The Finance Book Club

may be it is because you have hijacked this thread and filibusting it ?

You guys should know that Peter has earned his reputation as "the turd in the punch bowl". He drops into threads and kills them with his low-voltage thinking and corrosive attacks on its participants. If you actually read and think about what he says, you quickly come to know he is just talking crap. For example, look at his first rule: Socializing and trading do not mix. Apparently, Peter is unaware of how professional traders work, or of the work to occurs at institutional trading environments, where traders collaborate, communicate, co-ordinate, and cooperate with one another, all day long (even in this post-covid, trades from home world). Not socializing, but doing the work of trading.

Here on FF, Peter can't tell the difference between socializing and collaborative learning (which this thread seems to be focused on). He lacks the intellectual firepower to keep up with the later, so everything is the former. Peter presents himself as a wise, experienced trader, when in fact, he is a fraud and an idiot. Your banter with him here is at your own risk. He will use 500 words to say nothing while belittling you. Put him on ignore so you can stay on topic.

Peter's posts here are the opening "plunk" of the turd into the punch. Caution is advised. I'll move on from here so you guys can do your thing, but if you are not careful, Peter will end this thread. Good luck.

BTW, Peter has me on ignore, too, so he should not be replying to this post. Right Peter?

Trading books can provide valuable knowledge and insights into various trading strategies, techniques, and market dynamics. They can be a great resource for learning about different approaches to trading and understanding the principles behind successful trading. However, simply reading trading books alone is not enough to guarantee profitability as a trader. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Practical Experience: Trading books can provide theoretical knowledge, but they may not fully capture the practical challenges and emotions involved in real-time trading. Real-world trading requires the ability to make quick decisions, manage risk effectively, and adapt to changing market conditions. These skills are best developed through practice and experience.
2. Individual Differences: Every trader is unique in terms of their risk tolerance, personality traits, financial goals, and trading style. What works for one trader may not work for another. Trading books often present generalized strategies that may not align with your individual circumstances and preferences. Successful trading often involves finding an approach that suits your specific needs and adapting it over time.
3. Market Dynamics: Markets are dynamic and constantly evolving. What may have worked in the past may not work in the present or future due to changes in market conditions, regulations, economic factors, or technological advancements. Trading books may provide historical insights, but they cannot guarantee future profitability.
4. Emotions and Psychology: Successful trading requires managing emotions such as fear, greed, and impatience. Books can provide guidance on psychological aspects, but the practical implementation of managing emotions in real-time trading situations is challenging and varies from trader to trader.
5. Risk Management: Trading books often emphasize the importance of risk management, but implementing effective risk management strategies requires experience and discipline. Managing risk involves factors such as position sizing, setting stop-loss orders, and implementing risk-reward ratios. These aspects require practical application and adaptation to individual trading styles and market conditions.

To become a profitable trader, it is crucial to combine theoretical knowledge with practical experience, continuous learning, self-reflection, and adaptability. Trading books can be a valuable part of the learning process, but they should be supplemented with real-world trading experience, mentorship, and ongoing education to increase the chances of long-term profitability.

Perhaps just put away your licker lollipop and just read and understand what was said and perhaps try a different tactic than thinking someone who has something real to say is always "hijacking" everything.

Good day.

Peter

It seems ForexFactory has removed the ability to downvote specific comments and so collapse them. Am I reduced to ignoring everyone who posts an occasional wayward quip? Maybe it’s only on the mobile platform? I am trying to stay away from my desk these days and get more exercise.

you are also more qualified to review it than the average peruser of this thread.

when youre relaxing by the pool getting a suntan maybe you can find and read these two books....id give my left arm to find the originals

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honma_Munehisa

I highly recommend everything by Livermore, including this book. My only footnote is that the game has changed since his day, not only with the convenience of computer methods for recording up/down trends but also because of this convenience.
As for Nison’s candles I have found almost nothing useful. I guess that just shows how different are traders and their methods. There is no one size fits all approach. This makes perfect sense because if there was broad consensus the market itself would cease to function properly.

I dont think price action has changed just the mechanics of initiating a trade...i believe price reflects human nature and thats never going to change

once livermore moved out of the bucketshops he had to go hier up in timeframes...all our online brokers are just like his bucketshops

Not the original but should suffice

Just as with some / so many people on these sites, all the different markets ask us to know when they are trying to put us back in our "box" or, "go back to our cubicle ..... there's nothing to see here so get back in line with the status quo ". So the books you read, or now, the audiobooks available too, can give insight on the surface as well as the more subtle things about it all. If you're not building a blueprint as you go, then you're merely pretending you know anything.

