The Liberated Stock Trader Top 20 Stock Market Books Review

Combining Technical & Fundamental Analysis, this best selling book gives you a good framework for building your own stock market investing approach.

Positives: Packed full of clear examples and a very structured approach.

Negatives: Promotes using Investors.com as a tool. In reality you do not need to purchase this service as you can create your own stock screeners to achieve the same goal for free.

An enthralling and extremely readable account into the secretive world of the Quantitative Analyst “QUANT”. The people behind high frequency trading and financial market arbitrage. A must buy book for those seeking to understand the 2007 financial crisis and the flash crash.

Positives: Scott Patterson is a great financial writer and the book is compelling. Any serious trader should read this book to see what they are actually competing against.

Negatives: I find it hard to find any fault with this excellent book.

A must have book for the serious investor, covering economic, fundamentals and technical analysis.

Positives: Strong on logical systematic evaluation of the state of the business environment and its effect on the stock market.

Negatives: Not enough charts. Some systems are hard to calculate manually and require a lot of effort to maintain.

Another of the Bibles of Technical Analysis, and one of the best. Pring is a popular technical analyst and the depth of value of this book is unmistakable. Pre-requisite reading for any serious or professional technical analyst.

Positives: With 600 pages of detailed Technical Analysis, the quality and quantity of the content can be overwhelming.

Negatives: Combining this best of this book and covering some fundamental analysis would provide an improved and more efficient way to learn. See the Liberated Stock Trader Book for this combination.

An excellent down to earth book, ideal for the beginner to show you how to apply your local knowledge to find winning companies.

Positives: A very easy and entertaining read by one of Wall Streets great stock pickers.

Negatives: Light on really actionable investing strategies, charts and technical analysis

An insiders account of how Wall Street Financial Analysts really operate. This book deciphers the double talk and outright misleading way Stock Market Analysts cover the markets and how to really read there advice. I came away with the thought to never trust a Wall Street analyst and do my own research.

Positives: A good addition to any bookshelf with insights into how companies manipulate earnings and how Wall Street Analysts sit in a microcosm of influence from the big company CEO’s.

Negatives: Some of the book became a little tiresome to read, but was none the less interesting.

A very valuable contribution to the understanding of technical analysis of the financial markets, this book is a must have for the technical (Stock Charts & Indicators) trader.

Positives: One of my favourite Technical Analysis reference books and published by the New York Institute of Finance, this book is well presented and easy to understand.

Negatives: A mind blowing amount of information, however it does not back test the indicators to show if they are really useful in the practical world.

A classic book written by Graham, the father of Value Investing. Warren Buffet was also strongly influenced by Graham.

Positives: A huge amount of valuable insight and knowledge. The revised version with comments from Jason Zweig brings the book up to date with new examples of how the book’s tenets still hold true.

Negatives: With an overwhelming 623 pages and a very dry writing style you will need a lot of coffee to get you through.

Packed with good interviews with successful stock market traders, this book is a worthwhile  addition to your bookshelf. Do not expect solid strategies, but expect insights into how stock market institutional investors operate.

Positives: Well selected interviews and easier read than its predecessor, this book is worth buying.

Negatives: Low on specific strategies and rules to incorporate into your market approach, the interviewees would not want to give away anything truly useful in case they lose their edge.

Written in the 1980’s this classic investment book covers the Technical Analysis approach to the stock market in a very practical and usable way. A good read.

Positives: The explanations of Bull and Bear Markets and the use of combining price breakout with volume increases to improve the chances of success are excellent.

Negatives: The book is quite old and therefore a little dated. It doe not make use of more modern indicators or ways to leverage current technologies to achieve your goals.

If you want to leverage your capital though the use of options, do nothing until you read this book. Probably one of the best books on options for beginners.

Positives: Options are a difficult subject to learn never mind to master, this will make getting used to the basics a walk in the park.

