“Jim's book is very readable and helpful in my opinion, for anyone who reads it, but particularly for beginners. His style is succinct, Jim doesn't waste his words. He has a way of quickly getting to the heart of what's important in trading / investing.”

“ I like Jim Berg's style. The way he writes is simple, takes almost nothing for granted in terms of the readers knowledge, but at the same time does not assume that he's writing for dummies (which is popular these days), whether we want to admit to being one or not. Jim is a very clear communicator.

This book combines both Technical and Fundamental Analyses very nicely. Jim is very much a chart trader, but has a solid grounding in the fundamental analysis of trading. He opens with a simple but helpful introduction to how the market operates, from outlining why the market exists to the kinds of things that influence market movements and trends. He also discusses trading / investing styles, giving a summary of how various people approach the market.

Another helpful chapter is that on Taxation and all financially related matter, the types of issues that are often hard to understand, not only how they work but where they fit into the bigger picture, ... the kinds of things we need to understand before we consider entering the market. Within this subject is a section on Self Managed Super Funds, ... To SMSF or NOT? with a list of all kinds of helpful resources to follow up. To help answer the question, Jim provides a fairly comprehensive questionnaire.

Probably the subject I found most interesting and insightful is Market Psychology. The book might be worth purchasing for this chapter alone. It covers issues such as emotions, herd mentality, false prophets, myths, investments style & personality, freezing and panic, invoking the internal observer, coping with risk, remapping the mind, and others. The first part of the chapter is written by Jim, after which he enlists the expertise of Brett N. Steenbarger, Ph.D. Director of Trader Development for Kingstree Trading, LLC in Chicago and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY.

This guy knows his stuff. He combines theory with practical exercises. And best of all, ... because he's also a trader and counsels traders / investors, what he says I believe resonates within the heart and mind of traders (it did with me). He helps with analysing why we might react the way we do in the market by suggesting there may be things buried within our own psyche that have caused us to develop bad response patterns over the years.

Jim then goes on to discuss the various components of FA and TA in more detail, including the tools needed for valuing a company, and the basics of charting and the various trading opportunities associated with these. He also covers the kinds of indicators used in chart trading, such as moving averages, RSI, Stochastic, MACD, etc. Again, he does this in a style that is very easy to follow the logic and most importantly the reason these indicators are used.

Another essential topic is the Money Management chapter where Jim talks about the 2% rule, exiting a stock, position sizing, profit taking, etc. These issues are critical if a trader is going to survive the market long enough to be consistently successful. This is followed by the last chapter that ties up all the previous learning in developing strategies "that really work".

Jim's book is very readable and helpful in my opinion, for anyone who reads it, but particularly for beginners. His style is succinct, Jim doesn't waste his words. He has a way of quickly getting to the heart of what's important in trading / investing.”
Ian, ShareScene.com April 2006