If you believe new is always better, then maybe perform a more conscientious approach to your learning. I really do love it when no name no face nobodies on dinky websites try to argue with real life, gives me the giggles. YES I'm talking to the people who persist with trying to put everyone back in their box by saying what is said is false, a lie or garbage then tell them to return to the status quo. What is funny, is that in real life if you do this, you get nowhere. So all the silliness trying to get people to dismiss what I and others say, is hilarious.

My added suggested readings are these -

* Security Analysis 1934
https://www.google.com/search?q=pdf%...t=gws-wiz-serp
* The Intelligent Investor 1949
https://www.google.com/search?q=pdf%...t=gws-wiz-serp

Good idea to take notes and stop trying to only find "nuggets" or 'diamonds in the rough". With that thinking you'll end up being someone who merely focuses on currencies and miss the point OF currencies.

As I find with so many morons around, they've been conscientious in their studies in the wrong direction. But you gotta love their tactics for trying to control everyone's thinking and not let the people see the box they've been in.

Have fun, hope you learn something.

Peter

Thanks for the book recommendation, Am currently caught up freelancing. I'll start the reviews once I have more free time, most likely after 2 to 3 weeks.

From the reviews I have read, it seems chans first book is better than the one recommended here

You don't know my experience with algos and here you are throwing metaphors looking for arguments.

Whatever your experience, fair enough. Wasn't an attack, just a question. Not everything I say or do is to start arguments (although I do that at times to get people to dig deeper). Sorry if you missed the reference.

thanks..ill give it a look see if its better than nisons

I thought the reference means here you go again with a worthless pursuit

Can mean that yes. But as you may already know, if you apply other contexts, then it can give rise to look at other things happening. Understandably, IF, you use algos for your own trading, then that is one context. For me, I like to insert it into other scenarios so I can learn more about what I don't already know. Since my own interest is to beat algos at their game by creating a different game, I take an interest in different "means to an end" pathways, rather than just "how to profit". I hope that explains that well. Honestly didn't mean to startle you.

Peter

I’ve taken a break from trading books for a little while but I haven’t stopped reading. I thought you might be interested in my notes from an interesting book by the astronaut Chris Hadfield. The book is called “ An astronaut’s guide to life on earth”.

The central theme is about preparing for any disaster by training and using checklists as well as visualizing any potential problems and ‘working the problem’. This is surely a good skill for any trader to develop.

———
Part1-pre-launch
Chapter 1 - The Trip takes a lifetime
The basic idea is that although his résumé looks like a linear path from dream to goal, in fact he encounters numerous setbacks, adversity, and obstacles and he continuously learns how to overcome them and to anticipate them in order to overcome them. He’s honest about how he gets lucky sometimes (noticing a CSA wanted ad for astronauts while living in the USA) but he also points out how he makes his own luck by anticipating and then preparing for situations that might arise.

He also continually takes advantage of opportunities to learn, for example when he goes to Russia to test experimental CBJ planes he also takes the opportunity to learn Russian.

Chapter 2 - Have an attitude
Being an astronaut is about continually preparing to pass a test in a skill that you may end up never using. Hadfield makes the point that lifelong learning is not just a phase in his life but a way of life.

Chapter 3 - The Power of Negative Thinking
Hadfield points out that most self-help books tell you to think positively and that’s about it. However, thinking about good outcomes doesn’t really produce any useful changes in knowledge or attitude.

Instead astronauts are trained to imagine a whole range of bad outcomes from the very worst possible scenario to situations that seem minor but may actually end up being fatal. In each situation they have to imagine possible options to solve the problem and the possible outcomes for each choice.

The skill of being able to imagine all the possible ways that you can die is actually confidence-building because he knows that by considering all these possibilities he has the knowledge and the training to handle just about anything. The worst possible situation is actually one where you don’t even have a plan or you have insufficient knowledge to solve the problem.

Chapter 4 - Sweat the small stuff
The devil’s in the details. Detailed planning is the difference between success and failure. Hadfield tells a story about training for a flight where instead of studying in his room he actually goes out to the airplane hangar and studies the route and the procedures inside the cockpit. This way he can actually visualize all the steps that he has to take.

At one point during a space walk where he has to attach part of the Canadarm Hadfield goes blind and the cause turns out to be a droplet of visor cleaning solution that hadn’t gotten wiped off that irritated his eyes. Afterwards every astronaut became fanatical about wiping off their visors. Always sweat the small stuff and it’s all small stuff.