Negatives: Options are a tough topic and a lot of new tools have been developed since this book was written. After reading this book you will still not be equipped to be a successful options trader. However is does achieve what it sets out to do.

This book will give you a seedy insight into Wall Street and corporate America. This book will open your eyes as to how the rich and powerful elite try to maintain the advantage over U.S citizens, in the never-ending power struggle.

Positives: Levitt should be applauded for writing this book as I am sure it did not win him any friends.

Negatives: A little hard going in places the book could have been a little smaller to maintain reader interest.

An easy to read book with some useful insights. Written in 1991, when everyone and their dog made money in the biggest bull market of all time, I wonder how Vic would have fared in the 2000, or 2007 stock market busts.

Positives: Good chapters on drawing trend-lines and the basics of economics.

Negatives: Dated and lacking any really solid advice for trading in today’s market using the power of computers and technical analysis software.

A mixture of interviews with top traders on topics as far reaching as trading Futures, Trading T-Bills, aggressive trading, stock selection and psychology. The books provides interesting insights into the minds of the traders interviewed and how they operate to achieve that profit. For an insight into the minds on Wall Street, this is a classic book.

Positives: Focus is definitely on interviewing and insights into trading styles, which can make interesting reading and a break from too much number crunching and technical analysis books.

Negatives: The people interviewed provide no real practical insight into specific trading systems or actions, yet is it still a good read.

If you like fiction based on Wall Street and Hedge Funds in particular this book is for you. A well written story with believable characters and a little insight into the world of hedge funds this book is relaxing and absorbing. A good work of fiction from the super rich investor Barton Briggs.

Positives: Interesting insights into how the American class system works and how the big money hedge funds operate. Combined with a plausible story line this make for a good book.

Negatives: I think Briggs sees himself as the main character of the book and perhaps goes a little too in-depth on the sinewy muscles and sporting prowess of the lead character.

An interesting book that gives us a glimpse into the mind of one of the worlds first super investors. Livermore made and lost his fortune several time over before his very tragic suicide. A good read, with some good advice, but other books in this list should be higher on your reading list.

Positives: A good lesson on how money management and stock market analysis were used by Livermore, also some valuable lessons on how too much money can corrupt and break families.

Negatives: The book promotes that it has the “Livermore Market Key” included from the original 1940 print, however this is old, out-dated and quite unusable in modern times.

Talbott’s 86 biggest lies on Wall Street is a good book and an easy read. Some of the “lies” are difficult to agree with, but on the whole a good insight into the views of Wall Street and Government.

Positives: Although Talbott tells you what all the lies are, his version of the truths are also debatable. A firm view against the use of technical analysis to analyse stocks and market shows he is no expert in this area. However these flaws in his reasoning are balanced with good and compelling arguments against many of the preconceptions we have today regarding governments, corporations, venture capital and economics”.

Negatives: Some interesting arguments, especially if you have a left wing conspiracy theory bent. Talbott holds some views that do not make sense. Also, I am sure some of the lies he has made up just for effect.

A good book if you enjoy some insights into the two most successful investors of all time, but lacks any serious investing strategy or practical examples. More a book about the people and catch phrases.

Positives: Nice quotes and comparison between the two great men.

Negatives: A let down in terms of real practical investing wisdom

With very diverse interviews this time, the book would appeal to investment firm insiders but I feel this will have less value to the independent investor who focuses on the stock market.

Positives: Interesting insights on Options Trading, Foreign Exchange (FOREX) and Automated Trading this book provides insights outside the realms of the stock market.

Negatives: A rather weak trading psychology section at the end leaves one wondering what the point was.

This is not a book you read cover to cover, it is more a reference manual. A book with a lot of detailed content on technical analysis, but delivered in a badly presented package, with hard to read charts and a typeface to make your eyes water.

Positives: Strength of sheer content is the benefit of this book.

Negatives: Make sure you have 20 20 vision and a pack of headache pills to read this book.