governments ran up ruinous pension and health-care promises to workers—promises that are now coming due and that will hit America like a tsunami if nothing is done.

Negotiating high benefits means gambling with future finances—and when the farm gets sold out from underneath major corporations or public institutions, it affects all of us, and in ways we might not imagine. With his trademark narrative panache, Lowenstein unravels the truth about how pensions work in America and illuminates the impending crisis. While America Aged is comprised of three fascinating case studies— each an object lesson and a compelling historical saga. The first goes back to the early days of the United Auto Workers and its crusading leader, Walter Reuther, to tell the story of how pensions and health-care obligations destroyed the American auto industry, in particular General Motors.

Lowenstein then shifts the scene to New York City to tell the story of the rise of public pensions and public sector unions through the vehicle of the Communist-led Transport Workers Union. Once again, justifiable benefits were followed by outrageous ones, such as the right to retire at age fifty. The saga reached a dramatic climax in 2005, when workers responded to proposed pension cutbacks with a massive strike that brought New YorkÂ’s subways and buses to a screeching halt days before Christmas.

In the concluding episode, Lowenstein visits a metropolis even more reckless in doling out benefits—San Diego. Desperate not to impose higher taxes, city officials in this highly conservative enclave cut a series of deals with unions to short-change the retirement system and use pension funds to run the city. A massive scandal ensued—two mayors resigned, officials were indicted, and San Diego lost its bond rating. Lowenstein warns that the pension wars that erupted in Detroit, New York City, and San Diego are only the first. But he also recognizes that workers are entitled to decent security in their retirement—a critical problem as the country ages. While America Aged explains how we came to this crisis, and it also proposes a way out. Arming readers with knowledge of the consequences of doing nothing, While America Aged, first and foremost, a call to action..
Price: $12.20 [Notify me when price goes down.]

There are many ways to make money in today’s market, but the one strategy that has truly proven itself over the years is value investing Now, with The Little Book of Value Investing, Christopher Browne shows you how to use this wealth-building strategy to successfully buy bargain stocks around the world..
Price: $9.55 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This best-selling collection is filled with creative assessment and treatment interventions to help clients identify feelings, learn coping strategies, enhance social skills, and elevate self-esteem. A wealth of practical tools for practitioners working with children in individual, group, and family counseling. Activities are geared to 4-16 year-old clients..
Price: $16.47 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Praise for The Investor's Dilemma

"Not since Graham and Dodd has an author defined investment principles as clearly as Lou Lowenstein in The Investor's Dilemma Not only does he comprehensively dissect the ways careless and impulsive investors have been misled and cheated by self-serving fund managements, but Lowenstein names specific funds and techniques for careful investors to obtain superior results. This persuasive and extraordinarily readable book will be hugely helpful to present and prospective fund investors."
-Arthur Levitt, Senior Advisor, The Carlyle Group

"Anyone involved with mutual funds-from small investors to top fund executives-should consider seriously this book's insights and message. The mutual fund industry won't like The Investor's Dilemma one bit, but when criticism comes from so thoughtful a voice as Louis Lowenstein, it merits attention."
-Don Phillips, Managing Director, Morningstar, Inc.

"Lou Lowenstein writes the truth about mutual funds, warts and all. And more: a clear-cut case for value investing, the approach that makes sense and that works, and yet is practiced by so few."
-Jean-Marie Eveillard, Portfolio Manager, First Eagle Funds

"Provides a critical, hard-hitting, and honest dissection of the mutual fund industry and what you should know before investing in a fund. Lowenstein provides a framework that you can use to identify funds and organizations that are shareholder-oriented. By following his simple checklist of selection criteria, you can minimize the risks and increase the odds of finding one of these rare funds."
-Bob Rodriguez, CEO, First Pacific Advisors, LLC

"The Investor's Dilemma is an essential read for any passive investor contemplating putting any of his or her wealth into a mutual fund. The book is not only informative, but also well written and entertaining."
-Martin J. Whitman, Portfolio Manager, Third Avenue Value Fund

"The Investor's Dilemma clearly and succinctly contrasts the owner-operator partnership form of mutual fund investing with the conflicted, but pervasive asset-gathering model. Every shareholder in the six-trillion-dollar mutual fund universe should absorb Louis Lowenstein's sagacious counsel. Bravo!"
-Mason Hawkins, Chairman and CEO of Southeastern Asset Management, Inc., advisor to institutional clients and the three Longleaf Partners Funds

"Calling on the wisdom of academics, practitioners, and even the comic strip character Pogo, Lowenstein examines the short-term pressures that doom individual investors as well as many mutual fund companies to engage in speculation instead of investing."
-Bill Nygren, Portfolio Manager, Oakmark Select Fund.
Price: $16.48 [Notify me when price goes down.]

An innovative collection of therapeutic games, art techniques, and stories to help children of divorce express feelings, deal with loyalty binds, disengage from parental conflict, address anger and self-blame, and learn coping strategies. Includes a theoretical overview for practitioners, a sample treatment plan, and a reproducible handout to give parents. Also contains a ten-week curriculum that can be used in therapy or support groups. A much needed resource for counselors, therapists, and group facilitators..
Price: $19.80 [Notify me when price goes down.]