Chapter 5 - The last people in the world
This chapter is all about group dynamics. Hadfield recites many examples of working in teams and describes ways in which the success of the team can be improved by a particular outlook.

Since astronauts are competitive people, you have to find a way to make individual success less important than group success. He compares it to an eternal relay race in which every sprinter is no longer just competing for their own best time but they’re trying to ensure that their fellow racers also have their best times in order to win as a group.

He recommends never belittling a coworker or having fun at their expense no matter how good a laugh might be. For senior personnel this is even more important. Flippant remarks can seriously damage someone’s self-confidence at the worst time.

Hadfield and his father discourage whining in any form. At some level it does help with forming a group bond by producing an ‘us versus them’ mentality but eventually whining becomes corrosive to the “expeditionary spirit“ of a mission.

Hadfield describes working with a very difficult supervisor who felt threatened by all of his support staff. Once Hadfield realized that that person‘s criticisms could simply be dismissed it made working with them much easier. That person's reputation for being a jerk was so widespread that Hadfield actually meets someone in another department who mentions him and his asshole ways. For Hadfield it would be absolutely mortifying to be known for being difficult to work with.

He tells a story of clipping his fingernails under an air intake and feeling clever about this neat solution to a problematic task in space but when the intake gets cleaned out by a colleague and the fingernail clippings are scattered in their face he realizes that he didn’t think through all the consequences. Now whenever he feels very clever about something he also wonders if there’s anything he hasn’t taken into account. This type of behaviour makes it easier for him to be a successful part of a team.

Hadfield closes the chapter by talking about how he and a colleague worked with the team leader to get out of their space suits and put on a different type of suit as well as protective outerwear inside a very small and hot capsule. The task was really difficult and unpleasant but they used tricks like pretending that it was cold even when it was stiflingly hot. They made a variety of concessions to help the team leader, who is very big, to be able to complete the task successfully.

If there’s a way to summarize all this I guess it’s that when you can see group success as your own success you’re more likely to be successful. You want your fellow astronauts to be highly capable and successful because they might be the only people who can save you in an emergency.

For me this seems like the antithesis of the kind of behaviour that you see online. It’s mostly people whining and complaining. It’s mostly people trying to show off how they excel individually. And it’s very difficult to find people to collaborate with who know how to succeed as a team

Chapter 6 - what’s the next thing that could kill me?
Hadfield recounts his most harrowing escapes from death. Once he accidentally disconnected his air hose in an F18 and passed out for 16 seconds. He was lucky to survive but as a result of the incident the design of the plane was changed.

It was not unusual for him to lose a fighter pilot friend every year, such was the danger of the occupation.

He faces disqualification for the space program from the complications of an old appendectomy. He gets surgery from an expert but then a panel wants to re-operate to ensure there won’t be a recurrence. It becomes a political issue since Canada has invested so much money in him. He cites research showing that laparoscopy does not produce recurrence of his issue. Eventually the panel agrees that an ultrasound can determine if he is at further risk. This is after he had asked if there was any other alternative to surgery. The ultrasound initially shows bad news but eventually they find that he’s OK.

I’m not exactly sure what the moral of the story is for this chapter. It might be that you have to fight for your rights especially with panels and bureaucrats. However it seems that at crucial moments he just got lucky. So for me I would summarize it as it’s better to be lucky than to be good.

Part2-Liftoff
Chapter7- Tranquillity base Kazakhstan
Illnesses, like colds, are much more serious in space because of low gravity. Hence quarantine procedures became mandatory. The purpose is not just medical but also psychological. The calm before the storm.

Hadfield increasingly has trouble making time for his family even though his wife is firmly on board with his plans.

Chapter 8- how to get blasted and feel good the next day
All about his first Soyuz launches.

In fact the rest of the book is about specific space missions on Soyuz and the ISS. Also one episode where he finds a mamba in the cockpit while in flight. Literally snakes on a plane. It’s all interesting but not really generalizable to non-astronauts.

The last thing that stands out though is how much credit he gives to his son for the social media success (singing Bowie’s Space Oddity for YouTube which got 4M views in one day) that made him a household name. He clearly saw this as a partnership and not just filial duty.

He also has no regrets about his astronaut career coming to an end. He achieved more than expected and he never looks back.
———
I got this as a an audiobook and breezed through it in a few days while walking/running. Never dull.

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