With scrupulous attention paid to factual accuracy and detail, Gayed’s volume could easily function as a fundamental text on...
A thorough, if academic and somewhat dated, explanation of the various forms of stock market analysis.
Published posthumously, this second edition of Gayed’s 1990 book was republished “without updates or changes, keeping it true to the original in his honor,” writes the author’s son in a foreword. Interestingly, this may be both the book’s greatest strength and weakness. As a textbook on analysis, the work is solid and timeless. Gayed carefully and methodically describes the process of investing in stocks. Then, in detailed individual sections of the book, he fully describes and lays out the assets and liabilities of three distinct methods of analysis: economic, fundamental and quantitative. In the context of these analytical schools, the reader is likely to learn a great deal about business and stocks in general. In discussing economic analysis, for example, Gayed covers the business cycle, inflation and interest rates, the composite index, and leading, lagging and coincident indicators. The section on the fundamental school of analysis, which the author says is “by far the most widely used by the majority of Wall Street professionals,” includes a comprehensive discussion of financial statements, an excellent subsection that explains the importance of analyzing businesses by industry groups and an overview of fundamental investment dynamics, including book value and the power of earnings. In describing quantitative market analysis, Gayed addresses the tenets of market timing and describes the difference between top-down and bottom-up market timing. When the author turns his attention toward investment strategies, however, the downside of a 20-year-old text may be evident. Indeed, using the “Crash of 1987” as the primary example to teach a lesson about investment strategy is hard to justify when the Great Recession of 2008 goes unmentioned. Despite this omission, which should have at least been acknowledged with an editor’s note, the principles discussed by the author do, in fact, apply across the decades.
With scrupulous attention paid to factual accuracy and detail, Gayed’s volume could easily function as a fundamental text on stock market investing, but it may overwhelm the average investor.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1990
ISBN: 978-1481959612
Page Count: 510
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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